Mohsen Jaafarnia (2022). World History Begins with the Iranians. The People Museum Journal , Volume 8, Issue 1,  ISSN 2588-6517

World History Begins with the Iranians

Mohsen Jaafarnia
Associate Professor, School of Design, Hunan University, China.

I starts with A. U. Pope, he (1969)  says “Turn back! Turn back! Look to the ancients. Old Persia can save us. Those remarkable people, with their gallantry, their decorum, their self-discipline, their sensitivity, their humanity, their productivity, their animation, their originality, their vitality, their warmth, their trans­cendent piety!”. Also G.W.F. Hegel (1956) says “With the Persian Empire we first enter on continuous history the Persians are the first historical people; this land has been subject to those developments and revolutions, which alone manifest a historical condition. The Chinese and Indian Empire assert a place in the historical series only on their own account and for us ( not neigh­bors and successors). But here in Persia first arises that light which shines itself, and illuminates what is around; for Zoroaster's (Light) belongs to the World of Consciousness - to Spirit as a relation to something distinct from itself. We see in the Persian world a pure exalted Unity, - as the essence which leaves the special existence that inhere in it, free; - as the Light, which only manifests what bodies are in themselves; - a Unity which governs individuals only to excite them to become powerful for themselves· - to develop and assert their in­dividuality. Light makes no distinctions, the Sun shines on the righte­ous and the unrighteous, on high and low, and confers on all the same benefit and prosperity. Light is vitalizing only in so far as it is brought to bear on something distinct from itself, operating upon and develop­ing that. It holds a position of antithesis to darkness, and this antithe­tical relation opens out to us the principle of activity and life. The principle of development begins with the history of Persia. This there­fore, constitutes strictly the beginning of World-History; for the grand interest of Spirit in History, is to attain an unlimited imminence of subjectivity - by an absolute antithesis to attain complete har­mony.”

By the sixth century B.C., more than 2,500 years had passed from the birth of civilization. (When Cyrus entered Babylon, in 539 B.C.,) says A. T. Olmstead, “the world was old. More significant, the world knew its antiquity”( Olmstead, 1963)  with the rise of the Achaemenians this period of more than 2,500 years ended and a new chapter was opened in man’s history. In today’s world it is difficult to assess fully the im­portance of this event and its influence, whether upon the history of Iran or the history of the world, as a whole. The Persians not only founded the first world empire but their impact on the general progress of mankind has been so great that a number of authors go beyond Hegel and suggest that the history of civilization as a whole starts with the Achaemenians (Nasr, 1974). 

If, in the sixth century B.C., the Achaemenians had not breathed a new life into the Middle East most probably the civilized world would have been submerged in darkness as was to happen in Europe after the fall of Rome. Under the leadership of the Achaemenians “the political evolution of the ancient Orient came to a logical, if not to a historical conclusion. The anciently civilized world was united under one administration; the barbarian world was effectively overawed”( McNeill, 1965).

The history of the civilization of the world from the middle of the sixth to the frst half of the fourth century B.C., is more or less defined by the history of Iran and “Historian must generally consider events in the terms of (that) history” (Ghirshman). Never before were the destinies of so many peoples linked together as closely as they were under the Pax Achaemenica. Still more important, never before had empire builders made such a deliberate effort to achieve the welfare and progress of their subject peoples while taking into account the diversity of their culture and aspirations. In brief the Achaemenian era was to an extent never experienced before by the civilized world the age of hope, peace, progress and splendor (Nasr, 1974). 

R. Frye says (1962) ” Iranians were not only active in South Russia and the northern Caucasus, but also in Siberia, the Altai, Chinese and Russian Turkmenistan… Perhaps the most spectacular discoveries in recent times in this area were made at the Kurgans of Pazyryk in the grave of a Scythian nobleman near the Altai Mountains in Kazakhstan in 1949. It had been very well preserved as it was frozen when it was found where rich, frozen tombs were uncovered. The oldest known carpet in the world with Achaemenian motifs…, and many other objects of art, may indicate flourishing trade with Iran, probably as early as Achaemenid times ... it would seem that the en­tire area from the Altai, or indeed the wall of China to Transylvania and Hungary had a kind of unity, and the Iranians played a most im­portant role in this area for at least a millennium until the Hunnic ex­pansion of the early centuries of our era.”.

R. Ghirshman says (1964) “For Achaemenian art, an art worthy of the King of kings, faithfully reflects the political synthesis which this young, vigorous nation, so recently converted from the nomadic way of life, achieved in creating the first world empire and still more noteworthy a form of government which for the first time in human history, on so large scale, was animated by a genuine spirit of justice and tolerance for all, regardless of race, colour and creed.” (Nasr, 1974). 

Figure1, Achaemenian map.

Scientists have solved the mystery behind the Pazyryk carpet, considered to be the world’s oldest carpet dating back to the 5th century B.C.. Researchers, including Professor Dr. Karl Meblinger from the Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology at FAU, and x-ray microscopy experts Dr. Andreas Späth and Prof. Dr. Rainer Fink from the Chair of Physical Chemistry II at FAU, analyzed the ancient rug by using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and came to the conclusion that a special dying technique, involving the fermentation of the sheep’s wool before it was dyed increased the brilliance and longevity of the color, according to the journal Scientific Reports (Carpet and flooring, 2021).

Figure 2, Pazyryk carpet.

The analysis was carried out at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villegen, Switzerland, and mainly focused on red fool fibers, which has been used by the people in north - East Persia.

The exclusive color is a metal-organic complex made of alizarin, obtained from the roots of the rose madder and aluminum, according to the research. Dr. Spath says “This is by far the earliest example of the fermentation technique and provides an insight into the already highly-developed techniques used by Iranian textile craftsmen and women in the Iron Age,” (Carpet and flooring, 2021).

In 1991, Dr. Meblinger received a sample of the ancient Iranian carpet, which is currently kept at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and had been trying to figure out how the ancient carpet’s colors have been preserved despite centuries. He noted that traditional Iranian textile craftspeople were familiar with the technique, which involved spreading the dyed wool out on a field for several weeks in direct sunlight, followed by putting it in a barn as bedding for their animals before rinsing it out in a stream or river (Carpet and flooring, 2021).

Meblinger says “Only fermented wool retains its color without any significant bleaching,” The researchers successfully proved the effect of fermentation by comparing the fluorescent images with those of samples of wool they fermented and dyed themselves (Carpet and flooring, 2021).

References

Carpet and flooring (2021). Scientists solve mystery behind world’s oldest Pazyryk carpet , Kohan textile journal. https://kohantextilejournal.com/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-worlds-oldest-pazyryk-carpet/

Hegel, G.F. (1956). The Philosophy of History English Translation, by J. Sibree, Dover Publication Inc. N.Y. PP. 173.

Olmstead, A.T. (1963).History of the Persian Empire (Achaemenid Period), Page 151, The University of Chicago Press, 1940 and 1963. Von le Coq, The 4 Buried Treasures in Chinese Turkestan.

McNeill, W.R. (1965). The Rise of the West, a Mentor Book, P. 130.

Ghirshman, R. (). L’Iran des origines a l’Islam. P. 126.

Frye, R. (1962). The Heritage of Persia, London, Weidenfeld and icolson, Published also as a Mentor book, 1966. Also Iran by R..,. PP. 60 & 61,

Ghirshman, R. (1964). Iran, From the Origins to Alexander the Great, trans¬lated by Stuart Gilbert and Jame Emmons, London, Thames & Hudson, P. 372.

Nasr, Taghi (1974). The Eternity of Iran. Tehran: The Ministry of Culture and Arts publication.

Pope, A.U. (1969). in the New York Times, 4 Sep.

  © 2022 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the
terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).