Iran - Andrew Burke [12]
Return to beginning of chapter
THE ARABS & ISLAM
A crucial chapter in Persian history started when the Arabs defeated the Sassanians at Qadisirya in AD 637, following up with a victory at Nehavand near Hamadan that effectively ended Sassanian rule.
* * *
In the late 5th century a socialist called Mazdak won a huge following by preaching that nobles should share their wealth and their women with the oppressed masses.
* * *
By the time of Mohammed’s death in 632 the Arabs were firm adherents of Islam. The Persians found plenty to like in Islamic culture and religion, and happily forsook Zoroaster for the teachings of Mohammed without much need of persuasion. Only Yazd and Kerman (both of which clung to Zoroastrianism for a few centuries more) and a few isolated tribes in the mountains near the Caspian Sea held fast to their old religions. As they rapidly spread across the Middle East, the Arabs adopted Sassanians’ architecture, arts and administration practices.
The Umayyad caliphs initially governed Persia from their capital in Damascus, but in 750 a Shiite rebellion led to the elevation of the Abbasid dynasty, which set up its capital near Baghdad. The Abbasid caliphs presided over a period of intellectual exuberance in which Persian culture played a major role. Persians also held many high offices at court, but the Arabic language and script became the norm for day-to-day business.
During the 9th century Abbasid power crumbled and, one by one, regional governors established their own power bases. In eastern Iran these new Iranian dynasties included the Safarrids (868–903), the Tahirids (820–72) and the Samanids (874–999), who set up their capital at Bukhara and revived the Persian language.
* * *
Ferdosi wrote his epic poem, the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), between about 990 and his death in around 1020. Its 60,000 couplets are considered the foundation stone of modern Farsi, in the same way Shakespeare is considered the father of English.
* * *
Return to beginning of chapter
THE COMING OF THE SELJUKS
Inevitably, these local dynasties could not hold onto their power. The Samanids became fatally dependent on Turkish soldiers, one of whom soon elbowed them aside to found his own Qaznavid dynasty (962–1140); his son Mahmud spread the realm deep into India, introducing Islam as he went.
In turn they were ousted by the Seljuk Turks who pushed on through Persia, capturing Esfahan in 1051 and turning it into their capital. Within a few years they had added eastern Turkey to their empire and, despite numerous rebellions, managed to maintain control with a large and well-paid army.
The Seljuk dynasty heralded a new era in Persian art, literature and science, distinguished by geniuses such as the mathematician and poet Omar Khayyam. Theological schools were also set up throughout Seljuk territories to propagate Sunni Islam. The geometric brickwork and elaborate Kufic inscriptions of Seljuk mosques and minarets can still be seen across Iran, though they’re arguably at their finest in Esfahan’s Jameh Mosque.
The death of Malek Shah in 1092 marked the end of real Seljuk supremacy, and once again a powerful empire splintered into weaker fragments.
* * *
In 1079 mathematician and poet Omar Khayyam calculated the length of the year as 365.242198 days. This preceded the Gregorian calendar by almost 500 years.
* * *
Return to beginning of chapter
GENGHIS KHAN & TAMERLANE
In the early 13th century, the Seljuk Empire came to a final and bloody end when the rampaging Mongols swept across the Iranian plateau on their horses, leaving a trail of cold-blooded devastation and thousands of dismembered heads in their wake.
Under the leadership first of Genghis Khan, and then his grandsons, including Hulagu, the Mongol rulers managed to seize all of Persia, as well as an empire stretching from Beijing (China) to İstanbul (Turkey). Eventually