Konkstnameh: The Persian book of Conquests
Persia…lost in our memories. Even today one can smell the ancient whiff of such aromas as that of Frankincense and myrrh. When one walks through the long abandoned palaces of Persepolis, stares at the Relief of Darius, or observes the ancient remains of Zoroastrian fire temples, you are staring at the glory that was Persia. The whispers of the ancient near east, long since gone, dwelt in these places, for Persia carried on that ancient legacy. Persia conquered the largest empire in that time, with a messenger from Balkh reaching Siwa, on the two boundaries of the empire, with great ease. It created a new kind of empire, with a decentralized system of local rule and tolerance. It created great engineering feats such as the canal linking the Mediterranean and the red seas.
But what is this land, this term, ‘Persia’? Persia was not just a nation, or a people. It was not just a series of empires, or a list of engineering feats. Persia was an ideal, a lost one. The last gasp of the near east, it carried on its knowledge to the west through Alexander the Great and his contemporaries. Though much was lost in the panic and murder that constituted the fall of the Persian Empire, much was gained, too. The Seleucids carried the essence of Persian knowledge. The Parthians revived the tolerant decentralization that had existed under the Achaemenids, and finally, the Sassanids brought it to its apex, with the creation of a state rivalling its enemies and a new Zoroastrianism not known since Darius III. Eventually, it was enveloped in the greater sphere of Islam, but it never really disappeared.
However, what if Persia had never fallen in the first place? Perhaps for one second we can think of a time when Persia held the world on its shoulders. It was 480 BC, at Salamis. The Greeks were seemingly trapped, with the very fate of Western civilization, still in its infancy, at stake. Then, The Persians fell for a trap set by Themistocles and a cunning spy good at acting, and the chance was lost. In a way, one could say that Persia itself was lost, for never again would Persia fight against the Greeks and endanger their very existence as an independent people. Xerxes had lost his chance, and the Persian Empire would pay for it with its decline. Today, one looking back can be almost amused by the miraculous luck of the Greeks. Had one storm gone awry, or one plan not been transmitted, or one city state defected, things may have gone south for the Hellenes. Unfortunately for Persia, it didn’t. They were caught in the channel of Salamis, and the navy was badly bruised. Though they managed to hang on in Greece enough to be smashed twice more at Mycale and Plataea, it was clear that the age of Persian domination was over and that they would begin their slow and painful decline.
This, however, is not what happened in real life. This is the story of what would happen if Xerxes had not been fooled by that sly spy at Salamis and did not go ahead with the attack on the Athenians. This is the story of what would happen if Persia won.
Persia…lost in our memories. Even today one can smell the ancient whiff of such aromas as that of Frankincense and myrrh. When one walks through the long abandoned palaces of Persepolis, stares at the Relief of Darius, or observes the ancient remains of Zoroastrian fire temples, you are staring at the glory that was Persia. The whispers of the ancient near east, long since gone, dwelt in these places, for Persia carried on that ancient legacy. Persia conquered the largest empire in that time, with a messenger from Balkh reaching Siwa, on the two boundaries of the empire, with great ease. It created a new kind of empire, with a decentralized system of local rule and tolerance. It created great engineering feats such as the canal linking the Mediterranean and the red seas.
But what is this land, this term, ‘Persia’? Persia was not just a nation, or a people. It was not just a series of empires, or a list of engineering feats. Persia was an ideal, a lost one. The last gasp of the near east, it carried on its knowledge to the west through Alexander the Great and his contemporaries. Though much was lost in the panic and murder that constituted the fall of the Persian Empire, much was gained, too. The Seleucids carried the essence of Persian knowledge. The Parthians revived the tolerant decentralization that had existed under the Achaemenids, and finally, the Sassanids brought it to its apex, with the creation of a state rivalling its enemies and a new Zoroastrianism not known since Darius III. Eventually, it was enveloped in the greater sphere of Islam, but it never really disappeared.
However, what if Persia had never fallen in the first place? Perhaps for one second we can think of a time when Persia held the world on its shoulders. It was 480 BC, at Salamis. The Greeks were seemingly trapped, with the very fate of Western civilization, still in its infancy, at stake. Then, The Persians fell for a trap set by Themistocles and a cunning spy good at acting, and the chance was lost. In a way, one could say that Persia itself was lost, for never again would Persia fight against the Greeks and endanger their very existence as an independent people. Xerxes had lost his chance, and the Persian Empire would pay for it with its decline. Today, one looking back can be almost amused by the miraculous luck of the Greeks. Had one storm gone awry, or one plan not been transmitted, or one city state defected, things may have gone south for the Hellenes. Unfortunately for Persia, it didn’t. They were caught in the channel of Salamis, and the navy was badly bruised. Though they managed to hang on in Greece enough to be smashed twice more at Mycale and Plataea, it was clear that the age of Persian domination was over and that they would begin their slow and painful decline.
This, however, is not what happened in real life. This is the story of what would happen if Xerxes had not been fooled by that sly spy at Salamis and did not go ahead with the attack on the Athenians. This is the story of what would happen if Persia won.
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