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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
Small groups of nomadic, horse-riding peoples speaking
Indo-European languages began moving into the Iranian cultural area
from Central Asia near the end of the second millennium B.C.
Population pressures, overgrazing in their home area, and hostile
neighbors may have prompted these migrations. Some of the groups
settled in eastern Iran, but others, those who were to leave
significant historical records, pushed farther west toward the
Zagros Mountains.
Three major groups are identifiable--the Scythians, the Medes
(the Amadai or Mada), and the Persians (also known as the Parsua or
Parsa). The Scythians established themselves in the northern Zagros
Mountains and clung to a seminomadic existence in which raiding was
the chief form of economic enterprise. The Medes settled over a
huge area, reaching as far as modern Tabriz in the north and
Esfahan in the south. They had their capital at Ecbatana
(present-day Hamadan) and annually paid tribute to the Assyrians.
The Persians were established in three areas: to the south of Lake
Urmia (the tradional name, also cited as Lake Orumiyeh, to which it
has reverted after being called Lake Rezaiyeh under the Pahlavis),
on the northern border of the kingdom of the Elamites; and in the
environs of modern Shiraz, which would be their eventual settling
place and to which they would give the name Parsa (what is
roughly present-day Fars Province).
During the seventh century B.C., the Persians were led by
Hakamanish (Achaemenes, in Greek), ancestor of the Achaemenid
dynasty. A descendant, Cyrus II (also known as Cyrus the Great or
Cyrus the Elder), led the combined forces of the Medes and the
Persians to establish the most extensive empire known in the
ancient world.
Data as of December 1987
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