The God of the Universe:in Iran history
The belief in one sole impersonal God who has created the world penetrated into Greece through Iran
. Herodotus corroborates this when he says that: "the Persians have no images of the Gods, no temples nor altars, and consider their use a sign of folly. This comes, I think, from their not believing the Gods to have the same nature as men, as imagined by the Greeks."
Marcus Cicero, the Roman statesman and author, tells us that: "the Greeks like us [Romans], had images and Statues for their Gods, but Iranians were against worshipping idols and for that reason when Xerxes [Khshayaarshan in Old Persian] conquered Greece, he ordered the Statues of the Gods of Greeks to be destroyed and their temples to be burned. Xerxes believed that the God of the universe has no special place of residence and one cannot imprison him in the form of an idol in one limited place."
Judaic and Christian religions were greatly influenced by the pre-Islamic religions of Iran, such as Mithraism, Mazdaism (Zoroastrianism), and Manichaeism.
The Darius Canal
Insofar as their engineering prowess, Iranians built magnificent water ways, canals and bridges. In fact Darius ordered that the Mediterranean be connected to the Red Sea (in Herodotus' terminology- the Arabian Gulf) by digging a canal, connecting through the Nile, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. the Darius canal started somewhere above the Bubastis, joined the Nile river and after passing through the Wadi of Tumulat near the present Suez, joined the Red Sea, thus connecting Europe to Asia by the sea. This canal was from two points of view very important to the Iranians. First, it helped the movement of armies between the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, to the Mediterranean fields of action and vice versa, secondly it helped to increase the commercial transactions between these areas via an inexpensive means of transport. Once it was finished, Darius ordered a special Memorial Tablet in 4 languages to be erected in commemoration of such an event. This Tablet, was discovered 130 years ago in Shaluf-al-Torabeh situated about 20 miles west of the current Suez Canal.
Colleges and Universities
The Achaemenid kings promoted the founding of various colleges throughout the width and breath of their vast Empire. One such college was the one Darius ordered Osaharis Nitti, the Egyptian, to build in Sais. On the Statue of this man, that is kept in the Vatican Museum, it is written: "By order of Darius, the Great King, I founded the faculty of Medicine in Sais and provided it with books and the young men were sent there to study medicine. Because thus was the order of the Great King of Persia who propogated the medicine in order to heal the patients." Another very important Iranian university we know about is Gondi Shapur. This college comprised of a medical school, and a hospital dating back to Shapur I (271 A.D.). About this university, Dr. Cyril Elgood in his book:'The Medical History of Persia' states: "Here is found the ideal of modern medicine, study of current methods, modification through experience, and publication for the use of others."
Truth and Justice
Justice has been the corner stone of the Iranian political philosophy. The ideal rulers of Iran were all just and right in their dealings with their subjects. The virtues of Truth and Justice were much emphasized by Darius and extolled in several of his inscriptions. They paid great importance to the efficient administration of justice. Xenophon, records what Cyrus the Great says to Cambyses and Bardia, his sons, in his death-bed about the importance of following the path of righteousness and justice: "The everlasting God above, who beholds all things, with whom is all power, who upholds the order of this universe, unmarred, unaging, unerring, unfathomable in beauty and in splendor, fear Him my sons, and never yield to sin or wickedness, in thought, in word, or in deed. And after the Almighty, I would have you revere the whole race of man, as it renews itself for ever; for God has not hidden you in the darkness and your deeds will be manifest in the eyes of all mankind, and if they be righteous and free from iniquity, they will blazen forth your power; but if you meditate evil against each other you will forfeit the confidence of every man."
Art and Culture
In the domain of Art and Culture, Iranian contribution to classical culture of Europe and Asia is quite notable. As the late American scholar, Professor Arthur Upham Pope states: "The Iranian contributions to classical culture, though as yet imperfectly determined, were definite and fundamental." According to Dr. P. Avery: "With the dissemination of the Mithraism in Europe, Iran achieved a remarkable hold over Western Europe...researches have still more fully to show the ascendancy of Iranian moral and spiritual ideas over the people of Europe and the Levant in the days immediately preceding the establishment of official Christianity...But Iran's influence in Europe did not end with the termination of Roman power there. The work of modern scholars is beginning to prove that the origin of many fundamental European attitudes of mind and literary forms were in fact Iranian. The Manichean influence was of course important but other channels must also have been open. It is interesting to speculate on how much chivalry, for instance, with its institutions of courtly love, may owe its origin to Iran. Chivalry was so important in saving civilization in Europe from total Eclypse."
In reference to the Iranians' love for beauty, Dr. Donald Wilber in his book 'Persian Gardens and Garden Pavilions' states: "Because the Persians were so fond of gardens and flowers, they took steps to recreate a floral atmosphere during inclement seasons. The manner in which artificial flowers and trees were made and used is a subject in itself...One Persian manuscript, in the India office Library at London, gives directions for making artificial flowers."
The God of the Universe:in Iran history
By: Dr Izharul Hasan
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