Jun 11

“The eternal flame” became the national currency of Iranians

Ardeshir Papakan On 11 June (21 Khordad), Ardeshir Papakan, founder of the Sassanian dynasty, announced the gold coin named “The eternal flame” as the national currency of whole of Iran, in 226 AD and brought it into the monetary system.     He had coined this coin in the year 224 AD in ‘Pars’ as the monetary unit. On one side of the coin, samples of which are existing in the museums, the image of “the eternal flame” was engraved, burning in a hearth on a pillar. By this Ardeshir showed his special attention to the Zoroastrian religion which was based on ethics, righteousness and humanity and combined it with the politics of the government, which continued for 4 centuries. The association of religion with the government of Iran, after Sassanians, was repeated during the reign of the Booniyans, Safavids and the present period. According to famous historians of the world, this system of ruling in Iran (association of religion with government) each time has resulted in the strengthening of Iranian nationalism, power and the blooming of Iranian talents and creativity.     In the same year (226 AD), in Hormozgan (near the present Behbahan) Ardeshir succeeded to overthrow the 475 years old Parthian dynasty, after civil wars and after a final victory over Ardavan the 5th, the last king of the Parthian dynasty.     Ardeshir, the ruler of Pars (consisting of the southern province of Iran of those days, including Sepahan and Kerman) and the keeper of the holy fire in this region, blamed Ardavan’s government for internal corruption and for showing weakness towards the Romans and so carried the flag of salvation of Iran on his shoulders. After overthrow of the Parthians, contrary to what the people had thought, Ardeshir did not take his capital from Ctesiphon (Madaen – near Iraq) to Estakhr (Shiraz) or his favorite city, Kerman. The Abbasi rulers who were under influence of the culture and political system of Iranians, turned Baghdad, which was a village and a forest, into a big city in 762 Ad and made it the capital of the Moslem Khalifas. The word Baghdad is Persian ) Bagh – dad and Bagh means God). Ctesiphon, the capital of Parthians and Sassanians, was conquered by the Arabs in 637 AD.     The mentality and behavior of Ardeshir caused Iranian nationalism to rise, and with such sense of nationalism, during the reign of Shapour the 1st, son of Ardeshir, Iran defeated Roman empire thrice and took Valarian, the Emparor, as prisoner and by collecting tax from the Romans once again became the only super power in the world. This nationalism has appeared many times after Sassanian era and has left its remnants, for example during the reign of the Ziarians, Boomians, Ferdows, and... .

Expression of gratitude of contemporary archeologists towards Shapour the 1st

On 10 June 256 AD, after defeating Rome, the Iranian army conquered Northern Seleucid (located in the present Turkey), which the Romans would call Zugmar and was located near Euphrates river and was the main base of the Roman army in East Mediterranean.     After conquering Seleucid of Anatolia (different from Seleucid of Mesopotamia), Shapour the 1st did not allow his soldiers to do the least harm to the artifacts of this rich city, which were the remembrances of the Seleucid era. As a result, the statues, tiles, stone tunnels and underground storage rooms of this city have remained intact for our generation to see, and the archeologists expressed their appreciation and gratitude towards Shapour the 1st in the ‘Nava’ program which was broadcasted on 7 June 2005 from PBS TV channel of USA.     The city, Zugmar, was ruined in an earthquake and got buried in the earth, and next to it the village called Belgheis was built, which after building the dam on Euphrates, both were drowned under the water, but before the water came up the archeologists removed all the precious artifacts, the statues and the tiles from under the earth and transferred them to museums. Emperor Valerian kneeling before Shapour the first. At the beginning of 260 AD, Valerian was defeated in the Battle of Edessa and captured by the Persians.

Establishment of the biggest library of the ancient world in Gondi Shapour (Khuzestan)

On 11 June 250 AD the Gondi Shapour Library (Jondishapour in Khuzestan), which was considered to be the largest library of the ancient times, started operating. And, the university that was established in the same place and in the same name, was also the largest educational and research centre for medicine, philosophy and literature of the ancient world. In this university, professors from Iran, India, Greece and Rome would teach. It is to be noted that the first library in the world, consisting of tablets, was established in 630 BC by Ashur Banipal in Nineveh (Mesopotamia).     It was the Jondi Shapour University that first introduced the Indian notation (Sanskrit) because of its simple and easy application, which the Iranians spread in the Islamic world later on and gradually went to Europe and replaced the Latin notation, and because the Europeans had learned it from the Arabs living in Spain, it became international under the name of “Arabic numeral”, and this is what is used all over the world at present, and is written from left to right. In the West, in the course of time, shape of the digits has changed a little.     Borzouyeh, the medicinal professor of Sassanian era, was a student of Jondi Shapour University and started teaching in the same University.     It is said that in this University, grafting and transplantation surgery was done (hands, legs, fingers).     We should know that initiatives in scientific management systems, post office, agricultural order and systems, and international transfer of saplings and seeds, improvement of domestic animal breeds, art and architecture methods, classification and division in the army, and hierarchy in the army, scientific economy, and . . . belong to Iranians.     The city of Jondi Shapour fell into the hands of Abu Moosa Ashari in 642 AD during the invasion of the Arabs into Iran.          Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour