Oct 25

Agreement between Iran and the Greek League – its results and repetition of history

Plutarch      This piece of history will be completely edited later          On 25 October 449 BC, in the city of Soosa, an agreement was signed between the government of Iran and head of the delegation from the Greek League, by which the League officially recognized Cyprus as Iranian territory and promised to dissolve the Delian League and in exchange Iran agreed to give internal freedom to the Greek speaking cities of Asia Minor (present western coast cities of Turkey – at that time called Ionia), on condition that they pay their due tax on time and if/when necessary to build ships for Iran and give soldiers proportionate to their population. European historians have named this agreement “The Callias agreement” after the name of the head of the Greek delegation.     The then king, Ardeshir, from the Achamenian dynasty, who was called by Plutarch, “the long handed Ardeshir”, issued the orders to implement the agreement and the Greek speaking cities of Asia Minor (Ionia) were entrusted to their locally selected councils, but the Dellian League, consisting of Greek cities, instigated by Athens, were not ready to dissolve and broke their commitment, and therefore, the government of Iran, a few years after war broke between Athens and Sparta, famous as the Peloponnesian war, secretly sent help to Sparta and consequently Athens fell.     2438 years after the Callias agreement, a similar agreement was signed between the two West and East blocs, based on which when/if the East bloc dissolves its Warsaw agreement, the North Atlantic Union (NATO) would at least come out of its military nature, but we saw that after the Warsaw pact was untied, this did not happen. Instead, NATO started expanding in the previous territory of Warsaw pact and even entered the Russian territory, and. . ..          Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour (AmordadNews writer)

Arashk (Ashk I) took the first steps to save Iran.

This piece of history will be completely edited later          Historians who have worked on the history of ancient Iran, are unanimous in that Arashk (Ashk I) the ruler of Khorasan, started intensive efforts from October 256 BC, to save Iran, and two American historians – Sanderson and Lamberton – have indicated 25 October of that year as commencement of these efforts.     After conquering Iran, Alexander of Macedonia had entrusted each city of our country to one local governor and had used a policy by which none of the governors would unite in establishing a central government in Iran.     The Seleucids who were the successors of Alexander in Iran, were stationed in Antakia and Seleucid and could not have proper control over the whole of Iran, especially Khorasan. In addition, from the start of the 260s BC enmity and competition started between them and the successors of Alexander in Egypt. The successors of Alexander in the Greek mainland were also facing local riots. On the other hand, the Romans were gaining power, but the Romans’ attention was more towards the Carthagoes (north Africa) who had powerful sea force and were threatening the Italian peninsula. In such a situation, Arashk from the Parthian tribe in Iran – one of the three tribes who established the united Aryan nation of the south, who immigrated to Iranian plateaus – who lived in Khorasan (from the east of Mazandaran Sea or Gorgan Sea towards the East, including the Damghan area), decided to save Iran and restore the united government in Iran. They contacted the     rulers of neighboring areas, i.e., Soghdiana (present Tajikistan) and drew their agreement, and in a short while made the whole of Khorasan united under one flag and cut relationship of this area with the Seleucids, who were busy fighting the autonomous seekers of the cities in Asia minor, and built the city of Nisa, which is called by his name ‘Ashkabad’ (it is not known why it is pronounced Eshqabad in Iran). He then liberated Gorgan, Mazandaran and surrounding areas and won over the Seleucids in a war in 250 BC and candidated the hundred-gate city of Damghan as his capital.     After him his brother, Tirdad, whom historians have named Ashk II, succeeded him and was crowned as king and won the honor of restoring the independent and united government of Iran by defeating the Seleucids and from then onwards the historians have named this dynasty Parthian. This dynasty was very interested in the Greek philosophy and democracy and study of the Greek philosophy, which had prevailed in Iran from Alexander’s time, became compulsory for some time, for the male children of the Parthian noble men and learning the preliminary reading and writing rules of the Greek language for the public. The government of this dynasty had a parliament and appointing and removing high rank officers was not in the hands of the king, who was himself elected by the senate (Mahestan). Sometimes, the Mahestan would, based on his abilities, announce the king as the commander in chief, and in this case he would have to participate in war together with his     army. To make the Parthian coins international one side of the coin would be minted in the Greek language, which was the academic language of those days. To be close to the Roman territory, the Parthians later built Ctesiphon, near the Tigris river, and transferred the capital to this city, which remained capital of Iran until the 7th century AD.          Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour (AmordadNews writer)