Countries: Afghanistan
Bordered Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. The area that is now Afghanistan was inhabited by Iranian peoples and controlled by the Medes until c. 500 BC when Darius the Great (Darius I) marched with his Persian army to make it part of the Achaemenid Empire. In 330 BC, Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded the land after defeating Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
The history of Persia is foremost the history of the Elamites… descendants of Elam, son of Shem.
Media was home to the Medes who were absorbed by the rise of Persia c. 700BC. An ancient people who spoke the Median language, they occupied the mountainous region of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of Mesopotamia around the 1100 BC. They're mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (r. 859–824 BC).
Mesopotamia was the Ammonites’ source of chariots and horsemen when they battled with King David.
In the face of the continual attacks of the Assyrian King Sargon II (r. 721-705 BC) of the Sargonid Dynasty, the loosely organized Median tribes appear to have united under Daiakku (Deioces), founder and the first King of the Median kingdom, beginning their rise to national statehood.
King Daiakku was carried off into captivity by Assyria in 715 BC. He was succeeded by his son Uvarkhshatra (Cyaxares I), who paid tribute to Sargon II. He in turn was succeeded by his son Kashtaritu who died in battle against Ashurbanipal.
The history of Persia before the rise to prominence of the Medo-Persian kingdom is primarily the history of the Elamites.
The sons of Noah who came out of the ark, following the great flood (c. 2100 BC), were Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Shem was the father of Elam (from whom came the Elamites), Assur (Ashur), Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.
The Elamites had begun the towns that were to become the kingdom of the Dynasty of Awan.
They utilized a hieroglyphic script peculiar to themselves, which later gave way to the Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform. They wrote their name as Ḥaltamti, “Land of god.”
The Elamites are mentioned in connection with King Enmebaragesi of Sumerian Kish, who ruled c. 2700BC. About 2600 BC, an Elamite king overthrew the city-state of Ur and carried off its kingship to his capital of Awan.
Ur of the Chaldeans, is mentioned in the Bible as the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch of the Israelites and the Ishmaelites.
Sargon of Akkad (Sargon the Great) overcame Elam in 2325 BC and overthrew King Lukhishshan. His grandson, Naram-Sîn of Akkad (r. 2254-2218 BC) concluded a peace treaty with Elamite King Kutik-In-Shushinak. Both the Sumerian religious-states and the confederacy of Elam fell to the invading Guti* (c. 2211 BC), after which an Elamite dynasty at Simash appeared.
*The names of Gutian kings suggest that the language was not closely related to any languages of the region including Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian, Hittite, and Elamite.
King Naram-Sîn may have been king at the time of Abraham. He is otherwise known to have campaigned against Elamite rulers such as Arwilukpi of Marhashi, and the Ur Empire under his reign extended as far as the northern provinces of Lullubi and Hamazi, with their own governors. He also ruled over Assur through the Akkadian governor Zariqum, as confirmed by his monumental inscription.
Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire. The Sumerian King List makes him the cup-bearer to King Ur-Zababa of Kish, who is listed on the Sumerian King List as the second king of the 4th Dynasty of Kish.
King Ur-Zababa's grandmother was Kubaba, the Mesopotamian queen who according to the Sumerian King List ruled over Kish for a hundred years before the rise of the Dynasty of Akshak.
His daughter, Enheduanna, played an essential role helping bind together the northern Mesopotamian region of Akkad, where Sargon first rose to power.
Sargon the Great's son and successor, Khutelutush-In-Shushinak, was defeated in a battle with the Babylonian King Nebuchadrezzar I (1124-1104 BC) at the Hulai River, Elam passed into obscurity.
The Kassites ruled Babylonia and much of the lower Tigris-Euphrates valley, although in 1174 BC, the Elamite ruler Shutruk-nahunte overthrew the Kassite Dynasty and began a resurgence of Elamite power, thus ending the Kassite state.
A long period of darkness separates the Middle and Neo-Elamite periods. In 742 BC, Huban-nugash is mentioned as king in Elam.
Persia is the setting for the story of Queen Esther who chosen by Xerxes to succeed Vashti as queen, and the opening scene in the account of Nehemiah. Esther is hailed for her courage and for working to save the Jews from eradication.
In addition, Persia’s Achaemenid king, Cyrus the Great (c. 550–530 BC), by virtue of his command to the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem is linked throughout the Old Testament.
King Darius the Great (r. 522-486 BC) ascended the throne by overthrowing the King Bardiya (Smerdis), son of King Cyrus the Great.
Early in his reign, King Darius I became God’s instrument for encouraging the Jews to complete their second Temple.
King Darius I undertook other construction projects throughout his realm, primarily focusing on Susa, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Babylon, and Egypt. He had an inscription carved on the face of Mount Behistun to record his conquests, which would later become important evidence of the Old Persian language.
Alexander the Great of Macedonia succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 BC at the age of 20 and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy military campaign throughout Western Asia, Central Asia, parts of South Asia, and Egypt.
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great began his invasion of the Persian Empire and subsequently defeated the Persians in several battles before looting and destroying its capital, Persepolis, by fire in 330 BC.
Darius III was the last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC when he died in the Battle of Gaugamela.
Before his accession, he bore the name of Artashata.
He was the son of King Arsames, and grandson of Ostanes, whose father Darius II ruled the Achaemenid Empire from 424 BC to 405 BC. His mother was Sisygambis, a woman of obscure origins.
The Battle of Arbela took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedonia under Alexander the Great and the Persian Army under King Darius III. It was the second and final battle between the two kings, and is considered to be the final blow to the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
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About the Author: Lawrence Jean-Louis is the founder of eBrand Me, a digital marketing agency offering marketing & consultative services to CPAs and tax professionals. She aspires to start a money management firm by 2030.
