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Iran is home to one of the world's
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oldest continuous major civilizations
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with historical and urban settlements
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dating back to 7,000 BC on the periphery
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of the Iranian plateau that forms a
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natural massive fortress throughout the
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late prehistoric period the Elamites
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city-state of Susa was closely tied
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culturally to the Sumerians of
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Mesopotamia these tough Mountain master
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archers would remain longtime rivals of
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the Sumerians Acadians Babylonians and
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Assyrians and will remain an
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ever-present threat pillaging the cities
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of the Fertile River Valley in times of
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strength if the opportunity arose and
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paying tribute in times of weakness
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during one of these turbulent periods
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Elam's unique system of matrilineal
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succession emerged sovereignty was
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hereditary through the Royal women and
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that a new ruler was always a son of a
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sister of a previous sovereigns family
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Elamites states were among the leading
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political forces of the ancient Near
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East for more than two thousand years
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Seuss's cultural and political influence
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also stretched far beyond their borders
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to the north and east to the growing
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Iranian tribes of the arid plateau one
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of these the needs began uniting the
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tribes and together with the Babylonians
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would allied together to topple the
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Assyrian Empire the largest the world
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had yet seen at the time the Medes would
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go on to conquer a vast but short-lived
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Empire with a magnificent capital city
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at egg batana
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one of the tribes allied with the Medes
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were the Persians in 553 their leader
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cyrus rebelled against his grandfather
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the meat king of stages establishing a
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persian capital at the ancient Elamites
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city of engen he finally won a decisive
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victory in 550 BC resulting in a stages
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capture by his own dissatisfied Nobles
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who promptly turned him over to the
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triumphant Cyrus the following decade
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the ancient almight city of Susa fell
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under Persian control although the meets
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had been conquered by the Persians they
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retained a prominent position in status
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and in war they stood next to their
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Persian cousins their core ceremony was
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adopted by their new sovereigns who in
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the summer months resided in egg batana
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and the rest of the year in Susa
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many meet noblemen were employed as
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officials governors and Generals after
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the fall of Babylon to Cyrus the
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venerable city was also made a capital
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of the Empire and the construction of
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another capital city a passer date on
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the Iranian plateau was commissioned
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that way the Empire could be governed
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closer to whatever point was most urgent
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in stark contrast to his Babylonian and
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Assyrian predecessors Cyrus was known as
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a just king and tolerant of local
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religions and customs within his empire
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he has praised in the Old Testament of
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the Bible as a righteous ruler this
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massive Empire stretching from Europe to
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India was far too large to administer by
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one man and under Darius the great more
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than 20 say traps or governors were
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appointed to administer the provinces
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where an efficient system of roads were
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constructed to facilitate communication
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trade and mobilization of troops
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throughout the Empire
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Darius implemented Aramaic is the
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official language a uniform currency and
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a standard system of weights and
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measures throughout the empire he also
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embarked upon a massive building program
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in Eck batana Susa passer Gaede where he
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built the massive Palace complex of
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Persepolis and the newly conquered
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province of Egypt the Persian Achaemenid
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Empire left a lasting impression on the
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technology heritage and cultural
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identity of Asia Europe in the Middle
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East and influenced the development and
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structure of future empires in fact the
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Greeks and later Romans adopted the best
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features of the Persian method of
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governing and Empire Alexander of
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Macedon
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a small Kingdom to the far west of
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Persia was an avid admirer of Cyrus the
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Great
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he conquered most of the Persian Empire
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by 330 BC and in the aftermath of his
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death at the age of 32 his empire was
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divided among his generals one of them
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Seleucus received Babylonia and expanded
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his domains to include much of the
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former eastern provinces of the Persian
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Empire and then much of the Near East
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the cell uses Empire formed a unique
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fusion of Persian and Hellenistic
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culture and throughout this Empire's
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existence many Greeks emigrated him to
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the empire their expansion was halted by
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the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and their
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Roman allies
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and after the disastrous Battle of
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magnesia the Seleucids were forced to
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pay crippling war reparations to the
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Romans greatly weakened from their wars
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in the West the Seleucids fell prey to
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the Parthian formerly a dutiful vassal
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the Parthian were nomadic Iranians
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speaking people they had migrated from
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the eastern banks of the Caspian Sea on
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to the Iranian plateau the Seleucids
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devolved into a minor state and were
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eventually cannibalized by the Romans
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and Parthian 's the Parthian Empire was
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not as centralised and did not engage in
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managing the realm to the level to sell
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you seeds or recommended Persians had
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instead they functioned as a small
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warrior elite who ruled his Greek style
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monarchs from the populated cities of
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Mesopotamia the plateau was largely self
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governed by the Persian elite they
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seldom paid any tax or assimilated into
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the rest of the Greek and Aramaic
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speaking population but importantly they
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supplied the Parthian Kings with a
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steady supply of skilled horse archers
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with which they were able to defeat the
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Romans multiple times in attempts to
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conquer Parthia although there were
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numerous civil wars the realm stood
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relatively peaceful and prosperous as
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these Wars only typically involved the
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Parthian warrior class fighting amongst
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themselves the Roman Emperor Trajan was
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a first and only Roman to conquer
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Mesopotamia although this victory was
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extremely short-lived Trajan was forced
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to withdraw relinquishing his costly
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gains the Parthians returned to the
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Iranian plateau to retake their lands
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immediately afterwards and after two
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more costly wars with Rome an internal
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strife the Parthians were worn thin and
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overthrown by a native Persian dynasty
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the sasanian z' in stark contrast to the
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Parthians decentralized chaotic style of
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rulership sustained ian's built a large
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administrative bureaucracy and
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implemented a massive program of
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urbanization building and rebuilding
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thousands of cities throughout the
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empire society was divided in castes
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priests warriors artisans and commoners
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although one was born into a caste one
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could change by being recognized as
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having unusual merit in a given area
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unlike the Roman Empire slavery was
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uncommon in the sasanian empire the most
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common being household servants who are
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entitled to receiving wages and could
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get married if they wanted to and it was
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a crime to physically harm a slave
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within the Empire sasanian civilization
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is considered a high point of Persian
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culture where a long-lived populous
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Empire was stable and prosperous for
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hundreds of years its trading network
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stretched far into the Roman Empire
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India East Africa and China with
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sasanian sent many emissaries the large
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number of sasanian coins found in
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southern China also attest to the high
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trade volume carried out between the two
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empires under the sasanian 's orthodoxes
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o Astron ism the religion of the UH
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commended empire was revived and after
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the Roman Emperor Constantine made
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Christianity to state religion the
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sasanian followed suit by promoting zou
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astron ISM above other religions and
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began imposing extra taxes on Christians
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but not Jews however most religious
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violence during the sasanian empire was
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targeted against the followers of mani
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and mazda who sought to reform the
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religion of Zoroastrianism despite the
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occasional religious upheaval and wars
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with the Romans the sasanian empire
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would prove to be one of the most stable
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and long-lived empires with a high
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standard of living giving rise to the
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perception of Persian luxury and
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sophistication
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during the redundantly named Byzantine
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Sicilian lure the sasanian empire
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reached its greatest extent this was the
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final and most devastating of a series
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of wars fought between the Byzantine or
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Eastern Roman Empire and the sustaining
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Empire of Persia the Persians laid siege
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to Constantinople but failed in taking
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the Roman capital and were beaten back
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to their original borders by the end of
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the conflict both sides had exhausted
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their human and material resources and
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achieved very little consequently they
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were left vulnerable to the sudden
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emergence of the Islamic Russia Dan Kahl
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famed whose armies invaded both empires
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only a few years after the war had ended
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the Arab forces quickly conquered the
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entire sasanian empire and deprived the
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Byzantine Empire in its
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territories in the Levant the Caucasus
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Egypt in North Africa for centuries the
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Romans and sasanian had both hired Arab
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mercenaries to fight their wars against
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each other the armies that poured out of
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the Arabian desert upon the unexpected
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weakened empires were treading on very
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familiar ground this has been Epimetheus
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I hope you have enjoyed this brief
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overview of the ancient empires of Iran
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from the Elamites to the Islamic
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conquest this is truly one of the most
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impactful areas of the world on history
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even after the Islamic conquest the
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conquerors became the conquered and
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adopted much of Persian culture and
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exported it throughout the Islamic world
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from the Empire of corazon to that of
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Timur the lame the Iranian plateau has
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been near the center of world events
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since the beginning of recorded history
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let me know in the comments what empire
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and Iranian or Persian history you find
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most fascinating and would perhaps like
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to see a video on in the future don't
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forget to smash the like button that
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motivates me to keep going and don't
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forget to subscribe and hit the bell
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make a new video so you don't miss any
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and I'm a one-man operation I do all a
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drawing editing researching writing and
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narrating and I do it on my free time
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and if you would like to help me out
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with my expenses and running this
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