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Inventions and innovations in ancient Persia
Ancient Persian culture has contributed to many aspects of the modern world, and people take it for granted that these aspects have always existed. The word "Persia" comes from Greece-mainly from the historian Herodotus-but Persians call themselves Iranians and come from Aryans, meaning "noble" or "free" and have done nothing to become a race.

Although this is understandable, any reference to ancient Iranian culture-at least in the west-is still called "Persia" because it is the legacy left by Greek writers.

The Persians built an empire, extending from what is now Turkey to India, up to Syria and down to Egypt. In addition, they invented and maintained well-known facilities, policies, practices, systems and religious aspects-but they are not always correct today. These include:

The first declaration of human rights

Irrigation and refrigeration

Landscape Gardens and the Word "Heaven"

Birthday celebration, animation, guitar and dessert

monotheism

Elite military units and uniforms

Windmills and air conditioning

Postal system and highways

teaching hospital

heavy cavalry

Although these contributions may be understood as commonplace today, they were completely novel at that time. Although there are gardens in other cultures, the Egyptian Pharaoh Okhennathan (BC 1353- 1336) put forward monotheism centuries ago, but the Persians were the first to fully develop these concepts.

The first declaration of human rights

Cyrus document is a cuneiform character engraved with pottery vessels issued by Cyrus II in 539 BC (about 550-530 BC). This is an official document that tells cyrus the great that the Achaemenid Empire, which conquered and made up for various regions (about 550-330 BC), and how they accepted his rule. Then, he talked about how he improved people's lives by giving them rights and freedoms. This document has long been (and will continue to be) understood as a royal propaganda to establish the majesty of the monarch, but since A.D. 197 1, it has been increasingly recognized as the first human rights declaration in the world. The Achaemenid Empire granted its citizens freedom of religious thought and practice, as well as freedom denied by many other cultures, including almost equal rights for women.

Irrigation and refrigeration

The concepts of irrigation and cold storage are usually regarded as cyrus the great's, but in fact they were invented by early Persian innovators and confirmed during the reign of Assyrian King Sargon II (722-705 BC). The Karez system is dug into a vertical axis by an inclined channel, and the earth takes water from the underground aquifer at regular intervals to irrigate the originally arid land and turn them into lush landscapes. Karez system irrigates farmland and allows well-designed gardens to be planted. Yakhchal is a dome refrigeration device, which is used to store ice, but clay is also used to keep food cool in time.

Landscape Gardens and the Word "Heaven"

The garden opened by Karez has become a regular feature of Persian architectural design. It is said that cyrus the great spent as much time as possible in his garden before he began to manage his empire. These gardens are lush oases in daily life, where people can relax, think alone or enjoy the company of others. They are called pairi-daeza, and there is a word "heaven" in English.

Birthday celebration, animation, guitar and dessert

Persians were the first to develop grand birthday celebrations.

Persians were also the first to develop grand birthday celebrations, entertainment animation art and the custom of eating desserts after meals. Birthday celebrations originated (as in other cultures) to commemorate the birth of the monarch, but gradually spread to nobles and members of the lower classes. In ancient Persia, people celebrated their birthdays with special food and dessert cakes lit with candles. Entertainment may include animation-artifacts such as cups, which show a goat jumping in the air and grabbing leaves from a tree when the cup spins rapidly-and vocal music, accompanied by stringed instruments such as Qatar (also known as tar) and sestar, the predecessor of modern guitar. The practice of serving dessert after dinner is not limited to birthdays, but every day after dinner.

monotheism

Monotheism was first introduced into Egypt during the reign of Okhennathan. Some scholars and writers (including sigmund freud) suggested that Moses was influenced by Okhennathan's religion, and might even be one of his priests. Anyway, Zoroaster's Persian monotheism was put forward by the prophet Zoroaster in 1500- 1000 BC, and it was fully developed when early Judaism began to form (6th century BC-70 AD). Zoroastrianism has only one supreme existence, Ahumazda, and the purpose of life is to follow the will of the benevolent God through the principles of kindness, kindness and goodness. Zoroastrianism was also the first belief that completely developed the concepts of heaven, hell and purgatory.

Elite military units and uniforms

The median JI Wang Yaxares (River 625-585 BC) was the first person in this area to be divided into regiments and units (infantry, archers and cavalry) by his army, but cyrus the great, who conquered the media and reformed the early model, organized the army in decimal, and each unit consisted of ten smaller units: 65,438+00 people = one company; 10 company = 1 battalion; 10 battalion = one division; 10 divisions = a legion. Different units are identified by uniforms of different colors (purple, yellow and blue). They also developed the concept of elite military units: the 65,438+00,000 Persian gods of the famous Achaemenid Empire and the Knights of zabala under the Sassanian Empire (AD 224-6,565,438+0).

Windmills and air conditioning

The Persians invented windmill C in 500 AD, but it should be noted that this is the first recorded mention, and these devices may have been used earlier. Windmills are used to pump water and grind grain. They are woven from reeds and then fixed on the central shaft. This concept was almost certainly put forward by using sails on ships, but the Persians used wind on land through a ventilation system called a wind trap (wind tower), which is a structure attached to the top of buildings, attracting cold air downward and pushing warm air upward and outward. Scholars continue to argue whether the Persians or the Egyptians were the first to invent the wind trap, but the evidence seems to be more favorable to the Persians, earlier than the Achemenid period.

Postal system and highways

The unofficial motto of American postal service comes from Herodotus' description of Persian messenger system.

The concepts of postal system and highway were also developed by Persians. Darius I (Darius I, reigned from 522 to 486 BC) established the Persian highway network to improve the connection between the travel speed and his capital cities (Babylon, Ekplatana, Persepolis and Susa). Then, highways were used to transfer information between these cities and other cities, thus creating a postal system. The unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service-no matter whether it snows, rains or at night, these couriers will not be allowed to finish the designated inspection quickly-1914 The postal service (now called James A. Farley Building) in new york City comes from Herodotus' description of the Persian messenger system: "No matter what conditions-it may be snowy, rainy, hot or dark. Seleuc Empire (365438 BC+02-63 BC), Parthian Empire (247 BC-224 AD), Sassanian Dynasty and * * * people will continue to use this highway system and postal service.

teaching hospital

During the reign of Shapur I (A.D. 240-270), Gunder Shahpoor College was founded and quickly became the main knowledge and cultural center in this area. Now people think that its establishment was inspired by Shapur I's main wife Azadokht Sabanu, who took Greek doctors to the court of Think for the first time and established a hospital. Under the rule of the later emperor Koslau I (reigned in 53 1-579), Gunde Shahpoor flourished as the first teaching hospital in the world, with young well-trained doctors working under the supervision of more experienced doctors.

heavy cavalry

The Parthians were the first to develop the concept of heavy cavalry to deal with the weapons and armor of Greek and Roman opponents. Parthian armored cavalry wore helmets and chain mail coats, which were covered from neck to knee to arm, and their horses were also protected. Armored cavalry are equipped with compound bows, swords, daggers and spears. Sassanian Dynasty further developed this concept and established their elite armored cavalry, the Knights of zabala, which became one of the most powerful fighting forces in the ancient world.

conclusion

Persians are not only responsible for these inventions, innovations and customs, but also for Persian carpets, banquets and the popularization of tea as a daily drink. Cyrus the great was the first person to reform the tax system. The tax was turned over to the imperial treasury, not to the monarch, and then used to pay for public projects. Darius I excavated the predecessor of the Suez Canal, and his successor Xerxes I (reigned in 486-465 BC) built the longest "pontoon bridge" across the Ponte River in Hellers when he invaded Greece in 480 BC.

Herodotus pointed out that "Persians accept more foreign customs than anyone else" (I. 135), which is reflected in the fact that Persians accept new ideas and concepts and integrate them into their talents. In the ancient kingdom period (26 BC13-2 BC181), hospitals had been established in ancient Egypt, but the Sassanian dynasty, whose empire was famous for the innovation of the past model, further developed this concept in the form of teaching hospitals. There are also libraries and learning centers. Persian scholar Avicenna (980- 1037 BC) developed early medical knowledge to a higher level, poet Ferdosi (940- 1020 BC) expanded the concept of literary epic, and mathematician Al-Khwarizmi (780-850 BC) adopted early mathematical principles and invented algebra.

Many of the most famous concepts, customs and inventions in modern times-if their origins are considered-are wrongly attributed to the Greeks who wrote them or the * * * * people who did the same thing later. However, in fact, all of the above-and more-came from the Persian imagination; Look at what it is and imagine how it can get better.