Iqbal Latif
به زبان فارسی
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Iranian contributions to civilization of man!
12-Dec-2011
Iranian contributions to civilization of man
With us ther was a Doctour of Phisyk
In al this world ne was ther noon him lyk
To speke of phisik and surgerye, . . .
Wel knew he the olde Esculapius,
And Deiscorides, and eek Rufus,
Old Ypocras, Haly, and Galien,
Serapion, Razis, and Avicen
I have started with Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote in his prologue to the Canterbury Tales, and named the great physicians of the past that his 14th-century audience could be expected to recognize Esculapius, Deiscorides, Rufus, Old Ypocras, Haly, and Galien. Chaucer then goes on to name physicians from the medieval world of Middle East Ibn Sarabiyun or Serapion; `Razis' the great clinician of the early 10th century; `Avicen', or Avicenna referring to Ibn Sina whose early 11th-century medical encyclopedia was as important in Europe as it was in the Middle East.
And this is one reason why 'Great civilisations' should not be subject to ruthless obliteration or bombed they are rich part of our human heritage! You don't kill a man who has cancer you take the cancer out, the cancerous growth of dogma under mullahcracy is one problem but to address it by bombing Iran is absurd.Âbâd bâd Iran va shad bâd Irani!
Ibn Khaldun emphasized the crucial role of the Iranians in promoting learning, sciences, arts, architecture, and medicine in Islamic civilization. According to Dr. Kaveh Farrokh 'It was pan-Arabists such as Sami Shawkat who insisted that history books such as those by Ibn Khaldun be destroyed or re-written to remove all references of Iranian contributions to Islamic civilization. The former Baathist regime in Iraq promoted such policies and even worked alongside numerous lobbies to promote historical revisionism at the international level.' He writes in The Muqaddimah Translated by F. Rosenthal (III, pp. 311-15, 271-4 [Arabic]; R.N. Frye (p.91):
“… It is a remarkable fact that, with few exceptions, most Muslim scholars…in the intellectual sciences have been non-Arabs…thus the founders of grammar were Sibawaih and after him, al-Farisi and Az-Zajjaj. All of them were of Persian descent…they invented rules of (Arabic) grammar…great jurists were Persians… only the Persians engaged in the task of preserving knowledge and writing systematic scholarly works. Thus the truth of the statement of the prophet becomes apparent, ‘If learning were suspended in the highest parts of heaven the Persians would attain it” … The intellectual sciences were also the preserve of the Persians, left alone by the Arabs, who did not cultivate them…as was the case with all crafts…This situation continued in the cities as long as the Persians and Persian countries, Iraq, Khorasan and Transoxiana (modern Central Asia), retained their sedentary culture.”
Dr. Kaveh Farrokh says that ‘Iraq’ actually means. ‘Iraq’ is derived from Middle Persian or dialectical Pahlavi; it means ‘the lowlands’, like the Germanic term “Niederland” for modern day Holland. There is a region in Iran today which shares the same Pahlavi root as ‘Iraq’ – modern day Arak. The term ‘Baghdad’ is also of Iranian origin – “Boghu” (God) + “dad”(provided by, given by, bestowed by) – “Baghdad” is rough Iranian equivalent of the term “Godiva“. The remains of the capital of the Sassanian Empire, Ctesiphon, stand only 40 kilometers from modern Baghdad. If you have a look at the remains of the Archway of Khosrow located just forty kilometers from Baghdad in Iraq. The term “Baghdad” is old Persian for “Bestowed by God” or “Godiva”.
A hospital was called a bimaristan, often contracted to maristan, from the Persian word bimar, `ill person', and stan, `place.'The earliest documented hospital established by a ruler was built in the 9th century in Baghdad probably by the vizier to the caliph Harun al-Rashid. There is no evidence to associate the construction of the earliest hospital with any of the Christian physicians from Gondeshapur in southwest Iran, but the prominence of the Bakhtishu` family as court physicians would suggest that they also played an important role in the function of the first hospital in Baghdad.
Verses upon the death in Baghdad of the physician Yuhanna ibn Masawayh in 857 (243 H):
The physician, with his medical art and his drugs,
Cannot avert a summons that has come,
What ails the physician that he dies of the disease
That he would have cured in time gone by?
There died alike he who administered the drug and he who took it,
And he who imported and sold the drug, and he who bought it.
Latin translations of these practices provided late medieval Europe with ideas and practices from which early modern medicine eventually arose from Greek medical teaching and medical literature of the 9th to 12th century professionally practiced by `Razis' and Ibn Sina .
Iranian scholars of the Islamic era are: Zakaria Razi “Rhazes” (860- 923 or 932, born in Rayy, near Tehran), Abu Ali Sina “Avecenna” (980 -1037, born in Afshana, near Bukhara, ancient Samanid Capital), Abu Rayhan Biruni (973 – 1043, born in Khiva, Ancient Khwarazm now modern Afghanistan), Omar Khayyam (1044-1123, born in Nishabur, Khorasan), Mohammad Khwarazmi (d. 844, born in Khiva, Ancient Khwarazm, now in Modern Afghanistan). Not a single one of these scientists hailed from an Arab-speaking region, all were born in what is now Iran or the former realms of Persian speaking world. (source:wiki)
One of the greatest names in medieval medicine is that of Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya' al-Razi, who was born in the Iranian City of Rayy in 865 (251 H) and died in the same town about 925 (312 H).
`Adudi hospital was founded in 980 (370 H), more than 50 years after al-Razi died, it must be an earlier hospital, probably the one founded during the reign of al-Mu`tadid (ruled 892-902/279-289 H), which he helped locate and of which he was later director.
The most sought after of all his compositions was The Comprehensive Book on Medicine (Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb) -- a large private notebook or commonplace book into which he placed extracts from earlier authors regarding diseases and therapy and also recorded clinical cases of his own experience.
Following al-Razi's death, Ibn al-`Amid, a statesman and scholar appointed vizier to the Persian ruler Rukn al-Dawlah in 939 (327 H), happened to be in the town of Rayy and purchased from al-Razi's sister the notes comprising the Hawi, or Comprehensive Book. He then arranged for the pupils of al-Razi to put the notes in order and make them available.
`Ali ibn al-`Abbas al-Majusi (d. 994/384 H) was born into a Zoroastrian family from the Iranian city of Ahwaz about the time of al-Razi's death. Al-Majusi practiced medicine in Baghdad and served as physician to the ruler `Adud al-Dawlah, founder of the `Adudi hospital in Baghdad. It was to him that al-Majusi dedicated his only treatise, The Complete Book of the Medical Art (Kitab Kamil al-sina`ah al-tibbiyah), also called The Royal Book (al-Kitab al-Malaki). It is one of the most comprehensive and well-organized compendia in early medical literature. In Europe the treatise was known as Liber regius or Pantegni and the author as Haly Abbas.(source:wiki)
Al-Majusi began his influential Arabic encyclopedia with a critical survey of his sources, which included Hippocrates and Galen as well as al-Razi. While commending al-Razi's medical epitome dedicated to Mansur, al-Majusi criticized the Comprehensive Book on Medicine, the Hawi, for being too long (the modern printed version is incomplete at 23 volumes) and not well organized, since it had been intended as an aide-memoire and general medical record for al-Razi's own private use. Al-Majusi stated that the Hawi was so enormous that few could afford copies of it, and that in fact he knew of only two people who owned a copy, "both of whom were people of culture, learning, and wealth."
Of all physicians, the best known name is that of Abu `Ali al-Husayn ibn `Abd Allah ibn Sina, known to Europe as Avicenna. He was born in 980 (370 H) in Central Asia and traveled widely in the eastern Islamic lands, composing nearly 270 different treatises. When he died in 1037 (428 H) he was known as one of the greatest philosophers in Islam, and in medicine was so highly regarded that he was compared to Galen.
Ibn Sina's magnum opus by which he was known East and West is the Kitab al-Qanun fi al-tibb or Canon of Medicine. It was composed over a lengthy period of time as he moved westward from Gurgan, in northern Iran, where it was begun, to Rayy and then to Hamadan even further southwest, where he completed it. The large comprehensive Arabic encyclopedia rivaled the popularity of al-Majusi's compendium and in many quarters surpassed it. (source:wiki)
To expound it further lets read Ali Jafarey who writes ''
''In its thousand years of supremacy, Pârsi has shaped one of the most excellent and premium creative writing from the ‘a’ of ‘anatomy’ to the ‘z’ of ‘zoology’ on animals, art, architecture, astrology, astronomy, drama, food, games, geography, government, history, humor, literature, magic, medicine, music, religion (Zoroastrian, Manichaeism, Mazdak Movement, Islam, Sufism, Christianity and Baha’ism), science, ‘translation and commentary’ (from Arabic,Greek, Pahlavi, Sanskrit, Turkish and other languages into Pârsi), and other fields of the human life. Phonetically, it sounds sweet to ears. Its articulated vowels make it much less guttural. Its poetry is, perhaps, the richest in language, expression, inspiration, narration, rhyme, tune, length, height and depth in the world languages.
Well-known Pârsi authors, numbering around 400 persons, are not only writers, generally prolific, but simultaneously a combination of two or more as architects, artisans, astronomers, chemists, court flatterers, ecologists, fictionists, geographers, historians, linguists, litterateurs, mathematicians, musicians, mystics, philosophers, physicians, poets, politicians, rulers, scientists, teachers, technologists, theologians and zoologists.Among those known better in the Western World are: Abhari (Asir al-Din Abhari), Alpharabus (Abu Nasr Farabi), Avicenna (Abu Ali Sina), Biruni (Abu Reihan Biruni), Ferdowsi (Abol Ghassem Ferdowsi Tusi), Geber (Jaber Ibn Hayyan), Hafez (Khajeh Shams al-Din Hafez-e Shirazi), Haravi (Abu Mansur Movaffaq Heravi), Kashi (Ghyas al-Din Jamshid Kashi), Kharazmi (Mohammad Kharazmi), Khayyam (Omar Khayyam Nishapuri), Rhazes (Zakariya Razi), Rumi (Mowlana Jal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi), and Sa’di ( Sheikh Sharaf al-Din Mosleh Shirazi). Its Shâhnâmeh, the Book of Kings, composed 1,000 years ago by Ferdowsi Tusi, is unique in the World Literature. Consisting of 60,000 couplets, it begins in the name of ‘God of Life and Wisdom’, Who is higher than human conception and Who created the Universe and maintains and guides it. It praises Wisdom as the best Gift of God to humanity. God created the earth along with fire, air and water, and then the plants and animals. Mankind appeared in an erect posture. The human history begins from the days of cave-dwelling, vegetarian food, scanty covering and stone implements, through the discovery of kindling fire, turning to the ‘devilish’ meat eating, animal domestication, architecture, dress making, metal implements, medicine, commerce and navigation, to the invasion of Iran by the Arab Muslims and the end of the Sassanian Empire. That is where the Shahnameh ends. As a nationalist, Ferdowsi did not want to continue the History of Iran under alien occupation. ''
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Iqbal Latif
by JahanKhalili on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:37 AM PSTAnyone can say anything.
What matters is whether you have any qualifications in the field of psychiatry or psychology.
My guess is that you don't - particularly since you're Iranian and show their usual lack of caution in applying names or explanations to things.
Hooshang
by JahanKhalili on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:36 AM PSTActually, Iran was defeated by the Arabs.
It involved a war, and several battles.
Then Iranians made peace with their conquerors, and became Muslim - and arguably changed the relligion and internationalized it from being simply a Bedouin Arab religion.
It didn't just happen like a change in the weather.
... sort of the way a jailer forces a prisoner to pay attention
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 06:29 PM PST@... sort of the way a jailer forces a prisoner to pay attention to him.
I was just answering to what you wrote about yourself, now little did I realize that you will not appreciate the therapeutic scholastic issues that relate to such conditions as you highlighted, I made no judgment only a response to what you said you suffered from.
JK, your ignorance of Iranian history just boggles the mind
by Hooshang Tarreh-Gol on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:34 AM PSTGo and read for once in your life just what happened to Iran when we all became Shia all of a sudden.Go and read what it meant to live under a one part state of Shah.
What I'm saying is that; your basically too ignorant of Iranian history and too arrogant in your half-baked, half-paragraph mode of dialogue, to make any educated statement on Iran, its history, culture, peole,..
EDUCATE YOURSELF, ELEVATE YOUR LEVEL OF DISCOURSE.
Last but not least, in any country or society you have different social classes. Some are rulers, soem are ruled. Though they all speak the same language, only a moron will pack them all up in one basket and treat all of them as one. Ponder on the meaning of the term: social calsses and its mplications.
I learn from him! I believe in Socratic method
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:41 AM PST@People don't know each other living with them for decades and you make statements about people's characters online?
The Socratic method (also known as method of elenchus, elenctic method,Socratic irony, or Socratic debate), named after the classical Greek philosopherSocrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinkingand to illuminate ideas. It is a dialectical method, often involving an oppositional discussion in which the defense of one point of view is pitted against the defense of another; one participant may lead another to contradict him in some way, strengthening the inquirer's own point.
The Socratic method is a negative method of hypothesis elimination, in that better hypotheses are found by steadily identifying and eliminating those that lead to contradictions. The Socratic method searches for general, commonly held truths that shape opinion, and scrutinizes them to determine their consistency with other beliefs.
Cartesian dualism is simply Descartes concept of dualism. Descartes’ famous saying epitomizes the dualism concept. He said, “cogito ergo sum,” “I reflect therefore I am.” That is my motto on this site if you read.
I did not make any assumptions on his way of thinking, please revisit what was exchanged:
@... sort of the way a jailer forces a prisoner to pay attention to him.
I was just answering to what you wrote about yourself, now little did I realize that you will not appreciate
the therapeutic scholastic issues that relate to such conditions as you highlighted, I made no judgment only a response to what you said you suffered from.
This dynamics of a limited war is very misleading.
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:25 AM PSTA limited war can be very much all encompassing total war.
A conventional weapon attack on nuclear power stations in Iran, for example, could result in a huge collateral damage, open Chernobyl's in Iran. The Union Carbide plant in Bhopal could be simulated by a 500-kg conventional High Explosive (HE) warhead. Asphyxiation of thousands is likely to be the main cause of casualties of straight attacks in Iran that relies so extensively on synthetics. The few high value assets Iran possess which have been acquired through investment of scarce resources will be difficult to replace. Iran development would be set back perhaps more than two- three decades, first by air attacks and later continuous air campaign if Iran will resist and counter attack, the whole proposition of this attack on Iran is a based on the concept that Iran will be relatively destroyed in no time and regime change will ensue. The concept of limited war in Iran has no validity at all, this will incite great tensions in the region and will lead to far bigger regional issues.Dont ever try to kill a fly with a hammer.
Yeah, Hooshang - Exiles
by JahanKhalili on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:15 AM PSTThings just happened to Iran without Iranians being involved in them.
Sort of like a natural disaster.
Is that what you're saying?
Iqbal Latif, I am the light of my present presence
by Tiger Lily on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:10 AM PSTEwwwa, I was typing a thank you to you for at least , typing up a list of accomplishments.
;)
However, you are not giving yourself any form of serious credence by speculating about the state of mind of other posters. For all you know, JK might be laughing his head off winding you up or in menopausal tears or or or.
People don't know each other living with them for decades and you make statements about people's characters online?
PFFFT!
Cartesian enquiries should have taught you not to make leaps of assumptions.
JK, has anyone ever mentioned the word EXILE to you
by Hooshang Tarreh-Gol on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:06 AM PSTDo you have the vaguest idea, just in the past 300 hundred years, how much forced and 'voluntary' EXILE has become a part and parcel of our culture.
Starting with Safavieh, and the first great wave of escape to India, hence the Parsi's of India, to 20th century, and Shah's mandatory participation in Rastakhiz Party or, you guessed it involuntary exile. To the theocracy of Islamic Republic of Hell EXILE has become as much a part of our culture and 'tradition' as Noroz.
The substance of ones love to a society and it culture and history is in what you do to defend its people and aid them in their struggles for freedom and justice. There are manyIranians abroad who through their works on behalf of people in Iran, in one day do more good for the people of Iran, than many inside the country might do in a life time.
Mr. Iqbal Latif
by JahanKhalili on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:06 AM PSTAre you a psychiatrist? Do you have any certifications to make diagnosis of psychological conditions in others?
I am shadow of my past ..
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:00 AM PSTIn simple terms no, I am student of history, I learn
from times of yore!
You are actually suffering from reverse 'Stockholm Syndrome.
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:58 AM PSTSo you are actually suffering from reverse 'Stockholm Syndrome.'
In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them.
Btw Iqbal Latif, your Cartisian mantra
by Tiger Lily on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:57 AM PSTWould you mind getting out of the 17th Century and moving into the contemporary domain?
It seems easier for Iranians to love Iran from elsewhere
by JahanKhalili on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:55 AM PSTThat way they can dream up whatever fantasy suits them, without rude reality staring them in the face and ruining it.
dear IL
by Truthseeker9 on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:59 AM PSTI think the problem is many young Iranians are sick and tired of the posturing and boasting of people who keep going on and on about the past - 'Great civilisations' and want to move on to talks about the future. There have been many 'Great civilisations' but they have moved on and progressed in many ways.
When you say Iran should not be subject to ruthless obliteration, what are you talking about? If Israel did attack Iran it would probably focus strikes on select nuclear facilities while trying to avoid killing civilians en masse or crippling the oil sector. Are you seriously saying they will target cultural sites?
Apologies, but I have not had the time to read all your article as am at work.
JK, WELL DONE!
by Tiger Lily on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:54 AM PSTAgree or disagreeing with you, first off thanks for the Cyrus cult crap that is seriously beginning to get on my nerves, and not only that: on IC , at least, the usual plebs, can't resist their usual mind-reading and personal, projected attacks out of their tiny numbskulls.
But yet again, JK, I tell you, that these are the plebs....
Love-hate?
by JahanKhalili on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:53 AM PSTHow can you claim to love your own country so much when you aren't even in it?
Actually
by JahanKhalili on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:50 AM PSTIranians weren't the most interesting thing in Iran for me.
But they kept pestering me and interfering with my life so much - trying to force me to be like them, etc. until I finally was just forced to pay attention to them...
... sort of the way a jailer forces a prisoner to pay attention to him.
Your love and hate of Iran is intriguing Jahan Jaan!!
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:51 AM PST“You hate someone whom you really wish to love, but whom you cannot love. Perhaps he himself prevents you. That is a disguised form of love.”
Your mesmerizing obsession with this great nation only confirms Jahan how great this nation is. Your affair with Iran is love when looked through a telescope; envy, through a microscope. Both of us seemingly non Iranian care for Iran; a nation is majestic when outsiders acknowledge it, often it is the most guilty people who cannot help hatred of those who build them.
You never seem to miss any moment where begrudgingly you don't try your best to put some sticky twist, some twirl, some troll and some spanner in the workings of this nation. I adore your fascination, fixation and worship that seemingly has gone sour. This saying fits you very well for example dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.
Aren't Iranians just full of greatness?
by JahanKhalili on Fri Dec 16, 2011 09:28 AM PSTThey're so great that they have to mythologize about their greatness from OUTSIDE of Iran.
Why idea of bombing Iran is absurd!
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 08:30 AM PSTAt the core of the Socratic ritual is the readiness to query and discuss. In an open world, deliberations should be comprehensive. No one should be mistreated; likewise no one should dominate exceptionally the course of humankind as protector of truth.
''Why do you notice a chip that is in your brother's eye, and you do not observe the plank that is in your own eye?''
“Iran is reaching out a friendly hand to create unity between two countries with great civilisations and bright historical backgrounds.”
And this is one reason why 'Great civilisations' should not be subject to ruthless obliteration or bombed they are rich part of our human heritage! You don't kill a man who has cancer you take the cancer out, the cancerous growth of dogma under mullahcracy is one problem but to address it by bombing Iran is absurd. Âbâd bâd Iran va shad bâd Irani! History is not about religion but heritage.
Given that the Mullahs claim that they are pursuing the nuclear program to meet the country’s energy needs could only trick only dim-witted. They do see bomb as a tool of political grandstanding and blackmailing device. Bomb may help them with their regional ambitions to further the Shiite revolution in the Arabian peninsula. Saudis and other littoral Gulf states shudder to even think of the consequences of a nuclear pro-active Iran. With their fidgety and agitated Shiite population the balance of region will change forever.
Building nuclear plants on sites such as the one in Bushehr that sits on geological faults lines is utter lunacy. Yet, the only way out is the promotion of strong tradition of pluralistic society in Iran, Iranians are ready to rewrite and revise the itinerary of their revolutions priorities. The Mullahs regime in Iran have established a brutal lust for eliminating dissent in the name of gods enemy of earth. Tens of thousands of Iranian dissidents have been executed but bombing Iran will help restore mullah creditability as defenders of nations interest against foreign attack. This is like charitably handing a lifeline to a failing regime.
Iranian as a nation will unite against such an intrusion, it is better to support egalitarian ground work to help eradicate the regime through mass public support.
Iranians as a whole take pride in their pre-Islamic past. NawRuz is the biggest celebration on the Iranian calendar. They have maintained traditions that dates back 5,000 year old. The will of some minority mullahs to go nuke should not be translated as the will of majority of Iran. Help change the regime and Iran will be back on track.
Repercussions of an Iranian war will reignite the schism between Shiite- Sunni Islam that will not be limited to US or Israeli interests, it will engulf the entire region and will have serious reverberations on global oil supplies, as oil moving through strait of Hormuz will be subject of Iranian retaliation.
Is it worthwhile to subject another cradle of civilisation of the world to such uncertainties on vagueness of a weapon building programme, don't forget there was no serious nuclear warhead building discovered in Iraq! Nation with such a rich inheritance and legacy is not going to nuke anyone, those who gave civilisation to the world need a little more deference. The blinkered rigid unbending leaders of this nation need an revamp, global community needs to help them to change their leaders.
Idea of bombing Iran is absurd!
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 05:43 AM PSTIdea of bombing Iran is absurd! 'Great civilisations' should not be subject to ruthless obliteration.At the core of the Socratic ritual is the readiness to query and discuss. In an open world, deliberations should be comprehensive. No one should be mistreated; likewise no one should dominate exceptionally the course of humankind as protector of truth.
''Why do you notice a chip that is in your brother's eye, and you do not observe the plank that is in your own eye?''
//iqballatif.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/16/9490862-idea-of-bombing-iran-is-absurd-great-civilisations-should-not-be-subject-to-ruthless-obliteration
Thanks
by Iqbal Latif on Fri Dec 16, 2011 05:40 AM PSTI ordered this one..
@IL
by vildemose on Tue Dec 13, 2011 03:08 PM PSTHere is another great book by Tom Holland, "Persain Fire":
//www.amazon.com/Persian-Fire-First-Empire-Battle/dp/0385513119/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-1368292-5112658?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173677731&sr=8-1
For the actual history I highly recommend Tom Holland’s “Persian fire : the first world empire and the battle for the West”.
Description and review:
"A very good book not only on wars but also on persian empire. In a time when cultures of East and West seemed farther apart than ever, Holland concentrates on explaining the mighty Persian culture which, from the time of the victorious Greeks to our own day, was mocked, denigrated, and underestimated. He makes a fairly clear argument that this kind of cultural misapprehension, after the famous Greek victory, led to an alienation between East and West which had not really existed prior to the Persian invasions, and which affects our understandings even today. This book goes beyond these events, and covers much territory concerning the founding of the Persian Empire, and early Greek city-states, and the inevitable clash that resulted from their proximity.
In a world where the East rubs up against the West he can fill in the historical blanks that still bedevil us to this day. And today it still seems to me that we are living in the same battle of the past (East) versus the future (West). PERSIAN FIRE sets todays headlines, in some respects, against a 2500 year old backdrop. As we might watch the CBS news, the Athenians, in the shadow of their burned and gutted Acropolis, would watch the young buck playwright, Aeschylus, stage THE PERSIANS one year after the exhausted Greeks had won the war and returned to the abandoned Athens. Spartans, that weird and long-haired race of warriors, get their fair share of exposure but lose some of their mystique in Holland's re-telling of Thermopylae and the Spartan king's last stand.
He shows just why the Persian culture - in many ways, far superior to that of the more primitive Greeks - deserved respect for its own accomplishments, as well as how and why the Greeks came to blow up their honest victories and denigrate their Persian foes. All these points give PERSIAN FIRE a peculiarly modern resonance, as well as telling some of the greatest stories of antiquity with clarity and flair."
A state of war only serves
as an excuse for domestic tyranny.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Born December 11, 1918
IL: Have you read the book,
by vildemose on Tue Dec 13, 2011 02:55 PM PSTIL: Have you read the book, "Lost Wisdom" by Abbas Milani?
Here is a book description from Amazon.com:
In the essays collected here, Abbas Milani uses an impressive array of cross-disciplinary Western and Iranian theories and texts to investigate the crucial question of modernity in Iran today. He offers a wealth of new insights into the thousand-year-old conflict in Iran between the search for modernity and the forces of religious obscurantism. The essays trace the roots of Shiite Islamic fundamentalism and offer illuminating accounts of the work of Iranian intellectuals - both men and women - and their artistic movements as they struggle to find a new path toward a genuine modernity in Iran that is congruent with Iran's rich cultural heritage. The book challenges the hitherto accepted theory that modernity and its related concepts of democracy and freedom are Western in essence. It also demonstrates that Iran and the West have more that brings them together than separates them in their search for such modern ideals as rationalism, the rule of law, and democracy. Show More//www.amazon.com/Lost-Wisdom-Rethinking-Modernity-Iran/dp/0934211892/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323816640&sr=1-2
Please don't engage with those whose comments are always accusatory, inflammatory and almost militristic. You only feed their vanity.
A state of war only serves
as an excuse for domestic tyranny.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Born December 11, 1918
Myths abound
by JahanKhalili on Tue Dec 13, 2011 02:40 PM PSTEveryone builds them to accomplish something.
Hitler may have been made into a myth by his admirers.
His detractors also make their own particular myths about him.
The truth about Hitler isn't found either by people who worship him, or by people who hate him.
It would take someone who has no particular feelings about him, and who is willing to ignore what others think, to really dig up real information about him.
Its the same with Iranian history.
The truth plays no favorites, and kicks everyone's ass.
Jews for instance were behind much of the crimes committed by the early Bolsheviks.
The inventor of the type of concentration camp where people were forced to work as inexpensive labor was apparently a Turkish Jew named Naftaly Frenkel.
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naftaly_Frenkel
The truth kicks everyone's ass.
People seem to need myths
by JahanKhalili on Tue Dec 13, 2011 02:33 PM PSTAll these myths are obviously satisfying some need.
But are they true?
Of course not.
People might need myths, and might like them. But I don't think much of them for needing them.
Great Empires are built by great man not Eunuchs!
by Iqbal Latif on Tue Dec 13, 2011 01:36 PM PSTYesterday you said ‘If anger were always self-destructive, all those who are capable of it would have been weeded out of the gene pool. The fact that everyone gets angry over something, shows that anger has a place and is in fact at times necessary. ‘ This is what is known as survival of the fittest right? Today, when Cyrus turn came to conquer and die and get angry you say: 'What kind of respecter of human rights goes out to kill and conquer others?' Ouch; Jahan, I kind of hit the worng nerve here. Cyrus was an angry man against the entrenched ignorance of the masses; he did not want to be weeded out of the gene pool. What you want; the Great Cyrus to be an Eunuch? Amerika, Adolf Agha can kill; but Cyrus the great should have not; now what kind of logic is this Jahan. Get your judgment right.
as much as I hate it..
by Mullahkosh on Tue Dec 13, 2011 01:20 PM PSTI am gone have to agree with the delusional dude. Even a broken clock is right twice a day! The cylinder is not a declaration of human rights. Cyrus the Great is the founder, and father of Iran, an amazing human being, one and only, and there will not be one like him again in Iran. But I have a tremendous dislike of us going overboard to highlight his achievements. His achievements are brilliant on their own merit, and need no exaggeration.
The cylinder is his declaration on the conquest of babylon, and while there is reference in it about his tolerance of Marduk, and other Babylonian deities, and religion, the cylinder can't be considered a declaration of human rights. Having said this, I love the man to death, and his shit is worth more than 10000 alis, and mohammads of the world. In his respective time, he was far more civilized and cultured than many who came after him many many centuries later. He certainly treated his subjects with civility, and honor, and he died honorably in the battle, unlike fascists like Hitler, mohammad, or khomeini who hide in bunkers, and kill themselves, or drink a poison chalice, or have sexual intercourse with 9 year old girls while delusionally refering to themselves as prophet of "god"..
When one spits on the Sun the spits returns back !!
by Iqbal Latif on Tue Dec 13, 2011 01:16 PM PST‘The Charter of Cyrus the Great is one of the most important documents in the history of human rights.’
Cyrus the Great (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)
Jacob Abbott
I Am Cyrus
"I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters, the son of Cambyses, great king, king of Ansan, grandson of Cyrus, great king, king of Ansan, descendant of Teispes, great king, king of Ansan, of an eternal line of kingship, whose rule Bêl and Nabu love, whose kingship they desire fot their hearts' pleasure."
-- Cyrus the Great as quoted on the Cyrus cylinder (c. 538 B.C) (Source of translation: livius.org)
//www.squidoo.com/cyrus-the-great
By the way we can shove up the cylinder in this debate; I don’t need a 'cylinder' to prove an immense civilization. You have buried your head in the sand like an ostrich arguing with me on Iran’s virtues. One of the greatest virtue is that this debate is going on a not a single voice of disrespect has emerged from any side of the aisle.
I do read your blog and see that you are not prepared to respect substantiation, you asked for list of books I gave them, you asked for list of notable man we provided. You need to understand that by ‘showering potent shit’ on to the fan in your own house under your own roof will not end up to be a very pleasing practice.
Those who disregard their own origins end up like indolent nomad neither here nor there. Intellectual debates are conducted on basis of facts and figures. Vagabond out of context thoughts will die their own death. When one spits on the Sun the spits returns back with supplementary speed of gravity.