Perspolis Turns Into Ashes

A hero to one nation may well be a sucker to another; and that's the case for Alexander the Great. After the battle of Gaugamela Dariush III retreated to Ecbatana on Oct, 4, 331 B.C. to rearrange a new army. However uprisings started all over the kingdom. Alexander conquers Babylon and Susa easily and sets off for Perspolis. The city did not have city walls and as the symbol of the Persian empire, it was the richest city in the world. Alexander plundered the city, massacred all residents and the same night set Perspolis on fire; thus leaving the once glorious empire to ashes. Of few things left from the ruins are tablets made of clay that turned into bricks in the fire as a means to tell future generations the story of the greatest empire on earth. These tablets show that all people working in Perspolis had a wage and that slavery was forbidden. Women had a wage similar to men and earned salary during pregnancy. We also know that Elamid, Aramaic, and other languages were used alongside Iranian languages depicting the importance Achaemenids thought of preserving multi cultural societies. Alexander's conquest started as a savior but he became hated, then known as a barbaric person after burning Herat and it's residents. (Updated: Aug, 11, 2008)

Rhagae Falls After 3 Days Of Resistance

After the Gaugamela battle, the defeated Iranian army started retreating till they reached Rhagae. Despite having no leader and no supplies, starting from May, 16th, with the help of local citizens, a bloody battle continued street by street. While Rhagae citadel was being defended by local residents, the remaining soldiers continued fighting the mighty Alexander forces on every corner and district of Rhagae. This created some time for the civilians to evacuate the city. Finally after three days of heroic resistance, the defending army fled at night towards Damghan. Probably the news that Dariush III was killed by his officers had demoralized them. (Updated: Jan, 29, 2008)

Alexander Gets Stuck In Darband

It's been narrated by Callisthenes who kept Alexander's diary that on this day, the army of Alexander that consisted of tens of thousands of soldiers could not proceed at a passage in Darband Pars where a regimen of 1000-1200 Iranian soldiers leaded by Ario Borzin confronted Alexander's army. The same great army that had conquered Egypt, Babylon and Susa and had won 3 consequent battles with Dariush III, the last Achaemenid king. At last these people could only be defeated by attacking them from top of the mountains. Every single soldier was killed including Youtab, Ario's sister who was also reportedly a great soldier. This event is very similar to the famous resistance of Leonidas against Xerxes army 90 years earlier, however little has been said about Ario Borzin. Another issue that makes their heroic action remarkable is the fact that Dariush III had been arrested and killed by Bessus the satrap of Bactria), Satibarzanes (the satrap of Arachosia and Drangiana) and Barsaentes (the satrap of Aria) in July 330, and thus this regimen did not have a live leader. (Updated: Feb, 5, 2008)

• Alexander the Great: اسکندر کبير
• Aramaic: آراميک
• Aria: آريا
• Ario Borzin: آريو برزين
• Bab: باب
• Babylon: بابل
• Bactria: باختر(خوارزم)
• Callisthenes: کاليستنس
• Damghan: دامغان(Damqan)
• Darband: دربند
• Dariush: داريوش(Darius)
• Dariush I: داريوش اول(Dariush the Great)
• Ecbatana: اکباتان(Ekbatana-هکمتانه)
• Egypt: مصر
• Elam: ايلام
• Gaugamela: گاوگمل
• Herat: هرات
• Leonidas: ليونيدس
• Pars: پارس
• Persia: ايران
• Perspolis: پرسپوليس(Persepolis-پارسه خشتر)
• Rhagae: ري(Ray, Rey)
• Xerxes: خشايارشاه(Ahasverus)
• Youtab: يوتاب