Iranian Civilization

As suggested in the accompanying discussion, civilizations are broad historical phenomena that played a major part in the human story. They did not simply exist; they contributed, they achieved. To assess a civilization means to try to gain some idea of the quality of this achievement. By "quality" we mean two quite different things. First, how does this civilization "stack up" when measured against others. Second, what are the particular characteristics that those who know the civilization are likely to emphasize in their own minds. Consistent with the approach taken in the other pages here, our emphasis will be on the latter sense of quality. One does not need to rate on a scale Zinfandel versus Shiraz to be able to appreciate both as valuable additions to the world of wine.

The most outstanding achievement of Iranian Civilization was the creation and promulgation of religious belief systems. In our secular age (and the author is certainly a secularist), religion may not be as highly valued in the intellectual community as it once was. But in judging the past it is a mistake to use the assumptions and standards of the present. For most of human history, religious faiths shaped human lives, and the prophets and seers and "missionaries" who developed and promoted them were, with justice, highly valued.

Zoroastrianism is Iranian Civilization's best known religious contribution. Its origins in Central Asia may predate the Achaemenid Empire that extended at different times from Egypt in the West to India in the East. However, it is unclear what the relationship of the faith was with the political system. In a ritualized form it did become the state religion of Sassanian Iran (third to sixth century A.D.). After the Sassanian collapse in the sixth century, it has continued to be the faith of small groups, particularly the Parsis in India. At its best, Zoroastrianism offered a highly abstract and intellectual understanding of the gods, with an unusually vivid emphasis on personal morality

Yet during the period of its dominance, it was by no means the only religious system emanating from Iran. Many of the concepts of early Christianity came wholly or in part from a variety of Iranian sources. The idea that human history is the story of an eternal struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil come directly and indirectly from Zoroastrianism and its offspring in Mesopotamia. Manichaeism was created in this atmosphere by Mani, an Iranian living in what is now Iraq. During his short lifetime he traveled widely, incorporating items of both Christianity to the west and Buddhism to the east. Shortly after Mani, there arose Mazdak, an Iranian bringing a similar message to the Sassanian Court. In addition to the struggle of good and evil, he preached absolute equality to a society noted for its extreme inequality. Although Mazdak and his followers were eventually rounded up and executed (as Mani had been), the threat of his movement hung heavily over the Islamic Middle Ages.

The Ismaili movement within Islam seems to have owed a great deal to the same tradition. Emphasizing the nobility of poverty and the necessity of separating decisively from the orthodox community, the Ismailis, although politically identified at first with the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt was nevertheless Iranian in origin, and the movement developed in Iran (and through its emissaries in Syria) a scattered but tightly-knit mystical society. The Ismailis were a highly structured anti-establishment religious organization with an active missionary corps. Operating out of widely scattered mountain fortresses it became known for the campaign of assassination directed against political leaders. For more about its history, associations, and later migration to India (following the route of the Zoroastrians before them) read this fascinating on-line book

Within Islam, Iran has come to be identified with "twelver" Shiism rather than the Ismaili version. But in earlier periods, the main creativity of Islamic Iran was in the development of a wide variety of Sufi approaches to religion — and Sufism in turn seems to have had a close affinity to Ismailism. The mysticism of many Sunnis (for Iranians before the fifteenth century were mostly Sunnis) has been an important element in the development of Persian poetry (see below). Echoing Ismaili and ancient Zoroastrian tradition, in the nineteenth century Babism and later Bahaiism developed within Iran. A syncretistic religion, it is historically parallel the Sikh religion in India. Bahaiism's Iranian basis can be understood in retrospect to have been a conjoining of the messianic beliefs of the Zoroastrians (from whose remaining Iranian communities some Bahais converts came) with messianic beliefs within more mainline Islam. But it has also developed into a modern sect with an aspiration to encompass all religions.

The second most remarkable contribution of Iranian Civilization to World Civilization was literary, primarily in verse. The canon is enormous, ranging from literary epics to the well-known quatrains. The poets were concentrated historically at the courts of kings throughout the Iranian world. But some of the best work was done by more independent mystics, or persons of mystic tendencies. Like religion, Persian literature had great influence beyond the confines of Iran, particularly in the Indian subcontinent.

The third major area of Persian creativity was in miniature painting. Although the original impetus seems to have come from China, and early examples clearly show Chinese influence, the miniature art soon grew far beyond its origins. Later it formed the basis for many schools of Indian painting as well. A remarkable characteristic of these Iranian creations is that they grew up within an Islamic culture that forbade the depiction of human beings. Miniatures, nevertheless, are almost entirely about human beings. They also feed into another aspect of Iranian art, its essentially decorative rather than representational character. This can be seen most clearly in Persian rugs, one of the few Iranian achievements that is still alive and well (although most Persian-design rugs are no longer made in Iran).

I have tried here to only hit the high spots as I understand them. Before the modern era, Iranians achieved eminence in many fields. The Achaemenid Empire represented a major administrative creation, but others will have to judge its creativity in this area. Certainly with its Qanats and other irrigation structures Iranians made the desert bloom in the absence of significant rivers. Iranian Central Asia was a leading area of scientific and philosophic activity for a portion of the Islamic Middle Ages, producing notable figures such as Ibn Sina (Avicenna). (Omar Khayyam was not a tent maker but well-known mathematicians in his time.) Yet in this area and many others that might be mentioned, creativity might be better understood within the framework of the dominant Islamic Civilization of the time. Science and philosophy was nearly always in Arabic, the Latin of that world. Iranians were also very creative in calligraphy, particularly in the nasta'liq and shekaste styles. However, since the "home base" of this effort was surely the Arab world, its civilizational base is mixed.

I have only sketched the beginning of an assessment. Some of the references offered by the accompanying links will allow the interested reader to go much further and form his own conclusions. My feeling is that we can answer affirmatively that Iranian Civilization did make an important contribution to the world. We have not answered the next question: What difference should this make to modern Iranians and students of Iran?