Achaemenid Empire
(550 BC to 330 BC)
What happened?
The Achaemenid Empire or First Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BC by Cyrus the Great, in Western and Central Asia. The name of the dynasty comes from Achaemenes, who ruled Persis from 705 BC to 675 BC. Persis was land on the west of the Tigris River and on the South of the Persian Gulf. It was the first centralized nation-state and became during the expansion, about 550 BC to 500 BC, the first global empire and eventually ruled over significant portions of the ancient world.
By the 7th century BC, a group of ancient Iranian people established the Median Empire, a vassal state under the Assyrian Empire. After Assyria fell in 605 BC, Cyaxares, king of Medes, extended his rule west across Iran (2021), formerly known as Persia.
Around 550 BC, Cyrus II of Persia, named Cyrus the Great, rose in rebellion against the Median Empire, conquering Medes to create the first Persian Empire (= Achaemenid Empire). Cyrus used tactical methods, as well as his understanding of the socio-political conditions governing his territories. He assimilated the neighboring Lydian and neo-Babylonian empires into the new Persian Empire. The second and last Persian Empire was that of the Sassanids. The Arabs conquered Persia after that.
The empire extended from the Balkans and eastern Europe to the Indus Valley in the east. It was larger than any previous empire. The empire ruled by a centralized bureaucratic administration for its multicultural policy, and building infrastructure like road systems, postal system, use of an official language across the different territories, the development of civil services and a large professional army. Later empires let them inspire by the Persians.
After the death of Cyrus II, he was succeeded by his son Cambyses II, who conquered Egypt, Nubia and Cyrenaica in 525 BC. He died during a revolt in 522 BC. Gaumata, a Zoroastrian priest, staged a coup by impersonating Cambryses II’s younger brother Bardiya and seized the throne. Darius I, aka Darius the Great, overthrew Gaumata, solidified control of the territories and began a historic consolidation of lands. Darius I and his son Xerxe I ruled in the 5th century BC all Persian territories and all ground held by the Assyrian Empire, including Mesopotamia, Levant and Cyprus. Eventually Egypt fell too. Their expansion spread to Anatolia, Armenia, Macedonia, parts of Greece and Thrace, Central Asia, the Hindu Kush and the western Indus basin, and parts of northern Arabia and northern Libya.
In Western history, the Achaemenid Empire is known as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their daily lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange, some being employed by or allied to the Persian kings. The Persian empire was instrumental in the spread of Zoroastrianism as far east as China.
Tumbled Stone - Onyx
± 550 BC to 330 BC
Onyx is relatively uncommon in nature. Natural onyx comes from India and South America. This noble onyx is known and used by the earliest civilizations for its powerful energy and somber beauty. The deep black stone ribboned with white was highly prized for use in ceremonies and burials, scrying and magical work, and as an amulet on swords and armor to protect and strengthen warriors in battle. In Egypt, since the second dynasty, onyx bowls were carved, as are found in archeological sites. They made bowls and other pottery items with it.
In the Minoan period in Crete, the sardonyx use can mainly be found in the Cnossos Palace.
The name comes from the Greek ‘onux’, meaning ‘nail’ or ‘claw’. In the first century AD, Pliny the Elder described, in his ‘Naturalis Historia’, two varieties of this stone, and several techniques to change its color. The origin of its name is explained by a Roman legend with a Greek origin. While Venus was asleep, her son Cupid used one of his arrows to cut her nails. These parts of the immortal goddess could not disappear. Therefore, the nails transformed into onyx.
It was used a lot by the Romans. The Romans entered battle carrying amulets of sardonyx engraved with Mars, the god of War. They believed the stone bestowed courage in battle.
Onyx is one of the Aaron’s stones in his breastplate, according the Bible, and is one of the doors of celestial Jerusalem in the Book of Revelations would be made of onyx. In the Arabian world, onyx is called ‘El Jaza’, meaning ‘sadness’.
Persians and Indians would consider that onyx protect them from the evil eye and could relieve the pains of the woman who was giving birth, by putting the onyx stone on the belly. The stone was also used to reduce sexual impulses. Persians used onyx to cure epilepsy and even to calm the storms.
While Onyx was revered in many cultures, others feared it. Onyx was considered as bad luck in China, that caused black bile to circulate, especially in the mind. It was believed to invoke sadness, despondency, abrupt changes in mood and make one angry and difficult. It could bring dreadful visions, sow family discord, separate lovers, quarrels and lawsuits and expose one to the assaults of demons. It was mined by slaves and menial laborers with no other wake of making a living, because nobody would touch it out of fear for the evil eye or that they would lose their energy. Afterwards carried out of the country to sell in other lands. Therefore, onyx was only meant to be sold and explored to unconscious people and far from Chinese boarders.
While in ancient times, onyx was known as the "third eye", in the Middle Ages it was regarded as the "gemstone to drive away evil spirits". In Renaissance Europe, wearing sardonyx was believed to bestow eloquence.
During the Victorian Period, in England, onyx became quite fashionable and more especially the black onyx. This black gemstone has a calming effect on the mind, protecting from nightmares, eliminating unwanted fantasies and wavering thoughts. It is a source of strength and serenity. That is why the stone was one of the favorite gemstones of Queen Victoria. The word onyx came as a reference to the black color stone. In order to respect the mourning, as Queen Victoria’s mourning during 40 years, colors were forbidden and people started to use the black onyx in jewelry. In the old English tradition, midwives used to place onyx next to babies to calm them.
Babylonian Map of the World - Imago Mundi
± 500 BC
The tablet was found in the late 19th century in Sippar, southern Iraq, by the archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam and is currently (2021) in the British Museum, London. Rassam was near Sippar looking for evidence of the Biblical Flood. Unable to read the cuneiform writing, he dismissed the tablet as unimportant. He did not realize it was a map. It was not until the late 20th century that scholars deciphered the text and discovered its importance. It belongs among scholars under the collective name “Mappa Mundi” and was given the name “Babylonian map of the World” or “Imago Mundi”. The tablet captures the only known world map dating back to the Neo-Babylonian period. It schematically represents a bird's-eye view of the world, where the world is round with Babylon in the middle.
The tablet is believed to have been formed in Babylon during the Persian period, about 500 BC. Terms and references in the text indicate that it is a copy of an older text, dating to the Sargonid period, late 8th century BC. The tablet contains both cuneiform text and a map oriented to the northwest. Babylon is depicted in the center as the center of the known world. Assyria, Elam, Armenia, and other places are mentioned.
The world is shown as a disk surrounded by a ring of water, the “Bitter River”. At the right end of the Euphrates, Babylon is marked in a rectangle. The Euphrates flows south to a horizontal band, marked “marsh” on the right, and “outflow” on the left. Small circles are used to indicate cities or districts. Beyond the circular shape are 8 outer areas as nagu. Next to each is the note “6 or 7 beru in between”. Beru is a Babylonian unit of time and linear unit of measurement. Nagu simply means "region". It also seems to have a cosmic or mythological significance. The Flood Story of the Epic of Gilgamesh. This and the triangular shape of the nagu led to the idea that the nagu may have been represented as mountains. These 8 regions or “islands” are described on the back. Our replica does not have this.
The text on the front seems to be a description of inhabitants of the areas beyond the Earth. The hole in the center is a “firing hole” made intentionally by the writer.