Two and half thousand years ago...
the world lived in the shadow of the first great world empire of the Persians...
the Achaemenids...
Yet, their historical importance has been buried under sands of time and hidden by fog of ignorance.
Dearth of available literature in English about ancient Persians and modern Iranians
becomes painfully apparent when complex historical and modern events are reduced by western novelists
to simplistic novels, or polemic muddled cartoons,
and packaged and sold to modern generations as 'History'.
One distorts the past as a mirror to the present, linking wholly unrelated political, social, economic and religious circumstances,
the other reduces the remarkable achievements of noble Persian Great Kings and their sacred religion
to something primitive, crude and alien.
Neither helps understanding of the past history,
while both widen the gap of ignorance between modern eastern and western societies,
whose persistent lack of insight into the other's culture and religion is pushing the entire world
to the brink of disastrous global warfare.
Wars, just or unjust, are destructive, futile and unpredictable.
What is certain is that wars will mutilate and kill the innocent and the guilty alike, body and soul.
There is no virtue in war.
As late as 2nd century BCE, numerous European tribes were nomads,
when vast populations lived in magnificent cities of Babylon, Bactra, Ecbatana, Persepolis, and Susa.
While the history of the Persians stretches back in time over two and half thousand years,
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain did not exit as nation-states until the 10th century,
and the United States of America until the 18th century.
So, it is worthwhile to attempt to tell the story of the Persians,
whose fame, fortune and fall had an impact far beyond Persia in time and space,
all firmly rooted in Persian culture and religion.
And to those who say: "The Lord is a man of war."
[Exodus 15:3]
We say: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
[Matthew 5:9]
"A righteous government is of all the most to be wished for,
Bearing of the highest blessings and good fortune.
Guided by the Law of Truth...
It blossoms into the Kingdom of Heaven..."
[Gathas: Yasna 51:1]
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