Some Central Asian history from 750-500BC

Achaemenid Persian cup

This post will look at the years 750-500BC for the region of Central Asia. Central Asia is a little tricky to describe and for the purposes of this post it will include the Pontic Steppes (referred to in previous European posts), the boreal lands north of Siberia and all the steppe lands from the black soil of the Ukraine, the highlands of the Tibetan Plateau, to the northern steppes on the borders of China. I will also include the history of the Iranian Plateau here. It is not Central Asian, but it does link the northern steppes with the regions of Mesopotamia, Anatolia and India. The post will also be an overview, as many of these topics are covered in more detail elsewhere.

The same caveats that I have mentioned before must be mentioned again. I am not a professional historian, merely someone who finds history interesting. So, all of my data should be questioned heavily.

This period predates much writing, certainly for the areas outside of the Iranian Plateau, so much of what we learn will come from archaeology, with some additional input from linguistics, genetics, biology and geology. Dendrochronology is of less use here than in Europe but we have the great fortune to be close enough to written history to be able to use folklore and legend here in a way that we have not been able to do in the posts about prehistoric Europe. There will however be some writings, mainly from nearby Mesopotamia, and in this period, from Greece, which can shed some light on the kingdoms of what is now Iran.

Scythian gold artifact

Around 750BC, under the reigns of Argishti I and Sarduri II, Urartu reached the zenith of its power, raiding the temporarily weakened Assyrian Empire nearly to the gates of Nineveh itself. The Urartian kings left inscriptions boasting of their greatness and strengthened their well-built citadel at Tushpa, near Lake Van.

Through the greatness of the God Ḫaldi, Argishti, son of Menua, built this canal. The land was uninhabited, no one was to be found here. By the grace of Ḫaldi Argishti made this canal. Argishti son of Menua, mighty King, great King, King of Bianiili, ruler of Tushpa
Urartian Inscription 

The following century, from around 750-650BC saw the resurgence of Assyrian power and the Urartians were humbled, but not destroyed by the revived Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Elamites were also locked in wars with the Assyrians, in one case managing to capture and kill the son of the king of Assyria, but the Assyrian armies seems to have established dominance. During this century the Assyrians inflicted multiple defeats on the Elamites, destroying Susa and looting the ancient capitals, temples and ziggurats of Elam.

Depiction of the destruction of Susa

I conquered the city Susa, a great cult centre, the residence of their gods, a place of their secret lore. … I opened up their treasuries, inside which silver, gold, possessions, and property had been stored —which the former kings of the land Elam down to the kings of this time had collected and deposited — and wherein no other enemy apart from me had laid his hands, … The ziggurat of the city Susa, which had been constructed with baked bricks coloured with lapis lazuli, I destroyed it; I stripped off its horns, which were cast with shiny copper. … As for the deities Inshushinak — the god of their secret lore who lives in seclusion and whose divine acts have never been seen by anyone … I carried off to Assyria those gods and goddesses together with their jewellery, … As for their secret groves, into which no outsider has ever gazed or set foot within their borders, my battle troops entered inside them, saw their secrets, and burned them with fire. … I destroyed and demolished the tombs of their earlier and later kings … I prevented their ghosts from sleeping … I devastated the districts of the land Elam and scattered salt over them. … I allowed beasts of the steppe to dwell in the cities as if on a meadow.
Inscription of Ashurbanipal written around 640 (Inscription 11)

During this time, the Medes and their vassal tribes, including the Persians, established themselves fully on the Iranian Plateau. The Assyrians fought them and forced them into submission. The Assyrians also fought another hostile roving tribe, called the Cimmerians, as well as the tribes that were known as Scythians. Another unknown people group known as the Umman-manda was rampaging in the region as well. The kingdoms of the Urartians and Mannaeans were reduced to pale shadows of their former glory and the Scythians may have raided the western Assyrian Empire as far south as the borders of Egypt. The Assyrian Empire was not toppled by the horse tribes of the Scythians however and the Assyrians were strong enough to bring the Elamite Empire to the brink of destruction.

Scythian gold artifact

However, the strength of the Assyrians was not to last and an internal rebellion led by a Chaldean general named Nabopolassar divided the strength of the last Assyrian armies and Nabopolassar crowned himself king in Babylon. Cyaxares, king of the Medes, allied himself with Nabopolassar and together the two kings defeated the last armies of the Assyrians before besieging the King of Assyria in Nineveh. Nineveh fell in 612BC and the armies of Nabopolassar and Cyaxares looted the accumulated wealth of centuries.

The fallen empire of Assyria was mostly taken over by the Babylonians in the year 609BC, after the final remnants of Assyrian resistance were broken near Carchemish. The Medes on the other hand reduced the last vestiges of the Elamite kingdom to vassalage and seem to have ended the Mannaean kingdom. The Median Empire was now probably the largest state in the world, but for now they were allied with the Neo-Babylonian Empire in Mesopotamia.

Elamite artifact

In central Asia the Scythian peoples now held sway. They were not a single unified people, but rather a collection of tribes with a shared culture. The Scythian cultural influence stretched from the northern shores of the Danube in Europe to the edges of the Gobi Desert.

Around the year 550BC is the last possible date for the prophet Zoroaster, who is said to have founded Zoroastrianism, the religion of the Persians. However Zoroastrianism, like Christianity, Buddhism, or Judaism, has looked different at different times. Much of what we know of Zoroastrianism comes from the Sassanid Persian period, over seven centuries later and their sacred book, the Avesta, was compiled in Sassanid times.

Thus spake Ahura Mazda):
"The one who alone has hearkened to my precepts 
    is known as Zarathushtra Spitama; 
For his Creator and for Truth he wishes to announce 
    the Holy Message, 
Wherefore shall I bestow on him the gift of eloquent speech."
Avesta: Ahunuvaiti Gatha: Yasna 29

Later depiction of Zoroaster

Even the date of their prophet Zoroaster is in great doubt. The Greeks believed that he lived at an absurdly early date, perhaps about 6000BC. This is definitely incorrect. Zoroaster is supposed to have composed some religious writings, called the Gathas. The language of the Gathas is similar to that of the Rig Veda but linguistic analysis would suggest that it is slightly later. So, if the assumption that the Rig Veda is mostly composed before 1200BC is correct and the assumption that Zoroaster wrote the Gathas is correct, it would seem likely that Zoroaster would have lived around maybe 1000BC. Later Zoroastrian sources give a date in the mid 500’s BC, which is the latest possible date that it could be.

The issue is complicated by the fact that there is no concrete evidence of definite Zoroastrian practices evident before around the 520’s BC. Nor are there historical figures mentioned in the Zoroastrian texts who can be linked to known personages. The patron of Zoroaster is Vishtaspa, a tribal chieftain or king, who adopts the new religion. Some people have associated this person with a relative of Cyrus, who was better known in Greek as Hystaspes. Hystaspes was a close relative of Cyrus and, before Cyrus’ revolt, seems to have been an independent ruler of a small state under the suzerainty of the Medes. We know that the son of Hystaspes was a Zoroastrian but we cannot tell if this Hystaspes is indeed the Vishtaspa of Zoroastrian belief.

Let them advance in thought, word, and deed 
Toward the satisfaction of Mazda with reverential worship, 
King Vishtaspa, Frashaoshtra, and the successors of 
    Zarathushtra Spitama.
May they teach all to keep to the established straight path, 
Announced by the spiritual preceptors, and ordained by Ahura,
Avesta: Vahishto-Ishti Gatha: Yasna 53

Later depiction of Ahura Mazda

What we can say is that Zoroaster was born into an Iranian tribal world, one that had not been transformed into a large empire under the Persians. He probably lived to the east, possibly in Bactria or Sogdia (perhaps in present-day Tajikstan, Uzbekistan or Afghanistan). The religious beliefs of his contemporaries were probably similar to the beliefs described in the Vedas and probably with similar gods, although we cannot be entirely sure of this. The god Mithra and Mitra were pretty much the same god in both Iranian and Indian religions but we cannot speak with certainty for the others.

Zoroaster came to believe that there was a single good god, who was called Ahura Mazda, meaning Wise Spirit. This god was opposed by an evil spirit, Angra Mainyu (Hostile Spirit). Ahura Mazda symbolised Truth and Angra Mainyu symbolised the Lie. This has sometimes been referred to as the first monotheism or the first dualism but the actual system is not really either monotheist or dualist.

There were a great many other actions that Zoroaster approved of, such as being kind to dogs, or slaying certain animals, like snakes, that were said to be followers of the Lie. There was a belief in an afterlife, where a follower of Ahura Mazda would cross the Chinvat Bridge (the rainbow, or possibly the Milky Way) and reach Paradise (which is itself a Persian word meaning “garden”).

There are many other beliefs that the Zoroastrians have, such as the towers of silence and the purity of fire. But these beliefs are not immediately evidence in the earliest Zoroastrian texts, so they will be dealt with at a later time.

Darius the Great

So, in summary, Zoroaster probably founded the Zoroastrian religion at some point between 1000-550BC but there is no definite material evidence for it. Either he or someone else composed the oldest hymns in the Avesta, known as the Gathas. By linguistic evidence, another set of hymns, known as the Yashts, were composed between 600-500BC, so I am fairly sure that Zoroaster probably predates this period. But because I am not sure of any of this I am giving the reader all of my uncertainty.

May Ahura Mazda be rejoiced! May Angra Mainyu be destroyed by those who do truly what is the foremost wish (of God).
I praise well-thought, well-spoken, and well-done thoughts, words, and deeds. I embrace all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; I reject all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds.
Avesta: Ohrmazd Yasht

Around the year 550BC, in a daring coup, Cyrus, who was the king of one of the Median vassal tribes, took over the kingdom of the Medes. Many of the Median nobility were happy with the takeover, as they had not liked the previous King Astyages and Cyrus promised to treat them benevolently. The Lydian kingdom under Croesus is said to have attacked the new combined empire of the Medes and the Persians. Cyrus defeated the Lydians and counterattacked, laying siege to the Lydian capital city of Sardis and capturing it. After this, the Persians and Medes attacked the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which was ruled by the supposedly unpopular King Nabonidus of Babylon. The Persians and Medes captured Babylon after a short siege in the year

Persian bull column from Susa

On learning of the invasion Nabonnedos met him with an army and opposed him in battle. After being defeated, he fled with a small retinue and took refuge within the city of the Borsippians. Cyrus meanwhile seized Babylon and ordered that the outer walls of the city be thrown down because the city seemed to him to be very formidable and hard to capture. Cyrus then marched on Borsippa to lay siege to Nabonnedos. Nabonnedos, however, did not await the siege but surrendered himself first. Dealing with him in a gracious manner, Cyrus granted him Carmania as his residence and sent him out of Babylonia. King Darius, however, took away a part of his province for himself. Nabonnedos, therefore, died after spending the remainder of his life in this country.
Berossus, Babyloniaca, written around 280BC, quoted by Josephus, writing around AD90 (hence the possible mention of Darius here)

After conquering Media, Lydia and Babylonia and making himself the ruler of the largest empire the world had ever seen, Cyrus, who was later to be known as Cyrus the Great, conquered Bactria and the eastern Iranian speaking provinces. Elam was finally subsumed into the Persian Empire and Susa became one of the capitals of this new empire. He then attacked some of the Scythian tribes in Central Asia, but seems to have died on this campaign.

His son Cambyses II took the throne of the Persia. Cambyses II launched an invasion of Egypt and captured the land of Egypt, one of the wealthiest places on earth. But there was a rebellion against Cambyses II while he was in Egypt and he died on his way back to Persia to quell the rebellion. After a series of confused and uncertain events, including a very eventful empire-wide civil war in the years 522-521BC, Darius I of Persia took the throne.

Persian relief

Darius I organised the Persian Empire into an organised state, with roads, a postal service, a unified coinage system and with an organised system of government. He sent an expedition to scout and conquer the lands surrounding the Indus Valley and brought this into his empire. He launched an expedition into Europe, building a veritable bridge of boats from Europe to Asia across the Bosphorus, subdued the lands south of the Danube and launched an expedition against the Scythians that may have pursued the Scythians around the northern shore of the Black Sea as far as the Don River. However Darius I was unable to conclusively defeat the Scythians. He built a magnificent city at Persepolis, while also beautifying Susa.

Around the time period of 500BC, to the north and east of the Persian Empire, the Zhangshung Kingdom in Tibet seems to have become powerful around this time. This kingdom is little known, as archaeology is difficult in the Tibetan Plateau, but it is said to have had a capital at Khylunglung, which is in the Tibetan region, but is close enough to the Indus Valley to be influenced by Indian culture. The Zhangshung Kingdom is said to have been formative in the Bon religion of Tibet, which was the pre-Buddhist religion of the region.

And thus the period draws to a close, with the Scythians dominant in the plains of Central Asia and the Persians ruling much of the known world from the Iranian Plateau.

Persian soldiers on relief from Persepolis

Primary Sources:
Urartian Inscription written around 750BC
Inscription of Ashurbanipal written around 640BC (Inscription 11)
Avesta: Ohrmazd Yasht (written uncertain date)
Avesta: Ahunuvaiti Gatha: Yasna 29 (written uncertain date)
Avesta: Vahishto-Ishti Gatha: Yasna 53 (written uncertain date)
Berossus, Babyloniaca, written around 280BC, quoted by Josephus, writing around AD90 (hence the possible mention of Darius here)

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