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Iraq
Iranian and Greek Intrusions
Mesopotamia, for 2,000
years a stronghold of Semitic-speaking peoples, now fell to Indo-European
rule that persisted for 1,176 years. Cyrus, one of history's truly
great leaders, ruled with a firm hand, but he was also well attuned
to the needs of his subjects. Upon assuming power, he immediately
replaced the savagery of the Assyrians with a respect for the
customs and the institutions of his new subjects. He appointed
competent provincial governors (the predecessors of the Persian
satraps), and he required from his subjects only tribute and obedience.
Following Cyrus's death, a brief period of Babylonian unrest ensued
that climaxed in 522 B.C. with a general rebellion of Iranian
colonies.
Between 520 and 485 B.C., the efficient and innovative Iranian
leader, Darius the Great, reimposed political stability in Babylon
and ushered in a period of great economic prosperity. His greatest
achievements were in road building--which significantly improved
communication among the provinces--and in organizing an efficient
bureaucracy. Darius's death in 485 B.C. was followed by a period
of decay that led to a major Babylonian rebellion in 482 B.C.
The Iranians violently quelled the uprising, and the repression
that followed severely damaged Babylon's economic infrastructure.
The first Iranian kings to rule Iraq followed Mesopotamian land-management
practices conscientiously. Between 485 B.C. and the conquest by
Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., however, very little in Babylon
was repaired and few of its once-great cities remained intact.
Trade also was greatly reduced during this period. The established
trade route from Sardis to Susa did not traverse Babylonia, and
the Iranian rulers, themselves much closer to the Orient, were
able to monopolize trade from India and other eastern points.
As a result, Babylonia and Assyria, which together formed the
ninth satrapy of the Persian Empire, became economically isolated
and impoverished. Their poverty was exacerbated by the extremely
high taxes levied on them: they owed the Iranian crown 1,000 talents
of silver a year, in addition to having to meet the extortionate
demands of the local administrators, and they were responsible
for feeding the Iranian court for four months every year.
Iranian rule lasted for more than 200 years, from 551 B.C. to
331 B.C. During this time, large numbers of Iranians were added
to Mesopotamia's ethnically diverse population. The flow of Iranians
into Iraq, which began during the rein of the Achaemenids, initiated
an important demographic trend that would continue intermittently
throughout much of Iraqi history. Another important effect of
Iranian rule was the disappearance of the Mesopotamian languages
and the widespread use of Aramaic, the official language of the
empire.
By the fourth century B.C., nearly all of Babylon opposed the
Achaemenids. Thus, when the Iranian forces stationed in Babylon
surrendered to Alexander the Great of Macedon in 331 B.C. all
of Babylonia hailed him as a liberator. Alexander quickly won
Babylonian favor when, unlike the Achaemenids, he displayed respect
for such Babylonian traditions as the worship of their chief god,
Marduk. Alexander also proposed ambitious schemes for Babylon.
He planned to establish one of the two seats of his empire there
and to make the Euphrates navigable all the way to the Persian
Gulf, where he planned to build a great port. Alexander's grandiose
plans, however, never came to fruition. Returning from an expedition
to the Indus River, he died in Babylon--most probably from malaria
contracted there in 323 B.C. at the age of thirty-two. In the
politically chaotic period after Alexander's death, his generals
fought for and divided up his empire. Many of the battles among
the Greek generals were fought on Babylonian soil. In the latter
half of the Greek period, Greek military campaigns were focused
on conquering Phoenician ports and Babylonia was thus removed
from the sphere of action. The city of Babylon lost its preeminence
as the center of the civilized world when political and economic
activity shifted to the Mediterranean, where it was destined to
remain for many centuries.
Although Alexander's major plans for Mesopotamia were unfulfilled,
and his generals did little that was positive for Mesopotamia,
the effects of the Greek occupation were noteworthy. Alexander
and his successors built scores of cities in the Near East that
were modeled on the Greek city-states. One of the most important
was Seleucia on the Tigris. The Hellenization of the area included
the introduction of Western deities, Western art forms, and Western
thought. Business revived in Mesopotamia because one of the Greek
trade routes ran through the new cities. Mesopotamia exported
barley, wheat, dates, wool, and bitumen; the city of Seleucia
exported spices, gold, precious stones, and ivory. Cultural interchange
between Greek and Mesopotamian scholars was responsible for the
saving of many Mesopotamian scientific, especially astronomical,
texts.
In 126 B.C., the Parthians (or Arsacids), an intelligent, nomadic
people who had migrated from the steppes of Turkestan to northeastern
Iran, captured the Tigris-Euphrates river valley. Having previously
conquered Iran, the Parthians were able to control all trade between
the East and the Greco-Roman world. For the most part, they chose
to retain existing social institutions and to live in cities that
already existed. Mesopotamia was immeasurably enriched by this,
the mildest of all foreign occupations of the region. The population
of Mesopotamia was enormously enlarged, chiefly by Arabs, Iranians,
and Aramaeans. With the exception of the Roman occupation under
Trajan (A.D. 98- 117) and Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211), the
Arsacids ruled until a new force of native Iranian rulers, the
Sassanids, conquered the region in A.D. 227.
Little information is available on the Sassanid occupation, which
lasted until A.D. 636. The north was devastated by battles fought
between Romans and Sassanids. For the most part, the Sassanids
appear to have neglected Mesopotamia. By the time the enfeebled
Sassanid Empire fell to Muslim Arab warriors, Mesopotamia was
in ruins, and Sumero-Akkadian civilization was entirely extinguished.
Sassanid neglect of the canals and irrigation ditches vital for
agriculture had allowed the rivers to flood, and parts of the
land had become sterile. Nevertheless, Mesopotamian culture passed
on many traditions to the West. The basic principles of mathematics
and astronomy, the coronation of kings, and such symbols as the
tree of life, the Maltese cross, and the crescent are part of
Mesopotamia's legacy.
Data as of May 1988
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