Was it Better During the Persian Empire?
Cyrus the Great once said, “ Success always calls for greater generosity.”
A generous leader who has had many smart and worthy accomplishments is Cyrus the Great.
Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, has enemies and bases his actions on his hatred towards them.
Cyrus the Great and Ali Khamenei are both powerful leaders but, Cyrus was superior because he had more peaceful actions.
Cyrus the Great had an interesting background and was a beloved ruler of the Persian Empire.
He was born in 680 BCE and was left to die in the mountains (“Ancient Mesopotamia”).
Cyrus was not alone through this because herding folk found and raised him until King Astyages let him go home.
After returning from the mountains
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Cyrus “became King of Anshan” when he was 21 years old (“Ancient Mesopotamia”).
In 549, he led a revolt and conquered the Median Empire and called himself the King of Persia (“Ancient Mesopotamia”).
Cyrus allowed the Jews that were “captured during ‘The Exile’” to return to their homes (“Getty Images”).
He also developed an “elite group of 10,000 army troops called ‘Immortals’” and used them to conquer land (Sorat).
Even though they were conquered people, Cyrus still treated them generously as long as they followed his rules and payed taxes.
Cyrus the Great took good care of everyone and made it a peaceful living environment.
Ali Khamenei worked hard for his position in the Iran government.
He holds the most powerful political position in Iran and has control of the “executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government, military, and media” (Sadjadpour).
Khamenei “played an important role in the Iranian Revolution” which got him to presidency in 1981 to 1981 (Ganji).
After becoming president, he became the supreme leader of Iran and still currently holds that
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He wants to rid Iran of the “two evils; the Shah and the United States” (Sadjadpour).
He believes the United States is “satan” and that their goal is to “hurl the Islamic Republic to the ground” (Ganji).
Even though he hates the United States, Ali Khamenei tries not to disturb the peace.
The two leaders, Cyrus and Khamenei, rule in very different ways.
Instead of considering Cyrus as a leader, he is seen more as a liberator, a person who frees things or people.
Cyrus was generous to all, established peace and abolished forced labor (Sorat).
His legacy lives on because Cyrus is mentioned twenty-two times in the Old Testament where he was “praised unconditionally” because of his actions (Sorat).
Ali Khamenei’s thoughts, actions, and reasons for his actions seem odd and weird at times.
He caused an uproar because Iran wanted to make a bomb to drop on Israel just in case they did something that upset Khamenei (Erdbrink).
Khamenei also introduced “velayat-e faqih” which is a way of living created by the Shi’ites (Sadjadpour).
Cyrus the Great rules the Persian Empire with generosity rather than repression (“Ancient Mesopotamia”).
The people under Cyrus’ rule are very satisfied and enjoy
Inevitably, when you are talking about leaders, the questions arise: is he or she good or bad? What is the metric and what is your method of evaluation? In this case, we’ll look at Odysseus’ performance through a modern leadership lens, while keeping in mind that Homeric Greek culture might have motivated him to act differently than he would have today.
The Iranian government is fighting a losing battle against a rapidly growing Western force. Although Iran is not physically waging war against the United States, the government is fighting to eradicate its increasing cultural influence in Iran. The young, Iranian population is currently speaking out against the Islamic Republic’s attempts to rid the country of Western culture, demanding more freedom and less censorship, similar to how Marjane Satrapi acts out against the regime in Persepolis.
...ti-colored and multi-raced people, which was something that almost none of the other ancient empires had. It was a peaceful empire and was admired by many people. It had amazing acheivements in goverment, military and communication. It was the largest empire in the Ancient World and was an amazing empire, for the 250 years it lasted. The Persian Empire will be remembered as the largest empire in the ancient world and the most tolerant.
First, the Shah, out-of-touch with what his people wanted, became the catalyst for massive xenophobic and anti-Western feelings to spread throughout the nation. By giving up traditional Islamic ideals and becoming sort of a “puppet” for the U.S. and the Western world, the Shah made a mockery of himself and of those traditional Islamic values, which were paramount in Iran. For many years, Iranians wrote letters to the Shah, voicing their discontent with many aspects of his rule — the spread of the Bahá’í Faith, the collapse of Islamic traditions, and the crumbling economy. The Shah, however, did nothing to fix these issues. Instead, he designed a political reformation movement, hoping to silence his opponents, to introduce personal rights for women, and to establish a sense of fiscal equality. This series of reforms, which appeared to be a blatant attempt to Westernize Iran, became known as the “White
Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In the second, the secular, western-friendly government eventually gave way to the Islamic revival in the form of a government takeover by hard-line clerics and disillusioned, fundamentalist youth; both motivated and led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rule of Iran by these fundamentalist clerics then led to the formation of the fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that governs present-day Iran. The current government has some democratic appearances, but all real power is in the hands of the supreme leader, an Ayatollah who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics chosen by the Guardian Council. With the Iranian Revolution, political Islam was born, with the fundamentalists holding the reins of power in Iran to the present day.
Ludwig, P. (1999). Iranian Nation and Islamic Revolutionary Ideology. Die Welt des islams. 39(2). 183-217.
Maghen, Z. (2009, January). Eradicating the "Little Satan": Why Iran Should Be Taken at Its
On October 12, 539 B.C.E. Cyrus and his men entered Babylon and arrested the Babylonian king, a feeble tyrant by the name of Nabonidus. The Persians had attempted to take over the Babylonian empire before, but were unsuccessful. They fought a close battle, in which neither side caused much damage to the other. The reason that Cyrus and his army were unable to defeat Babylon, the first time, was that a stream that they encountered, called the Gyndes, which could only be passed in boats. Deterred by the Gyndes, Cyrus and his troops decided to postpone their conquest of Babylon, and immediately made plans to overcome the obstacle of the stream. Cyrus divided his troops into two halves, and had them dig on each side of the river. It took
The greatest leaders in history often leave behind some sort of legacy. Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire around 500 B.C., which was the largest empire of its time (Cyrus II, the Great). The empire stretched from ancient Iran, and grew to include an area reaching from Greece to India (Persian Empire). Cyrus’ reign saw some of the first contacts between Persia and Greece, and helped Persia gain the political power that had once been held by the people of Mesopotamia (Cyrus, the Great). Cyrus the Great proved to be an effective leader who developed a strong military that was stationed strategically throughout the empire to stop rebellions and keep trade routes safe, treated captives like the jews kindly, and implemented an organized administration of government that included satraps who governed locally.
In order for a tribe to rise up to an empire, like Persia, not only are great leaders essential but loyal followers are also needed provide a stable civilization. Great leadership for Persia started when the Median Empire, under King Astyages, had control over the Persians when Cyrus the Great; an Achaemenid ascended the Persian throne in 559 B.C.E. Cyrus led the Persians in a revolt against the Medes to be overthrown. Neighboring nations approved of the Median state being taken over, but when Persia began to expand, they soon realized that the Persians were a greater enemy. The rise of the Persians was only the beginning of the forceful changes in power in ancient times. Cyrus expanded the Empire to include Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Iranian plateau, the Middle East, even stretching to the outskirts of the Egyptian Empire. During these imperialistic expansion years, Persia went from a primitive tribe to a society with diverse culture...
issued one of the world's first human rights charters. This was discovered in 1878 during an excavation of ancient Babylon. In this charter, Cyrus promised to treat all the inhabitants of Babylon and the other kingdoms he conquered with respect. In this charter, Cyrus gave respect to other kingdoms he conquered with respect so he promised to respect all the inhabitants of Babylon as well. While Cyrus allow all inhabitants of his empire to practice their own religious and social customs without persecution. Cyrus wanted to make things clear that anyone who acted cruelly to religious and social minorities of his kingdom will be punish. He forbade the size seizure of farmer's lands and properties and made slavery of any kind illegal. Cyrus' commitment to fair and equitable treatment of his people is exemplary by modern standards and was unique during his time period During his time period Cyrus made a commitment to fair equitable treatment of his people that exemplary by basic standards and uniqueness. Cyrus made the first human rights charters, although his accomplishment made him the greatest king of the Persian Empire.
Cyrus is mostly known for his historical significance. He was so influential, that people called him “o...
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a country of volatile politics in the Middle East, participating in numerous minor disputes and full out wars during its history. Its participation in a bloody and indecisive war with Iraq, its sponsorship of terrorist groups such as the Hezbollah and Hamas (Bruno 2011), and its controversial election have all made international bodies raise their eyebrows in the past. However, it is Iran’s nuclear ambitions that truly captured the attention of all nations in the recent months.
Although the Iranian Revolution was both a political and religious movement in that it resulted in major shifts in government structure from an autocracy to a republic and that Islamic beliefs were fought to be preserved, it was more a religious movement in that the primary goal of the people was to preserve traditional ideology and in that the government became a theocracy intertwined with religious laws and desires of the people. Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in the “western” world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic values, law and tradition from the government to boost the country’s economy (White Revolution, 2010).... ...
The international issues pertaining to Iran’s nuclear program is not new to the 21st century. Concerns began after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, which concluded with the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (who was supported by the United States) being relieved of their power and replaced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (who was ...