When Rome was still a farming state and the Germans lived in swamps, Persian kings founded an empire the likes of which the world had never seen before. Today’s Iran also refers to its former greatness. Read the first part of the series on the history of Iran.
By Teja Fiedler
The country has had a decisive influence on Europe’s history from the very beginning. Even the first Persian empire 2,500 years ago boasted of the omnipotence of its kings and contradicted the Greeks’ love of freedom. Generations of German high school students agonized over the great battles: Marathon (490 BC), Thermopylae (480 BC), and finally 333 – at Issus’ brawl. It was always the struggle of noble Hellenes against despotic Persians, of occidental high culture against oriental backwardness.