Introduction-The Holy Bible And Persia

The Holy Bible And Persia
The Holy Bible is intertwined, inseparable and inseverable from the history of the Persian empire. Some of the most historic, fateful, pivotal and significant events of the Holy Bible, especially of the Old Testament, took place in the then Persian cities of Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana and Toyserkan. These momentous events were all positively influenced, encouraged and some were a direct consequence of the inception and expansion of the Persian Empire. 

The events of the Books of Daniel and Esther took place in the city of Susa. The three wise men(kings) started to walk from Saveh and Kashan to adore the infant prophet, Jesus. 

The first millennium B.C: 

The Holy Bible, fortunately for us, veraciously and scrupulously recorded not only these occurrences and events but also the happenings of the preexisting centuries, prophesies and predictions of the Biblical prophets. 

Prophesies of the prophets, Isaiah, who actually named Cyrus, a hundred and eighty years before his birth, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were subsequently proved to be, so remarkably accurate. 

They could foresee, that the temple in Jerusalem would be broken, the Jews would suffer exile in Babylon for seventy years and would be freed by the Persian King, who would allow them to build their temple. 

The prophets also guided Cyrus, who was considered an instrument and servant of God, so that he could conquer Babylon when its river was dried and its soldiers making merry. 

Jewish prophets considered the Zoroastrian King, Cyrus as the anointed, the instrument, shepherd, chosen one of their God, in whom his soul delights, whom he had given as a covenant to his people, who would bring out the prisoners from the dungeons, set his exiles free, be the light of the nations and build his temple. 

Kings Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes faithfully did everything to facilitate the building of the temple in Jerusalem, on whose Eastern Gate was the inscription of the Persian capital, Shushan/ Susa, the home of many of the Jewish prophets and Shahbanu Esther. 

The temple, made by resources provided by the Persian treasury would exist for half a millennium, 576 years, from 516 B.C to 70 A.D. when it was destroyed by Roman Emperor Titus. The temple was enlarged by Herod, who ruled Judea for the Romans. Moreover the priests, musicians, workers of the temple were exempt from all taxes. 

The visions of Daniel permitted him to see events, such as the new Empire with its capital at Susa, the wars of the Persians with the Greeks, the coming of Alexander and the Romans, centuries in advance. Some of the events, he saw in his visions have still not taken place. 

Daniel, as we know was the favoured, esteemed, preferred one among the three presidents of King Darius, whom he had appointed to oversee the work of the 120 provincial Satraps. Darius was deceived, duped by the courtiers, who were jealous, envious of Daniel to issue a proclamation that no-one would worship anyone else except the king for a month. Daniel continued to pray to God and according to the king's decree was thrown in the lion's den. Darius' anxiety, disquiet, unrest is palpable, evident, tangible as he tries to  bribe, buy-off the enemies of Daniel but fruitlessly, to no avail. We then see that Darius reluctantly grudgingly leaves Daniel in the hands of merciful God and spends a sleepless, restless, uneasy night. His relief and reprieve is profound and intense on finding Daniel alive and safe in the morning. There are numerous classical paintings that show Darius watching over Daniel in the lions' den. Darius also had a lion built in his palace overlooking the mausoleum of Daniel. This is visible even today.

Prophet Habakkuk, who brought sustenance to Daniel in the lions’ den is buried at Toyserkan near Ecbatana. The Holy Bible also mentions that Daniel prospered in the reigns of Cyrus and Darius.

Persian historical documents started being written from the time of Cyrus the Great’s entry into Babylon, when they adopted the cuneiform writing, and continued till the reign of Yazdgerd the third. They were stored at the palaces and libraries of the cities of Ctesiphon, Susa, Takht-e-Jamshid, Estakhr and Ecbatana. 

All these cities were burnt and razed to the ground by the invaders. So no record exists of the story and achievements of the Persian people and Kings, from their own perspective and viewpoint. 

We only have a Persian history, if it maybe called that at all, from the point of view of their enemies, which I think, it is safe to assume, is mostly fictitious or apocryphal, giving us a much diminished, debased, altered and watered down account of actual accomplishments and feats. 

I have heard much in Iran, passed on by oral tradition, which contradicts or is significantly different from, what exists in the books, written by the outsiders. 

In order to know and piece together, some of what, actually transpired, we have to take recourse to reading, what the prophets have written in the scriptures, mainly the Holy Bible, because that is the one book, which is reliable and its veracity can’t be challenged.   

In the second millenium B.C: 

We find many associations of the family and descendants of Abraham with Persia. Qedar, the son of Ishmael, grandson of Abraham rests in a mausoleum in a city named after him in the province of Zanjan. 

Pir-e-Bakran, 30 km from Esfahan houses the shrine of Serah, daughter of Asher, grand daughter of Jacob. She was the one who in a song gently broke the happy, joyous news to old Jacob that his son Joseph, long believed dead was alive and prosperous in Egypt. She accompanied Jacob to meet him there. It is said that she was blessed with eternal life, immortality by old  overjoyed, ecstatic, grateful Jacob. A tunnel is supposed to lead from the synagogue named after patriarch Jacob to Jerusalem.

The judge Samuel rests on a serene hillside 35 km from the pomegranate town of Saveh. He was the one who officiated, oversaw, presided over the anointing of both Saul and then David as kings, as urged, demanded by the people.

The warrior Joshua is interred at Takht-e-Foulad cemetery in Esfahan surrounded by numerous martyrs of the disastrous Iran-Iraq war. He was the assistant of Moses, sent as a spy to the land of Canaan. He led the tribes on the conquest of Canaan and once even asked the Sun to stand still till they dealt with their enemies.

In the millennia before the Holy Bible and its prophets, the Aryans migrating East worshiped the elements of nature, the Sun God Mithra, his virgin mother Anahita, the Goddess of the waters and then Ahura Mazda. 

The doctrine of Mithra was carried to the West by the Roman legionnaires. In London, Rome and Cologne, we shall visit Mithraea and the Roman-German museum to see the statues of the Indo-Persian divinity Mithra, who had widespread following in the Greco-Roman civilisation and marvel at the similarities between his birth and the nativity story, Shab-e-Yalda and Christmas, that came 3500 years later. 

I have been able to find many areas, where commonly known history is confirmed by the writings in the Holy Bible, and am humbly presenting it in this site. I lay all this before you, to help you form your own ideas, view points and attitudes about events and personalities. 

We pay tribute to an ancient civilization that was enlightened, tolerant, unprejudiced, tolerant, unbigoted, liberal, progressive and above all humanistic. 

We marvel at the bonhomie, congeniality, warmheartedness and amiability that existed between the Persian Kings and their subjects of different faiths in the past.

Shah Ardeshir even asks Prophet Ezra to appoint judges and magistrates to judge the Jews by their own laws. 

I have given little personal opinion, as I don’t consider myself an authority on either theology or history. My comments represent, only what is in common knowledge from other sources, both inside and outside Iran. I have preferred, to not mention the literature, in which, there is discordance, disagreement and dispute between the scriptures and recorded history. 

I am grateful to God, for telling us, by way of his prophets, how people really and truly were and some significant, memorable, crucial and momentous events that actually occurred. 

Epics, legends from dawn of time, they couldn’t tell, 

Scribes, scholars, who, before invaders’ swords fell. 

Under horses’ hooves, clay tablets crushed, broken, 

The LORD, our tale, from his prophets, has spoken. 

 The Holy Bible mentions Arphaxad, Cyaxares, Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes during its long time span of thousands of years. 

We will visit the sacred Biblical sites of Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Esfahan, Jolfa, Toyserkan, and Cologne cathedral, where the Persian Magi, who followed the star of Bethlehem, to adore the infant prophet Jesus, are enshrined. 

Nebuchadnezzar holds the dubious distinction of being the destroyer of Jerusalem and the Persian cities of Rag’au( Tehran) and the capital, Ecbatana ( Hamedan). His last years were spent in insanity. His son, Nabodinus was deposed in 550 B.C by his own son, Belshazzar, who reigned and lived till 539 B.C, when Cyrus took over Babylon. Nabodinus and the daughter of Belshazzar, Vashti were spared in the transition of Empires. 

We find that Daniel is called to interpret the writing on the wall, which appears miraculously, wondrously when Belshazzar contemptuously, disrespectfully decides to drink wine from the vessels of the temple. This is one of the most historical, significant, crucial moments of the Old Testament, when Cyrus is just about to conquer Babylon. It is seminal, decisive not just as it is a time of transition of empires but it's the time for fruition, fulfillment and realization of the prophesies of many of the major prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah.

The first Persian/ Medean King, we find mentioned is Cyaxares( 625-585 B.C), the son of Phraotes, executed by Assyrians. Cyaxares had his just vengeance and retribution by sacking Nineveh in 612 B.C, as prophesied by Prophet Nahum of El’kosh. 

Cyrus the great takes over Medea from Cyaxares’ son, Astyages, whose daughter, Mandane was Cyrus’ mother. 

Some facts are quite plainly obvious. There seems to be a uniform tolerance, understanding, permissiveness and acceptance in Hakhamanishian Kings for people of different religions. 

The much vilified, defamed and reviled Xerxes is sublimely unaffected, when he finds out, his beloved Queen, Esther is Jewish. The proclamation to his kingdom by the contrite, remorseful, rueful Emperor Xerxes, that he had erred in allowing his minister to issue an edict for the destruction of the Jews and that, he would be more judicious and circumspect in future, gives us new insight into his mind. Few rulers have demonstrated such strength of character to publicly, openly admit an omission, misjudgment and mistake . 

I lay equally great store in the edicts, decrees and proclamation of the Kings, which are the only recorded sources of information, that let us peer into their minds. 

What, I find most fascinating, however, is the interaction between the religions. God, as defined by one people or ethnic group, does not seem to be restricted in his choice, and can easily ask a righteous person of another religion, to carry out his dictates, decrees, bidding and purpose. 

In the city of Shad Shapur, called Qazveen today is a most remarkable and singular monument. The Shrine of the Four Saints is a place where local people come to pray to the Four Jewish Saints who brought news from Bethlehem of the Birth Of Jesus. 

Equally significant is the story in Book of Matthew in the New Testament, of the Zoroastrian Magi, who followed the star to Bethlehem at the birth of the Prophet Jesus, to pay their respects to him and adore him. We know their remains were taken from Urumieh in Persia by St.Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine to Constantinople around the year 330 A.D, from where they were moved to Milan in 344 A.D and then by Fredrick the great, in 1164 A.D, to their final resting place, at the Cologne Cathedral.

The Church Of Saint Mary in Urumieh still awaits to be investigated for the presence of the original graves of the Magi. 

Persian soldiers, recognizing the inscription of the Magi in Medean and Persian dress at the door from 640 years ago last stood guard at the Church Of Nativity in mid 7th century. 

Heris, a tiny town in East Azerbaijan is where the Apostle Matthew spent his last days. 

Esfahan Cathedral at New Jolfa has some exquisitely beautiful and prolific artwork of Biblical themes. 

Qare Kilisa, oldest church of the world, near Jolfa celebrates the times of St Thaddaeus/Jude, martyred in Beirut in 68 A.D.