Persian or Iranian: Was there a Persian Empire?

Was there a Persian Empire?

Sounds strange but it is a valid question. Our view is there was no "Persian Empire" because there were no "Persians". So who were those people running the "Persian Empire"?. We would like to investigate this question and find out who were realy those people who created the "Persian Empire".

According to Assyrian Records, some people who were called Persians moved into South West of today's Iran in 800 B.C. This is the first appearance of Persians recorded in Assyrian records. So Persians were a recent migrants to this region as opposed to Medes and other natives such as Elamites who assyrians knew about a long time before this period.

It is assumed that they were Proto-Aryans that had just moved from Central Asia to Persia. But many facts contradict this hypothesis.

Persian Empire
Firstly in a span of 200 to 300 these "Persians" created a vast empire with a very advance level of civilization with Post Office and Highways. Persians had a very advance religion. It was called Zoarastrianism. Both Judaism and Christiniaty is based on Zoarastrianism. Even Budism is based on Zoarstrianism. And these "Persians" managed a very vast Empire with a complex organization and social relations. Persian Empire even adopted the "declaration of Human Rights" in 500 B.C. Persian Empire had even its own CIA too. They were called the "Eyes of the King".

So these people could not have been Proto-Aryans or in other words early Aryan tribes migrating to warmer climates due to the climate change in Central Asia.

So "Persians" should have lived somewhere else for thousands of years before they moved into Persia. In this other location they had developed a high level of culture and civilization and then they had moved into Persia.

So where was this other place that Persians lived previously before moving into Persia? The only place the Persians could have lived is Afghanistan. Afghanistan is an older Aryan civilization than Persia.

We can ask two questions: If Persians came from Afghanistan, then why Pesians did not speak Pashtoon language? Secondly why did Persians move to South West Iran?

OLD PERSIAN
Persians spoke Old Persian language. Old Persian was contemporary to Avestan, another Old Iranian language. Old Persian is preserved through cuneiform tablets found in the remains after the Achaemenid dynasty (550- 330 BCE). The oldest traces of Old Persian date to the 6th century BCE, but it was spoken until the 3rd century BCE.

Old Persian was spoken in southwestern Iran, while Avestan was spoken in northeastern Iran.
It is believed that there must have been a fair level of mutual intelligibility between the Iranian languages of this period, and more than there would be in later periods. Old Persian and Avestan are closely related to Pashtoon language. The question is why Avestan and Pashtoon language which are eastern Iranian languages was transformed into Old Persian which is south Western Iranian language? Some anthropologist and linguist assume that Median language had some influence on Old Persian and that is the reason for a change of language structure.

"Old Persian" language indicates that the Afghan Society had developed a high level of civilization. There had been a process of stratification in Afghan society. There was a differentiation in Urban and Rural areas. There had developted an elite within Afghan society related to Zoarastrian religion with its own lanague separate from tribal afghans. There was high level of trade with neighboring areas such as Mesopothemia and Persia's native civilization.

The Question of Trade
We think the expansion of trade required access to the sea. Persians or Parsua or Parsis were the elite of Afghan society. This elite decided to move its headquarters or its main center of civilization from Afghanistan to Persia. So the objective of this migration was to reach Persian Gulf. That is the reason Persians moved to Pars Province which is adjacent to Persian Gulf and main centers of Babylon in Mesopothemian and Susa in Elam civilizations enabling it to trade with these urban advance civilizations.

We can see the same pattern later with Sakas or Scythians establishing settlements in Lursitan next to Pars province and Parthians establish settlements in Pars and Lursitan province later on. Again access to the Persian Gulf was the main reason for these settlements.

Persians as Afghans
This theory that Persians were actually Afghans is also confirmed by the way "Persian Empire" developed. We have a lot of information about how "Persian Empire" expanded in the West toward Egypt, Greece, Lydia and the Black sea. There were many wars specially with Greeks involving millions of soldiers and 1000's of ships in those battles. But there is very little information about the Persian Empire expanding to the East. The reason is very simple. Persian Empire was only an extension of Afghan Civilization and Persians were the elite of Afghan society. So there was no need to expand and conquer the eastern countries or regions.

Furthermore when Greeks called these people for "Persians", they were refering to a specific region or location. Persians were not a specific ethnic group separate from the main Afghan-Bactrian civilization. Therefore we conclude that Persians were actually Afghans who had migrated to Persia and the real "Persian Empire" was actually an Afghan Empire.

Those people who might have a knowledge in this area is welcome to contribute to the elaboration of this theory.

Persian or Iranian?
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