Military mentality of Achaemenid leaders?

[century x]

[QUOTE=the persian Immortal;10558315]

ferdowsi is so awesome I love his work "shahnameh" cuz it incloudes every thing you know! it contains 3 ages #1 age of mythology (about old persians mythology) #2 age of heroism #3 age of history ( pure persian source )

Oh yes. That is a must read for any Persian. Pure persian source for the win.

But let us get back on topic. It is very hard to determine the caliber of Persian commanders. Mainly of course because the history books have been destroyed. But what is available. It shows that Persian Commanders are were very efficient and had a high degree of battle tactics. Yes granted not every single one was great.(::Cough cough Darius III ::Cough cough).

If the Commanders were not of descent caliber the empires that were formed would never have happened.

It is just so hard to really determine it. Unlike we know in extreme detail the mentality of Roman commanders because so much has been saved.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

The Shahnameh is a compilation of orally passed down folk tales, mostly fantastical ones.

There is absolutely no evidence to Persians having literature apart from rock inscriptions and Bactrian religious texts in the Achaemenid period, and what literary tradition the Parthians and Sassanids had was apparently inherited from the Greeks.


About Mani - he was not Iranian. He was Aramaean. He wrote in Semitic languages.

[DarthLazy]

The official language was Aramaic anyway, so you cant blame the Arabs. The greeks got there first.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Got there... So what? We don't hear of libraries, or scrolls, or history kept by the Persians. All we know they kept was religious texts and laconic propaganda rock inscriptions.

[DarthLazy]

Pure conjecture. Why would the Greeks bother keeping it when they are burning everything down anyways?

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Pure conjecture. Why would the Greeks bother keeping it when they are burning everything down anyways?

Yours is, not mine. There is no evidence for pre-Hellenic Persian literature WHAT. SO. EVER.

[DarthLazy]

What I said

[century x]

Yours is, not mine. There is no evidence for pre-Hellenic Persian literature WHAT. SO. EVER.

Because it was destroyed. Greeks, Arabs, mongols. That is a lot of invaders.

Your basically saying that the Persians had no writing system at all. Managing an Empire of that size requires mathematics and a understanding of a written language. In which both the Persians excelled at.

And I'm going to say it myself

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Because it was destroyed. Greeks, Arabs, mongols. That is a lot of invaders.

Ok. Mayans had PC's and railways. We just don't have them because they were destroyed.

Your basically saying that the Persians had no writing system at all.

Never said such a thing.

Managing an Empire of that size requires mathematics and a understanding of a written language. In which both the Persians excelled at.

Yes, and?

Written language and great use of it in administration is not exactly literature. It's like comparing an excel spreadsheet is the same as a novel.

[The_Blacksmith]

Ok. Mayans had PC's and railways. We just don't have them because they were destroyed.

Trying to get a bit more fun into this forum

Written language and great use of it in administration is not exactly literature. It's like comparing an excel spreadsheet is the same as a novel.

Zarathustra inspired people like say... Plato? Pliny the Elder calls him the founder of magic? thats some litterature for you? but hes just iranian... not strictly persian

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Founder of Magic? Lol. That's what the priests were called.

More evidence for mere oral passing down of stories. The point remains, there is noevidence whatsoever that the Persians had literature before the Greeks kicked the crap outta them (btw, I strongly dislike the Greeks).

I am not saying they were primitive by any means - they had Assyrian stuff like roads, an army and an empire - but they certainly lacked some more advanced features like money or more advanced literature.

[The_Blacksmith]

well, that is the trouble of history, it is written by the victor

BUT this is a thing that is implimented in ROP which you dearly are wrong in... the Daric! the official mint of the crown... used thoughout the empire...

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

BS. The Daric has only ever been found in western Anatolia. Its primary purpose was bribes, specifically to mess with Greek politics. Its value was too high for the average bondsman. Throughout the empire exchange in kind dominated. The only areas that used money commonly were Phoenicia, Anatolia and Ionia. The only reason the Daric is there in the mod is because of the engine's limitations. The real resource should be manpower and food surplus, not gold, which was not worth a damn in Parsa proper.
Source:
http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Law/ec...achaemenid.htm

[The_Blacksmith]

Wow.... didnt knew that, anyhting before the Diadochis are quite hazy... its been a while since ive read about persian coinage.... but i do know that they messured in Daric weights...

[Kitsunegari]

Ok. Mayans had PC's and railways. We just don't have them because they were destroyed.

Great reasoning there. We have evidence of several writing systems in use by the Persians, we have zero evidence of computing or coal mining in precolumbian civilizations... unless you think the Nazca Lines were landing strips.

[Drtad]

we have zero evidence of computing or coal mining in precolumbian civilizations... unless you think the Nazca Lines were landing strips.

The Nazca Lines being landing strips wouldn't have anything to do with computing or coal mining would it?

About Mani - he was not Iranian. He was Aramaean. He wrote in Semitic languages.

The one I linked was written in Persian for Shapur to read.

[Kitsunegari]

No, just tying it into the general ancient astronaut theory lol

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Great reasoning there. We have evidence of several writing systems in use by the Persians, we have zero evidence of computing or coal mining in precolumbian civilizations... unless you think the Nazca Lines were landing strips.

Writing =/= advanced literature

You wouldn't call a spreadsheet the same as a novel, would you?

[TWWolfe]

So they could write, but they didn't write things that weren't business in nature, is what i get from this.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Correct you are, young padawan.