A Rivalry Among Monotheists and Polytheists
For approximately 1500 years before the arrival of Islam (642 CE), socioeconomic, political, and cultural – behavioural developments in the vast area delineated by the rivers Tigris, Aras, Oxus and Indus were characterized by the clash between monotheistic and polytheistic concepts. One of the most significant persons who defined these developments was Zoroaster; undoubtedly, he established the most referential system of faith and values for all the different peoples and nations of the aforementioned area.
Zoroaster’s identification with Azerbaijan – Atropatene – Adhurbadhagan was undeniable in the Antiquity and the Islamic Ages. The land was considered sacred due to Zoroaster’s birth, and Adhar Ghushnap (rather known as Praaspa in Ancient Greek and Latin, today’s Takht-e Suleiman) was the holiest place for the entire empire that we call Iran but perceive – very mistakenly – as an extension of Fars (Persia).
Adhar Ghushnap; the Diachronic Religious Capital of Atropatene / Azerbaijan
With the imperial capital at either Persepolis, Ctesiphon or Istakhr, the religious center of the multi-ethnic empire of the Achaemenids, the Arsacids or the Sassanids was always at Adhar Ghushnap. As the monotheistic center par excellence, Adhar Ghushnap opposed the rise of Mithraism (at the end of the Achaemenid era, 550 – 330 BCE) and the rise of Manichaeism (at the dawn of the Sassanid times, 224 – 651 CE).
Zendism, as an adaptation of Zoroastrianism at the level of moral and political philosophy of the Arsacid Parthian times (250 BCE – 224 CE), must have also emanated from Adhar Ghushnap.
Mazdeism, a religious system that succeeded the tolerant Zendism of the Parthians and became the nationalistic political ideology of the Sassanids, became valid because it bore all the insignia ascribed to the Throne of the Peacock by the priesthood of Adhar Ghushnap.
On Foot from Ctesiphon to Adhar Ghushnap…
We know very well that every Sassanid emperor, once coronated, had to walk with his custody and move on foot (never riding) from Ctesiphon to Adhar Ghushnap in order to get the religious corroboration of his rise to the throne.
Tesifun / Ctesiphon - Taq Kasra
In fact, the entire Iranian empire evolved around Atropatene, and the overstressed importance of Fars relates merely to modern colonial historiography that had to establish an "Indo-European" empire in the place of a non – racist imperial institution that was preponderantly of monotheistic religious character.
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Beyond its religious significance, Atropatene comprised the most illustrious Antiquity of the plateau, namely Mannaean (centered at Hasanlu in the southern confines of the Lake Uumiyeh) and Median (evolving around Hangmatana, Ecbatana – Hamedan, which retained its great importance during the Achaemenid and the Arsacid times as parallel capital of the empire).
Tasks for Modern Azeri National Historiographers
It would therefore be necessary for the posterior foundation of a comprehensive National History of Azerbaijan to first rewrite the entire pre-Islamic History of the plateau in order to
1. de-Persianize its flawed contents
2. re-orientate its altered prerogatives
3. reflect properly the historical sources
4. establish a History of ideas, concepts, faiths and ideologies, instead of a mere succession of socio-economic and political events, and
5. reveal the focal role played by Atropatene for no less than 15 centuries before the arrival of Islam.
This would help re-baptize the fake "History of Pre-Islamic Iran" into "History of Pre-Islamic Atropatene / Azerbaijan", and rename the plateau as Atropatene / Azeri Plateau (instead of Iranian Plateau).
When Fars will be reduced to its real level of historical veracity, and perceived as of secondary importance when compared to the Achaemenid, Arsacid and Sassanid times’ Atropatene, the modern Azeri historiography will offer Azerbaijan its true History and diachronic Identity that incorporated all the peoples and nations that happened to inhabit it, sharing the same 3000-year old Heritage.
Note -- An interesting video demonstrates the modern Azeris’ thirst for a true reassessment of their past and a fair development of national historiography: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR7yqXVbKEs
Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard
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About The Author: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, Islamologist, Historian and Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 52, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.
http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/Azerbaijan,-South-Azerbaijan,-Iran,-Persia,-Turkey,-Orientalism-and-Freemasonic-Historiography/163954
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