جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « ancient Iran » در نشریات گروه « جغرافیا »

 This study seeks to challenge many existing studies on ancient Iran in different areas such as archeology, history, culture, and society to set a new theoretical framework to study the abovementioned areas. It also aims to clarify the paleogeography of ancient Iran based on ancient Iranian mythological scripts and oral traditions.

 To conduct this study, very ancient Iranian stories are investigated. These myths are extracted from the holy book of the Zoroastrians, Avesta, which belongs to 1000-1500 BC, or other books written 1000 to 2500 years ago, including Shahnameh, an Iranian epic, or past oral traditions.

 The results show that contrary to previous theories, the formation of those societies dates back to the late Quaternary, after a rise in temperature about 19000 years ago. At that time, people started residing in the center, south, and south-east of Iran. 

The Younger Dryas, about 13000 years ago, forced them to dwell underground. Then, early Holocene droughts restricted them, and a long, severe drought about 4000 years ago scattered them and forced them to migrate. Based on some studies, it was in two time periods, probably before the Younger Dryas and in the mid-Holocene, that the ancient Iranian society experienced good ecological conditions.

Innovation:

 This article opens a new framework in the field of cultural geosciences and expresses a new theory related to the ancient societies of Iran based on myths related to the earth, especially those left in the works of books and early texts.

Water and irrigation has become the origin of many social, cultural and political changes and relationships in civilization in Iran's geographical context, and this category has a logical and effective relationship with geography, and after a basic and superficial understanding, it can be the origin of many of the following topics. For example, population density, movement, economy and livelihood of rural life, settlement, urbanism, villag, geshlaq, desert travel and Bedouin living and so on. Water was and is one of the main elements of creation in the beliefs of ancient Iran, and it has had a direct impact on the formation and settlement and type of life in Iran, including its impact on mythology and religious beliefs and its signs in civilized life, such as the construction of temples. Dams and aqueducts, etc., is a direct investigation and one of the main elements of the climate and region and each region with a geographical domain, and precipitation, temperature, volume of flowing water, atmospheric precipitation, and underground beds, etc. are all related to water. and its management depend. Therefore, the study and review of the natural geography of Iran, the type of climate and the geographical location of Iran and the Iranian Plateau and its relationship with economic advantages such as the existence of roads, caravanserais and the geopolitical issues of the Iranian Plateau and its extension and expansion to the watery areas such as Sihun and Jihun and the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea, the Nile River, and

The concept of governmentality was first proposed by Michel Foucault in 1978; it involves studying techniques, processes, and approaches in which governments control all aspects of citizens' lives. In the context of this cognitive approach, socio-political discourse creates the political dimension of space at a certain point in history. In this regard, one of the important themes in the concept of governmentality framework is understanding how governance discourses' role constructs the nationalism components. In other words, nationalism can be reconstructed at any point in time by historical political discourses. In fact, national identity construction is a discourse process product; more precisely, it is part of discourse conflicts. Thus, national identity is not merely a natural aspect but an artificial phenomenon created over time by political power. So, it is established as a collective memory and has the potential for disintegrating. Thus, in defining Iranian identity, different governments, according to their attitudes, have highlighted and emphasized one or more elements of Iranian identity. This study seeks to represent the elements of nationalism discourse in the political sovereignty functioning for the construction of the political geography of Iran in the first Pahlavi era.  

This article has attempted to rely on interpretive methods and use the theoretical theme of discourse governmentality to explain how to build a national identity in the first Pahlavi era and its consequences in the political geography of Iran. In this regard, in the first stage, the concept of nationalism was defined in the framework of Foucault's view based on theoretical documents.

Discourse analysis of national identity construction indicates that national identity construction in the first Pahlavi era was organized based on the ancient Iranian nationalism discourse for the solidarity of ethnic groups and social classes. In other words, this discourse highlighted ancient Iran's history of seeking to arouse patriotic motives in different tribes and ethnicities. In this regard, promoting historical buildings, naming many places and public symbols based on the names of ancient Iran, allocating financial resources to discover ancient monuments, establishing institutions such as historical museums, and inserting symbols of Zoroastrianism and the ancient kingdoms of Iran in the buildings of this period by the government paved the way for the further development of Iranian identity in the light of the ancient monarchy. At the same time, part of nationalism articulation was based on the relationship made against "other" concerning geopolitical conflict components. From the middle of the eighteenth century and during the nineteenth century, with the emergence of British and Russian colonial rivalries in Southwest Asia and its destructive effect on the independence and territorial integrity of Iran, the creation of national solidarity discourses in Iran was based on the conflict with these hostile empires. Thus, in the first Pahlavi period, the discourse of becoming an undisputed military power became one of the cohesive tools of national identity. In fact, this reading of nationalism differs from its conceptual context in the Western tradition and is linked to independence and anti-colonialism as a ruling discourse. Hence, suspicion of colonial powers in the first Pahlavi era was used to form a large army to counter foreign conspiracies and build national solidarity. This discourse for building national identity was often used, reading ancient Iran's historical myths, texts, and inscriptions to confirm the righteous king's characteristics. Iran's inhabitants have been heterogeneous groups of different racial, linguistic, and religious ethnicities. Especially with the emergence of nationalism and nation-state thought after the first Pahlavi, the issue of coexistence and how to manage ethnic diversity politically became important. Political thought in Iran historically has used the concept of a charismatic king to solve this problem. In this view, the basis of the monarchy's legitimacy is the king's spiritual relationship with God and the only factor that can shape spatial justice.From another point of view, charismatic leadership was the only factor that could establish spatial justice between different ethnic groups and social classes. The first Pahlavi tried to use this discourse to create a spatial adaptation of the nation and territory and to stabilize the construction of Iran's political geography. In the Pahlavi era, nationalism was defined primarily as centered around the charismatic leadership of the Shah. In other words, the exclusive function of the charismatic leader was introduced as one of the essential factors of national solidarity in this period. This issue was reflected in Shah's preference for the homeland in the slogan "God, King, Homeland." This notion gave such legitimacy to political power that introduced it as the only factor in creating national solidarity, and any political competition with him was considered illegitimate.

Before the modern government, in the political view of landowners and tribal leaders of Iran, there was not much familiarity with a human structure called the nation. Also, in this period, due to a lack of political parties and civil institutions independent from the ruling monarchy, the government found an increasing place to construct a national identity. In this regard, the narrative of ancient Iran became the discourse of the government to build the national identity. Furthermore, in this discourse, part of the need for social solidarity is met by explaining the unique role of charismatic political leaders. This discourse justifies the charismatic king's authoritarianism to provide political legitimacy for building national identity in Iran's political geography. In this regard, in the first Pahlavi era, measures were taken to achieve this goal, such as the disarmament of nomads, promotion of national education, compulsory military service, and uniformed clothing. In the first Pahlavi discourse, hereditary monarchy, the idea of divine selection of kings, and the protection of borders and alienation from geopolitical enemies became the basis of Iranian identity.

The divisions of the country are the container and framework of the structure of the administrative organization of the country at different levels. In Iran, the division of the country's space into smaller units has a long history and since the formation of the first territorial government until today (more than 2500 years), has been used to manage and control the territorial space by governments. In this research, the course and trend of the divisions of Iran in the pre-Islamic historical period (Medes, Achaemenids, Seleucids, Parthians and Sassanids) have been studied analytically. In this regard, the questions examined in this research are: What was the process of country divisions in ancient Iran? What were the most important factors affecting country divisions in ancient Iran?  Examining the divisions of Iran in historical periods on the one hand can be a step towards recognizing the divisions of the country, the criterias affecting the divisions and the limits of authority of the units in the historical periods and on the other hand, can be from the experiences of those periods to improve the system of current divisions the country used. The results of the study show that the most important components affecting the divisions of the country include historical considerations, geographical area, cultural geography (ethnicity and religion), political considerations, security and military considerations, access and communication structure, adherence to aspects for example: Geography, economic considerations, topography and natural geographical features and boundaries of the land. The most important suggestions that can be made for the current system of state divisions are to pay attention to the history of state divisions, decentralization and delegation of powers, decision-making and implementation of policies to the levels of lower divisions under the supervision of the central government. To the cultural geography in the system of national divisions, attention to qualitative criteria in the system of national divisions, attention to the administrative structure of the city, political centralism - administrative and economic decentralization, the need to pay attention to considerations and potentials in improving the levels of national divisions, especially  attention to territorial unity and security and political considerations in the divisions of the country.The political organization of space shows how human spatial interaction is constructed in order to play political roles in the environment and space. One of the issues of political organization of space is the division of the country. Country divisions include the division of the country into different regions through the establishment of contractual borders. In fact, the division of a country is an act that aims to divide the country into smaller units in order to govern it. The model of political management of space and political divisions of territory is always considered as the two main dimensions of administrative-political divisions because administrative-political divisions on the one hand how to plan for land management according to the view of people and government on the political structure and geographical situation, on the other hand, the division of the country includes the division of territory into smaller administrative areas and attention to its special features for better management of the country.

The research method is "applied" in terms of purpose and "analytical-comparative" in nature. In this research, on the one hand, historical, geographical and social sources related to the historical periods of ancient Iran have been studied and on the other hand, the current system of divisions of the country and its most important weaknesses in the sources have been extracted. The method of collecting information is in the form of libraries and taking notes from the studied sources. The method of data analysis is also performed qualitatively. Finally, in accordance with the strengths of the country's divisions in ancient Iran and the weaknesses of the country's divisions in the current era, suggestions have been made to strengthen and improve the current system of divisions. The innovation of this research is in examining the structure and criterias of the ancient divisions of the country and presenting suggestions based on that period for the current system of divisions, which has not been done in any research.

In this study, the process of divisions of  Iran in the pre-Islamic historical period has been studied. The study of the transformation and process of  political organizing space and country divisions in these periods requires a correct understanding of the geographical, political, social and demographic contexts and conditions of the territory of Iran.The criteria for the division of the country in ancient Iran were influenced on the one hand by the geographical situation of the territory of Iran and on the other hand by the king, who was at the head of the administrative and state organization. During this periods, geographical, political, security, military, social and economic factors have been influential in the divisions of the country. But in each period there were factors that had a greater impact on the divisions of that period. A review of the historical periods of ancient Iran shows that the most important components affecting the divisions of the country include historical considerations, geographical area, cultural geography (ethnicity and religion), political considerations, security and military considerations, access and connections structure, adherence to aspects for example: Geography, economic considerations, topography and natural geographical features and borders of the territory.

The most important suggestions that can be made for the current system of divisions based on the system of national divisions in the historical period of ancient Iran are: attention to the history of national divisions, decentralization and delegation of powers, decision-making and implementation of policies to levels Lower national divisions under the supervision of the central government, attention to cultural geography in the system of national divisions, attention to qualitative criteria in the system of national divisions, attention to the administrative structure of the urban, political centralism - administrative and economic decentralization, the need to pay attention to considerations and potentials In raising the levels of national divisions, especially paying attention to territorial unity and security and political considerations in national divisions.

Political power’s structure and its spatial distribution is one of the most important issues in political geography. Iran, with thousand years of civilization, has a centralized state and its causes must be seek in ancient Iran and the roots of the formation of the first Iranian government (Medes) and the trend to centralizethe power. This paper deals with the exploration of reasons that influenced the power structure in ancient Iran by investigating the structure and spatial distribution of power in ancient Iran in the Median, Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid eras. Researchers claim Iran's geographical location and the existence of a powerful foreign enemy named Assyria were the reason of formation of the first centralized government of Iran named Medes. In the beginning, the power structure was not centralized, but was more like an Oligarchy and this structure gradually and in particular in the Sassanid era turned into a centralized and unitary system, and one of the most important reasons was the influence of missionaries in the power structure. It is also necessary to mention that other factors like geographic area and ripples have been effective in the pattern of spatial distribution of political power in Iran.

The subject of environmental perception has an important role in positioning of global thinking and actions of many groups and nations. Hence, the relation between politics (ideas) and territory (action) has been represented in the form of terms, discourses and different scales for rulers and scholars. In the meantime, understanding the dynamics of power requires knowledge about spatial interactions and changes. Geopolitical imagination as one of the facets of environmental perception is the result of humans and political- Spatial entities that have an important role in creating political-Spatial realities. Hence, Political organization of space at two macro and micro scales in relation to internal and external inputs of political units depends on environmental perception and geopolitical imagination of leaders and decision-makers at two macro and micro levels. The research methodology adopted is content analysis of ancient texts based on meta-positivism method. Data gathering procedure is library findings. Results and dissuasion : Iran’s ancient history is a mixture of myth and history. Spatial representation of geopolitical imagination of this era of our country’s history represented in government type at global scale and with global function, that the center of this government is Airyan Vaējah, a holly territory. From this center, World leadership was based on Ahura Mazda world order and in the framework of "Aša". King, as a ruler, earned his spiritual power from Ahura Mazda. Hence, he has heavenly function. He was the helper of Ahura Mazda and killer of Evil Terminator and expander of Aša sovereignty over the world. Historically, Global Government was established in the Achaemenid. They knew themselves the representation of Ahura Mazda. Based on text of the Avesta, Persia is the best creations of Ahura Mazda. Hence, it is also the center of the praise. On Android Mazdisna, the kingdom belongs to Ahura Mazda. He gives the spiritual power to human, and anyone that he chooses to kingdom benefits from Mazdas spritual power, and should follow divine commands, clean the evils from world and spread justice in the world. If he does not obey from divine, kingdom (legitimacy) is gotten from him. Shah and territory are two interconnected things. Since the territory of Airyan Vaējah is blessing, it is center of the world and by the time that Shah is qualified to maintain divine charisma conditions, will be world ruler. Achaemenid due to leadership ability, power of conquest of world, was being affected by mythological beliefs and cultural- spatial tolerance performed a geopolitical imagination that made their kingdom global and unforgettable. These factors cause Iran’s ancient culture to have adaptable, flexible and tolerant nature.