Artemis Persike and the Great Mother of Gods (In Search of a Persian-Anatolian Goddess According to Classical Texts and the Archaeological Evidences)

One of the most important aspects of the Achaemenid empire was the establishment of a coherent empire from various believes, cultures and nationalities. Hence, the formation of the multi-national cultures like Persian-Elamite, Egypto-Persian, Greco-Persian and Anatolian-Persian shaped the new horizons in the cultural relations of the ancient world. The Religious effects as one of the most elemental signs of the new unified cultures emerged at Asia Minor (Present Turkey) more than everywhere. The Classical texts on the one hand and the archaeological evidence on the other hand has proven that at the Achaemenid period, the impressive presence of supreme political and religious officials in Asia Minor has made the process of cultural relations in that region, more serious. Perhaps the formation of Persian sacred sanctuaries and the presence of the Iranian figures in the form of prominent clerics of the Anatolian gods are the most obvious signs of a dual culture founded in Asia Minor during the Achaemenid period, a dual culture that appears in the form of Artemis Persike and Cybele, the Great Mother of Gods, as two Persian-Anatolian goddesses, insofar as the incumbency of the Great Temple of Artemis at Ephesus has given to an Iranian House for a long period. The study on the Persian-Anatolian culture has always been in the context of the Persian-Greek studies and has not been dealt with as it was worthy of. According to a traditional belief among part of historians and archaeologists, the Achaemenid presence in Anatolia is merely a political rule, and the main throne in Anatolia is for Greek culture in this period. It is undeniable that a significant part of Anatolian culture's heritage has a very close connection with the Greek and Ionian culture, but this one-sided view has prevented new commentaries, especially in the historiological and archaeological circles of Iran. Today, the examination of the written documents and the archaeological evidence of different parts of Anatolia has proven that the prevalence of Persian culture in Asia Minor was much more than it was supposed to have, until the emergence of the same ritual among the Iranian immigrants and the native inhabitants of Anatolia around the axis of a goddess Leads to the appearance of an unified religion. Evidence suggests that the emergence of this new religion will provide the new cultural exchanges among the Anatolian natives and the immigrants and its effects will continue until the rise of the Roman Empire. In the study on the theological aspects of the personality of Persian Artemis or Artemis Persike it is inevitable to look into numismatics and inscriptions data. The focus of this paper is on the comparative study on the archaeological evidence including the coins and the related inscriptions, as well as classical texts in redefining the historical features of a new goddess, which is the result of the administration of the Achaemenid Empire and beyond that resulting from new cultural and political relations in the region.