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LONDON, (CAIS - Edited by Shapour Suren-Pahlav) -- In recent insulting claims by an Islamic fundamentalist about Persepolis and ancient Iranians, have raised voices of concern and anger both inside and outside Iran.

Abbas Salimi Namin, the head of Tehran based Office for the Historical Research Studies for Compiling Contemporary of Iranian History and a close ally of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the spiritual-leader of Islamic republic claimed that the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, the Persepolis was built by non-Iranian peoples and bizarrely called the monument as the Elamite and Russian heritage remains.

An expert, Abdol-Majid Arfei said that based on the inscriptions attributed to the Achaemenid king of kings, Darius the Great, Iranian artisans and craftsmen from all the satrapies (provinces) of the Empire were engaged in the construction of the historical monuments in Persepolis.

“The discovered accounts and inscriptions such as transportation rates, financial accounts, paid expenses, workers’ wages, name of the employees in the Persepolis complex, transfer expenses, child allowance paid to mothers who gave birth, and many other similar cases, most of which related to the territory of the Achaemenid Empire, point out to  the construction of the monument by the Achaemenid emperors” added Arfaei.

Meanwhile a veteran Iranian historian, Dr. Parviz Rajabi rejected Salimi Namin’s baseless claim, and stating there was no Russian culture in existence when the second Iranian dynasty the Achaemenid dynasty founded by Cyrus the Great icame to power n 6th c. BCE.

“Not only has Darius the Great left behind his inscriptions, but, also other Achaemenid Emperors who were involved in the construction of Persepolis have bequeathed their inscriptions separately" said Rajabi.

He added: “the inscriptions are written in three languages: Aryan which also known as the Old-Persian, Elamite and Babylonian. On the other hand, Persepolis was not left incomplete. Instead, there was a magnificent palace there during the Achaemenid dynastic rule and this structure has undergone repairs several times,“ Rajabi said.

An archeologist in the Fars province, Alireza Asgari said: "the Apadana of Darius is one of the first palaces in which Norouz (the Iranian new year) was held. The construction of the magnificent palace was denoted to Darius the Great. The Emperors of the Achaemenid dynasty used to observe justice in running state affairs", Asgari said.

Regarding Namin’s baseless claim on the subject that Jews attacked Persia during the reign of Xerxes, Achaemenid Emperor who reigned between 485 and 465 BCE, massacred 77,000 people, Asghari believes that this claim is a hearsay and he should present his evidence for such a claim. 

Asghari asserted, that Cyrus the Great was the savior of Jews and they were not massacred during Achaemenid dynastic era. 

“During the reign of Xerxes, no war occurred between the Iranians and their Jewish subjects. On the other hand, Queen Esther, the wife of Xerxes, was herself Jewish,“ concluded Asghari.

Referring to another claim by Namin defending Arab invaders of Iran in 7th century,  claiming that it was Non-Muslim Arabs who attacked Iran and not Muslim-Arabs. 

Asgari responded by stating that there is enough historical evidence to show the Arabs who attacked Iran were Muslims and stated: "we do not have the right to distort history and deny some facts due to religious or personal prejudices”.

Salimi Namin, recently in an open letter to the secretary general of UNESCO, claimed that the Achaemenid clay tablets in Chicago University were belonging to the late Islamite period [1] and not the Achaemenids.

According to Dr. Mir Abedin Kaboli, archeologist with Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, the existing reasons that Persepolis was constructed by Iranians during the Achaemenid dynasty are strong enough to reject all such baseless claims; yet “the people who claim something else must present their evidence.” It is undoubtedly correct to argue that expressing such groundless claims is contrary to a person’s duty to protect his or her ancient history which must be safely transferred to future generations.

He not only has offended the feelings of the Iranian nation, also has created a rage in the public opinion by trying to distort thousands of years of history and civilization, which is the foundation of identity and the source of pride of 70 million Iranians.

Abbas Salimi Namin, has a BSc in computer science from Britian and was the former editor of the hard liner newspaper Keyhan-e Hawa’i ( a weekly review of the daily Keyhan in English). He is a close ally of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic, which in his five years research as he claims himself does not make him an authority in the field of history. 

Salimi Namin, is one of the many examples of people currently in charge of the country, which not only they put Iran's national interests at risk, also they are the biggest threat to Iranian national heritage and cultural identity. 

These kind of thoughtless and baseless claims or perhaps well-planned and organized hatful remarks, assist enemies of Iran to falsify Iranian history, such the recent feeble-claims as the father of the Iranian nation, Cyrus the Great was an Elamite; the Kurds were one the lost tribes of Israel; Parthians and Scythians were Turkish tribes; and Prophet Zoroaster was an Uzbek. 

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