Iran, Tehran - a city with lovely people 1

                                

I always wanted to visit Iran, it was a must for me in this life, and here I am, paying a visit to my friend Ali, who was so kind to invite me and host me for around 7 days, right?

I have always been fascinated by history and Iran has an impressive one. The Persian Empire (including  Media, Lydia and Babylonia) with all of its culture, traditions, beauty and power, the Babylon legend, the Zoroastrianism religion, all of these things made me feel so excited about visiting Iran.

                              ...from a museum in Tehran

Very interesting how Persia changed in Iran. As far as I understood from history, the name 'Persia' was given to the land by the Greeks, after Pārsa, the name of the people  whom Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty first ruled (before he inherited or conquered other Iranian Kingdoms). In fact, Persia's citizens used to call themselves ' ērān' or Aryan, meaning ' the Iranians', denoting the people rather than the empire. In other words, this Empire was proclaiming the people as a state which is no longer find anywhere else in the states' denominations.

                                           Persian Carpet

Persians were Zoroastrians.They believed in one single God,  Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord) who supports the following concepts:
-  Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds
- There is only one path and that is the path of Truth.
-  Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, and then all beneficial rewards will come to you as well.

                                      Zoroastrianism Logo

In order to help the humanity develop and progress, Ahura Mazda sent a prophet, in his name of Zoroaster or Zarathustra which wrote poems (Gathas) and the Scripture (Yasna) about the force of one single God that is almighty, though not omnipotent. He also explained that human beings are given a right of choice, and because of cause and effect are also responsible for the consequences of their choices. Zoroaster's teachings focused on responsibility. 

The Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions on Earth and its unique combination between  the cosmogonic dualism and eschatological monotheism, promoting the messianism, heaven, hell, and free will,  inspired many of other religions as: Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam. Furthermore, reading about UR State (3rd millennium BC),  and Ancient Mesopotamian legends, found out that The Gilgamesh Epic - 'various themes, plot elements, and characters have counterparts in the Hebrew Bible, notably the accounts of the Garden of Eden, the advice from Ecclesiastes, and the Genesis flood narrative' (wikipedia.com). Interesting, isn't it?

                                        Gilgamesh Epic

There are 12 Tablets of Gilgamesh Epic, all of them wisely written, using personification, hyperboles, comparisons and other methods of writing in order to draw the attention on the message: the life of the human being on the Earth. I read some of them and was fascinated - thinking to make a serial on this topic in the future (maybe after my 2nd or 3rd feature film).

Another interesting thought is the fact that on the today teritorry of Romania were living The Dacians (Romanian roots are half Dacs, half Romans, yes :P). Reading further on about the origin of Dacians, I have found out that: In the 19th century, Tomaschek considered a close affinity between the Besso-Thracians and Getae-Dacians, an original kinship of both people with Iranian peoples. They are Aryan tribes, several centuries before Scolotes of the Pont and Sauromatae left the Aryan homeland and settled in the Carpathian chain, in the Haemus (Balkan) and Rhodope mountains ( Tomaschek 1883, pp. 400–401).

Dacian ( Pushkin Museum)

So, interesting, istn't it: the Romanian roots and the Iranian roots are common! Wawww!!
Furthermore, I have found that 'giaour'  (which means infidel, unfaithful), was a term used by Ottomans to offend people of other religion than the Muslim one. The term was used in Romania (
the teritorries of what is today Romania)  too and we were called 'ghiaurs' by the Ottomans as well. 

World is so small!
:)