Statue of Minos in Kandalos village in the Zanos valley

[Cyrus]

http://www.kojur.com/image/muzeh-kh/tan ... t1.jpgMany peoples see Alexander as an European who conquered Persian Empire and spread European culture through Asia! When Persians invaded Greece, it is said that Greeks defended Europe against Asians, but where was Europe and Asia in ancient times?If you read about Greek and Persian cultures then you will understand that culturally, linguistically and ethnically, Greek is the most realted to Persian. Persian and Greek languages are the most similar languages between Indo-European languages and Recent Y-chromosome studies have shown that the closest nation to Greeks are Iranians.

[beausefaless]

As you well know Iranians & many Afghanistan's consider themselves decedents to the ancient Persians. Now if Helen and Paris had survived maybe something might have started much sooner, just kidding around, but seriously, if you recall there where Greek colonies all along the western Asia minor coast as there were colonies in the far west (southern Italy just to name one) and so on, even as far east as western china. Recent Y-chromosome studies from modern folks are always highly debated and end up with too much controversy just like the never ending Greek/Macedonian debate. Remember, for a short period in time Alexander had most of the known world as one. Even after the last diodachi war (285-281) when the period of state forming came to an end people became fed up with military and political BS and thus the golden years until the Romans were finally forced the flex their muscles.I love that statue though! Pack rats would have not stood a chance against that big putty cat.

[Cyrus]

We can't say that peoples of Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan are decedents of anceint Persians, however they speak mostly Persian languages but like Macedonians and Greeks, they were indo-european peoples. There were many non-indo-european peoples between Iran and Greece such as Babylonians, Egyptians, Syrians, Assyrians, ... but Alexander married to Statira (daughter of his enemy Darius III) because Alexander knew that "Statira" means "Star" and she is also a Deus(Zeus) worshipper.

[beausefaless]

I agree that some peoples of Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan are not decedents of ancient Persians but many claim they are. It's all a matter of personal translation, yours, theirs, and mine. In my country we have fifty states, if someone resides in California they are called Californians but since California belongs to the United States of America they are also called Americans. If a person lived in Babylon during the time of Darius I to Darius III I'm sure they would have called themselves Babylonians but Babylon was part of the great Persian empire therefore I would consider them also as Persians, this is just my opinion and maybe others might agree.I believe Alexander knew that "Statira" (Barsine) means "Star"and she was also a Deus worshipper, I also believe Alexander's reasons for marriage went much deeper possibly even love, if you know what I mean. Let us not forget Roxanne for the same reasons.

[Cyrus]

If Babylonians were Persians then Macedonians would be Persians too because Macedonia was also part of Persian empire, Persia (Persis) is just a small province in south of Iran (a region between Persian Gulf and Persepolis) but there many Persians or Persianized peoples in some other southern and central cities of Iran such as Tehran. I live in Tehran but my father was born in Shahmirzad, a small town in north of Tehran.According this map: http://members.cox.net/allempires/AncientC.jpg Tehran, where my mother was born, is in Media and Shahmirzad is in Parthia, so I'm a Medo-Parthian!! however I consider myself as a Persian because no one calls himself/herself Parthian or Median, those who live in modern Media (W & NW Iran) are mostly Azeris(Turks), Kurds, Lurs, Arabs, ... and those who live in Parhtia (E & NE Iran) are Afghans, Turkmens, Balochs and some other non-Persian peoples.About Alexander, I don't want to deny that he was great conqueror but I think if he was not an Aryan (Indo-European), it would be too hard for him to conquer Persia [and marry Roxanna and Statira!].

[beausefaless]

I say what I've learned in the west and I have digested your views on ancient history. You have the right to believe what is the truth in your home land and beyond, I have respect for your truth and I also respect you freedom of expression. I hope some day in the future your country (peoples) and my country will be on friendly terms, I don't think that will happen in my lifetime but you never know. All the best to you and your family.

[Cyrus]

Iran means "Land of Aryans" but I'm ashamed to call my country Iran, modern Iran is land of Mullahs and terrorists not Aryans. This time, we really need someone an Aryan like Alexander to conquer Persia.

[panos]

Hi CyrusI am not writing this post to dispute or to contradict you, but your opinions are based on the "indo-European" theory (Sir W. Jones, 1786) formed based on LINGUISTIC criteria. It stated that most European languages and in India, parts of the Middle East, and Asia have common origins.
It is clear that many elements of the Greek and Persian languages can be common: there was a long term interaction between Greeks and Persians. But you cannot conclude by that that Persians are Greeks or vice versa.
Another point is the studies you mentioned on the Y chromosome. Beeing relevant to my field of study I can assure you that studies on genetic material based on Y chromosome are not reliable for genealogic studies.

[Cyrus]

I didn't say that Persians are Greeks or vice versa, I just wanted to say that we can't see Alexander as an European who spread Greek culture through Persia because in fact there wasn't a big difference between Greek and Persian cultures. For example you can't say that "Manticore" is a Persian or Greek mythical beast, however it is obviously a Persian word which means "maneater" but it has been mentioned in books of Aristotle and other Greek and Roman authors as a Greek mythical character too.