Historical Evolution and Strategic, Military and Economical Situation of Hyrcania in Achaemenid Period

Kavyani Pooya, Hamid; Daghmechi, Maria

doi:10.22051/hii.2015.802

Authors

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of History, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman

² M.A. in Archeology, University of Tehran

https://doi.org/10.22051/hii.2015.802

Abstract

The Hyrcani territory in the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea is considered as one of the important states in ancient times. From the very beginning, accessing this land was vital for big powers like Iranians and was regarded as a mean of stabilizing the power and maintaining the territory from foreign invasions. The strategic importance of Varkana (Hyrcania), specially the military independence and the importance of the army organization pertaining to this land for Achaemenian was in such a way that it could be considered as a defense gate against different races' invasions. It actually played the role of a military base or a garrison which was employed by the Achaemenids for organization, confronting the western enemies and dealing with the western borders' issues. Nevertheless, this state and the Parthuva state were merged and placed under a Satrapi in different periods and often created a separate independent Satrapi. The time of this mergence and/or disintegration is of important issues that raised disagreements among researchers and can indicate the historical evolution of the aforementioned territory in Achaemenid period. In this research, we tried to study the exact time of mergence of the two states of Varkana and Parto and/or their independence in different periods of the Achaemenid period using historical documents and proofs and archeological findings. On the other hand, the importance of Varnaka was specified in terms of its military, strategic and economical aspects for the Achaemenid government and the role of this state in advancing the Achaemenian objectives in political and military grounds was determined.

Keywords

References

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History of Islam and Iran

Historical Evolution and Strategic, Military and Economical Situation of Hyrcania in Achaemenid Period

References

References

Volume 24, Issue 23
December 2014
Pages 167-192

Historical Evolution and Strategic, Military and Economical Situation of Hyrcania in Achaemenid Period

References

References

Volume 24, Issue 23December 2014Pages 167-192

Volume 24, Issue 23
December 2014
Pages 167-192