Countries: Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a country?located at the crossroads of?Central?and?South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,?Tajikistan, and?China.

The area that is now Afghanistan was inhabited by Iranian peoples and controlled by the Medes until c. 500 BC when Darius the Great (Darius I) marched with his Persian army to make it part of the Achaemenid Empire. In 330 BC, Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded the land after defeating Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.

The history of Persia is foremost the history of the Elamites… descendants of Elam, son of Shem.

Media was home to the Medes who were absorbed by the rise of Persia c. 700BC. An?ancient people?who spoke the?Median language, they occupied the mountainous region of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of?Mesopotamia around the 1100 BC. They're mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (r. 859–824 BC).

Mesopotamia was the Ammonites’ source of chariots and horsemen when they battled with King David.

In the face of the continual attacks of the Assyrian King Sargon II (r. 721-705 BC) of the?Sargonid Dynasty, the loosely organized Median tribes appear to have united under Daiakku (Deioces), founder and the first King of the Median kingdom, beginning their rise to national statehood.

King Daiakku was carried off into captivity by Assyria in 715?BC.?He was succeeded by his son Uvarkhshatra (Cyaxares I), who paid tribute to Sargon II. He in turn was succeeded by his son Kashtaritu who died in battle against Ashurbanipal.?

The history of Persia before the rise to prominence of the Medo-Persian kingdom is primarily the history of the Elamites.

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark, following the great flood (c. 2100 BC), were Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Shem was the father of Elam (from whom came the Elamites), Assur (Ashur), Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

The Elamites had begun the towns that were to become the kingdom of the Dynasty of Awan.

They utilized a hieroglyphic script peculiar to themselves, which later gave way to the Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform. They wrote their name as??altamti, “Land of god.”

The Elamites are mentioned in connection with King Enmebaragesi of Sumerian Kish, who ruled c. 2700BC. About 2600?BC, an Elamite king overthrew the city-state of Ur and carried off its kingship to his capital of Awan.?

Ur of the?Chaldeans, is mentioned in the Bible?as the birthplace of?Abraham, the?patriarch?of the?Israelites?and the?Ishmaelites.

Sargon of Akkad (Sargon the Great) overcame Elam in 2325?BC?and overthrew King Lukhishshan. His grandson, Naram-S?n of Akkad (r. 2254-2218 BC) concluded a peace treaty with Elamite King Kutik-In-Shushinak. Both the Sumerian religious-states and the confederacy of Elam fell to the invading Guti* (c. 2211?BC), after which an Elamite dynasty at Simash appeared.

*The names of Gutian kings suggest that the language was not closely related to any languages of the region including Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian, Hittite, and?Elamite.

King Naram-S?n may have been king at the time of Abraham. He is otherwise known to have campaigned against Elamite rulers such as Arwilukpi of?Marhashi, and the?Ur?Empire under his reign extended as far as the northern provinces of?Lullubi?and?Hamazi, with their own governors. He also ruled over?Assur?through the Akkadian governor?Zariqum, as confirmed by his monumental inscription.

Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the?Akkadian Empire. The?Sumerian King List?makes him the?cup-bearer?to King?Ur-Zababa?of?Kish, who is listed on the?Sumerian King List?as the second king of the 4th Dynasty of?Kish.

King?Ur-Zababa's grandmother was Kubaba, the Mesopotamian queen who according to the Sumerian King List ruled over Kish for a hundred years before the rise of the Dynasty of Akshak.

His daughter, Enheduanna, played an essential role helping bind together the northern Mesopotamian region of Akkad, where Sargon first rose to power.

Sargon the Great's son and successor, Khutelutush-In-Shushinak, was defeated in a battle with the Babylonian King Nebuchadrezzar I (1124-1104 BC) at the Hulai River, Elam passed into obscurity.

The Kassites ruled Babylonia and much of the lower Tigris-Euphrates valley, although in 1174?BC, the Elamite ruler Shutruk-nahunte overthrew the Kassite Dynasty and began a resurgence of Elamite power, thus ending the Kassite state.

A long period of darkness separates the Middle and Neo-Elamite periods. In 742 BC, Huban-nugash is mentioned as king in Elam.

Persia is the setting for the story of Queen Esther who chosen by Xerxes to succeed Vashti as queen, and the opening scene in the account of Nehemiah. Esther is hailed for her courage and for working to save the Jews from eradication.

In addition, Persia’s Achaemenid king, Cyrus the Great (c. 550–530 BC), by virtue of his command to the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem is linked throughout the Old Testament.

King Darius the Great (r. 522-486 BC) ascended the throne by overthrowing the King?Bardiya (Smerdis), son of King Cyrus the Great.

Early in his reign, King Darius I became God’s instrument for encouraging the Jews to complete their second Temple.

King Darius I undertook other construction projects throughout his realm, primarily focusing on Susa, Pasargadae, Persepolis,?Babylon, and Egypt. He had an inscription carved on the face of?Mount Behistun?to record his conquests, which would later become important evidence of the Old Persian language.

Alexander the Great of Macedonia succeeded his father?Philip II?to the throne in 336 BC at the age of 20 and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy?military campaign?throughout?Western Asia,?Central Asia, parts of?South Asia, and?Egypt.?

In 334?BC,?Alexander the Great?began his invasion of the Persian Empire and subsequently defeated the Persians in several battles before looting and destroying its capital,?Persepolis, by fire in 330?BC.

Darius III was the last?Achaemenid?King of Kings?of?Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC when he died in the Battle of Gaugamela.

Before his accession, he bore the name of Artashata.

He was the son of King Arsames, and grandson of?Ostanes, whose father?Darius II?ruled the?Achaemenid Empire?from 424 BC to 405 BC.?His mother was?Sisygambis, a woman of obscure origins.

The?Battle of Arbela took place in 331?BC between the forces of the?Army of Macedonia?under?Alexander the Great?and the?Persian Army?under?King Darius III. It was the second and final battle between the two kings, and is considered to be the final blow to the?Persian Achaemenid Empire.

Following the Great Flood (c. 2100 BC), which destroys all of humanity except the family of Noah, Genesis 10 presents a family tree in the form of a branched or segmented genealogy, tracing the descendants of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their descendants. Many of these names become future nations, tribes, lands and cities, known to us from elsewhere in the Bible and from extra-biblical sources: Accordingly, this chapter is referred to as the “Table of Nations.”

In the Book of Genesis, the mountains of Ararat is the term used to designate the region in which Noah's Ark comes to rest after the Great Flood (c. 2100 BC), which destroys all of humanity except the family of Noah.

From these eight people …. Noah, his sons and their wives …? the whole earth was populated.

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About the Author: Lawrence Jean-Louis is the founder of eBrand Me, a digital marketing agency offering marketing & consultative services to CPAs and tax professionals. She aspires to start a money management firm by 2030.