By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist
Persia refers to countries now known as Iran and Iraq. In ancient days, Iraq was called Mesopotamia, the fertile river crescent where one of the first civilisations was built around farming. Because of the repeated flooding, the gods were seen as capricious, making the lives of people difficult. Therefore, a priest was needed to commune with the gods. Priests thus became the first leaders of the community. They built ziggurats or pyramidal structures to reach out to the gods who lived in the sky to establish authority on earth. Gradually, the priest was replaced by the local strongman, the king. The king connected himself with gods by having sexual relations with the priestess. As lover of the goddess, he asserted right to rule over earth. Thus rose the Sumerian city-states. They were replaced by Assyrians who established the world’s first empire.
