From the Achaemenid Empire to Medieval Persia: ‘Earth and Water’ in the Iranian Conceptual World

According to Greek sources the Achaemenid Persians accepted the submission of lands/city-states through receiving of a handful of land and water. The Greeks gathered the symbolic meaning of such an act, but what the Persians really thought of this ritual has not give a proper answer. One may be able to understand Persian actions against some of the Greek city-states, but also in later history vis-à-vis Armenia by looking at the Persian literature throughout history. The key to understanding the Persian idea of this concept is to delve into time in the Middle Persian literature of late antiquity and that of Classical Persian literature in the medieval period. This talk attempts to answer why was ‟earth & water” so important to the Iranian imaginary and its symbolic significance which pervaded till the twentieth century.