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Gilakis, Iranized Greeks

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 12:19 pm
by Cyrus
In the south of the Capsian Sea, there is the Gilan province where Gilaki people live, Gilaki comes from Graiki, which according to Aristotle was the prehistoric name of the Greeks.
The west section of the Elburz Mountains in the Gilan province is called "Talish Mountains" (Talish has the same root as Hellash, there is also a city named "Halleshi"), its highest peak is Simamos, the longest river is Chalos, one the most beautiful places is Kandalos village which is in the Zanus valley. All these names have Greek origin, even the names of people, like Great Irianian historian "Dr. Hermidas" (read this article of him: http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Iran/identity.htm )Persians called Gilaki as Amardoi or Mardi which means foreigner, it is said that in this region (Gilan) Alexander fought against Mardi people and accepted the surrender of Darius' Greek mercenaries but I think those Greek mercenaries were the same Gilakis (Mardis).

Re: Gilakis, Iranized Greeks

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 4:23 am
by canto
The Persian flexibility to absorb and incorporate elements from the other cultures without loss of idenity gave them strength. I think Alexander would have liked to merge the Greek and Persian cultures more to produce a stronger offspring. A kind of hybred that retained the strengths of both. Of course this would be so very hard to do. And I guess if a culture wants to preserve their own identity they would need to know the demarcations of where identity is threatened.Thanks for the info.lightofdawn