Word: persia
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...authorities in Iran think the movie is about them, since their country is the descendant of ancient Persia. A cultural adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad charged the film with "plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization." The newspaper Ayandeh-No ran the headline "Hollywood Declares War on Iranians, adding, that the movie "seeks to tell people that Iran, which is in the Axis of Evil now, has for long been the source of evil and modern Iranians' ancestors are the ugly murderous dumb savages...
...Thermopylae. Nearly all representations of this story, from Roman theater to celluloid, are based on the writings of Herodotus, allegedly the “father of history.” Back in August 480 BC, his “Histories” tell us that King Xerxes of Persia filled the Hellenic peninsula with his barbaric hordes, ready to conquer and command Greece. Vastly outnumbered and representing the alliance of Greek city-states, 300 Spartans—the movie’s namesake—held their ground for three days at the pass of Thermopylae, where numbers mattered less...
Sectarian relations worsened in the 16th century. By then the seat of Sunni power had moved to Istanbul. When the Turkish Sunni Ottomans fought a series of wars with the Shi'ite Safavids of Persia, the Arabs caught in between were sometimes obliged to take sides. Sectarian suspicions planted then have never fully subsided, and Sunni Arabs still pejoratively label Shi'ites as "Persians" or "Safavis." The Ottomans eventually won control of the Arab territories and cemented Sunni dominance. The British, the next power in the Middle East, did nothing to change the equation. In the settlement after World...
...Texas city home to a famous standoff 5 Eighth letter of the Greek alphabet 10 Each 14 Modern Persia 15 Home of Caesar’s Palace 16 Need for plugging in a computer 17 *Golfer Woods actually not winning a tournament? 19 202 in Roman numerals 20 Power 21 ___ Kosh 23 Simple sneaker 24 Setting for some of “A Winter’s Tale” 28 Finale 29 George W.’s toilet? 34 “American ___” (popular show) 35 “Gloria in Excelsis...
Direct talks with Iran will not persuade it to abandon its nuclear dreams right away. Even the slightly saner predecessors of President Ahmadinejad surreptitiously proceeded down the nuclear path despite pledges to do otherwise. Given Persia's precarious location and imperial impulses, I dare say that even our late unlamented friend the Shah was and would be doing the same...