{"id":115632,"date":"2026-04-07T13:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T19:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=115632"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:25:17","slug":"a-whole-civilization-will-die-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/a-whole-civilization-will-die-tonight.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA whole civilization will die tonight\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Today,<\/a>
A detail of the main entrance to the Masjid-e Shah, in Isfahan, Iran (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cA whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,\u201d President Donald J. Trump declared on Truth Social<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t want that to happen, but it probably will.\u201d \u00a0He has set a deadline for the leaders of Iran to reach a settlement with the United States by 8 PM, eastern time, this evening.<\/p>\n

As someone who taught elements of Persian history, art, architecture, literature, and philosophy throughout my career, I have to admit that I very much disapprove of what Mr. Trump said. \u00a0I don\u2019t believe that United States military forces are capable<\/em> of killing Persian civilization, but I still dislike the sentiment and the tone. \u00a0(If, though I think not, the intention really is<\/em> to annihilate a civilization, it is bound to fail. \u00a0But I also \u00a0think of the sin of what the ancient Greeks called hubris<\/em> \u2014 and of the punishing disaster that, in the ancient Greek tragedies, commonly follows<\/em> such hubris<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Seeking to destroy Hitler\u2019s Third Reich was about ending that particular political evil, not about erasing the entire culture that had been created by Goethe, Luther, Gr\u00fcnewald, Leibnitz, Bach, Planck, Schiller, Gauss, H\u00f6lderlin, Kepler, Beethoven, D\u00fcrer, Kant, Meister Eckhart, Holbein, Lessing, Einstein, and Mendelssohn. \u00a0We were not seeking to destroy Cologne Cathedral or the castle at Neuschwanstein \u2014 and we didn\u2019t<\/em> (just as, in Japan, we explicitly removed Kyoto from the list of possible targets for our atomic bombs because of its enormous importance to the history, culture, and religious heritage of Japan).<\/p>\n

Likewise, while the elimination of Iran\u2019s current theocratic tyranny would certainly be a major step forward for the peace and welfare of humankind, we\u2019re not at war with Ferdowsi, Avicenna (Ibn Rushd), Nizami Ganjavi, Rumi, Sadegh Hedayat, al-Biruni, Hafez, Nasir al-Din Tusi, Saadi Shirazi, Omar Khayyam, al-Razi, Attar of Nishapur, al-Khwarizmi, Jabbir b. Hayyan, or Forugh Farrokhzad. \u00a0And we surely aren\u2019t \u2014 are<\/em> we? \u2014 intending to destroy Persepolis or the Masjid-e Shah.<\/p>\n

Talk about killing a \u201cwhole civilization\u201d is wildly inappropriate. \u00a0Moreover, as a purely practical matter, it\u2019s hardly calculated to win the support of Iranians who may hate the regime that oppresses them but, as patriots, intensely love their nation and the great historical civilization that it has fostered. \u00a0I know many such Iranians, and I wish them well.<\/p>\n

\"Tahmasp's<\/a>
The court of King Kayumars, described in the 10th-11th-century Shahnameh<\/em> (\u201cBook of Kings\u201d) of Firdawsi. in a miniature painting from the Shahnameh<\/em> of Shah Tahmasp I \u2014 also known as the \u201cHoughton Shahnameh<\/em>\u201d \u2014 which was created somewhere in the period between 1520 and 1540. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On this, the first full day of my status as an official, Obsession Board-certified \u201ccruel and sadistic bully,\u201d I feel moved upon to prophesy: \u00a0I predict that my Malevolent Stalker, who announced my new designation in a recent post at his online home and who is now well into his third decade of anonymous online attacks on me, won\u2019t cease posting this sort of thing until he dies. \u00a0I doubt that my own<\/em> death (which, just to forestall speculation, isn\u2019t yet clearly on the horizon) will slow him down even slightly<\/em>. \u00a0And I have precedent on my side: \u00a0Thus far, over the past quarter of a century, nothing has<\/em>\u00a0slowed him down.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>
The ruins of ancient Persepolis, in Iran \u2014 the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire between about BC 550 and BC 330 \u2014 is one of the most impressive archaeological sites I\u2019ve ever visited. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think that I\u2019ll offer a brief historical note here: \u00a0Cyrus II of Persia\u00a0(ca.<\/abbr>\u2009600\u2013530 BC), who is commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.\u00a0\u00a0He emerged from the area known as Persis, which roughly corresponds to the modern Iranian province of Fars. \u00a0Persia<\/em> takes its name from Persis<\/em>, much as the modern Persian term for the Persian language, Farsi<\/em>, derives its name from Fars<\/em>., which is, as you\u2019ve probably guessed, cognate with Persis<\/em> and Persia<\/em>. \u00a0(Following the lead of one of my professors in graduate school, himself an Iranian, I don\u2019t refer to the language as Farsi<\/em> but, rather, as Persian<\/em> \u2014 for the same reason that, when speaking English, I don\u2019t typically refer to Deutsch<\/em>, Espa\u00f1ol<\/em>, Nederlands, Fran\u00e7ais<\/i><\/i>, al-\u02bfarabiyya, <\/i>or Nihongo<\/i>,\u00a0<\/em>but, rather, to German<\/em>, Spanish<\/em>, Dutch<\/em>, French<\/em>, Arabic<\/em>, and Japanese<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Cyrus the Great (who reigned ca. 559\u2013530 BC) defeated the Median Empire \u2014 aka the Medes \u2014 and eventually brought all of the ancient Near East under the control of the Achaemenid dynasty, expanding across most of West Asia and much of Central Asia to create what, at the time, would became the largest empire in history. \u00a0He was the Persian emperor who not only allowed the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild their temple (see Ezra 1-6), thus marking the end of the Babylonian captivity, but ordered the return of sacred temple vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar and provided state funds for the rebuilding<\/span>:<\/p>\n

\n

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord<\/span> by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord<\/span> stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord<\/span> God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord<\/span> God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.<\/span><\/p>\n

And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:1-4; compare 2 Chronicles 36:22-23))<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Cyrus Cylinder, which is currently located in Room 52 of the British Library in London, is a clay artifact from the sixth-century BC that contains a Babylonian cuneiform inscription recording King Cyrus the Great\u2019s conquest of Babylon (539 BC) as well as his restoration of religious shrines (one of which would be the Jewish temple at Jerusalem) and the repatriation of previously-deported peoples. \u00a0It has been described as the \u201cfirst charter of human rights\u201d in human history and it illustrates Cyrus\u2019s policies of religious tolerance and humanitarian treatment of conquered populations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Isaiah 44-45 has much to say about Cyrus, including this remarkable passage:<\/p>\n

\n

Thus saith the Lord<\/span> to his anointed (\u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05ae, \u201cto his messiah\u201d), to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;<\/span><\/p>\n

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:<\/span><\/p>\n

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord<\/span>, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Jacob my servant\u2019s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am the Lord<\/span>, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:<\/span><\/p>\n

That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord<\/span>, and there is none else.<\/span><\/p>\n

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord<\/span> do all these things. (Isaiah 45:1-7)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Achaemenid Empire\u2019s greatest territorial extent was achieved later, under Darius (the Great) of Persia, whose rule stretched from southeastern Europe and northeastern Africa in the west all the way over to the Indus Valley in the east. \u00a0He is mentioned in the biblical books of Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah. \u00a0Among other things (see Ezra 6), he confirmed Cyrus\u2019s earlier decree to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t know, as I write, exactly what Mr. Trump has in mind for Iran. \u00a0But I hope and expect that his talk of the \u201cdeath\u201d of \u201ca whole civilization\u201d is simply yet another instance of his exaggerations and his often intemperate language. \u00a0If it isn\u2019t, I mourn for Iran. \u00a0And I mourn for America.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u201cA whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,\u201d President Donald J. 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