Development of Statehood in Central Asia during the Achaemenid Period (6th — 4th centuries BC )

The paper examines the progressive significance of the entry of Parthia, Margiana, Khorezm and other regions of Central Asia into the structure of the Achaemenid State, the political regime of which had no obvious features of the occupation order based on the brutal exploitation of the conquered peoples, but rather flexible and adapted to the specificities of each area. The unification of the Central Asian peoples under the authority of the Achaemenid dynasty was also facilitated by their national, linguistic and mental similarities, since the Persians, on the one hand, the Saks, the Dahs, the Parthian, the Caspian, Khorezmians — on the other, were in previous epochs related to peoples and, most likely showed a tendency to political consolidation.

On this basis it is concluded that the power of the Persian kings among the peoples of Central Asia, despite separatist tendencies and a number of anti-government speeches, was legitimate. Mutual cooperation and strong ties between the center and the provinces led to stability, peace, the creation of favorable conditions for the development of economic and trade relations, the establishment of regular monetary treatment, respect for the cultural, religious and linguistic identity of peoples and the balance of interests of social communities. The Achaemenid rule introduced in the history of legal thought the idea of fighting between the good and the evil, the proportionality of personal and State interests, the codification of the laws of the conquering peoples, their legal customs and religious norms in accordance with the general imperial law.

This historical and legal experience was not only creatively perceived and applied by geopolitical successors of the Achaemenid state — Alexander the Great, Seleucids, Arshakid and Sassanid, but also in the context of modern national and state interests may be relevant for the Russian Federation, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan — leaders of the modern integration, defining the foreign policy and geopolitical orientations of the Central Asian region.

1. Vergazov RR. «Persidskiy mir». Mekhanizmy kulturnoy integratsii lokalnykh elit severnykh i severo-vostochnykh satrapiy Akhemenidov [“The Persian World. ” Mechanisms of cultural integration of local elites of northern and northeast Achaemenids]. Proceedings of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS. 2019;21:111—126. (In Russ.)

2. Dzhavadi G. Istoriya gosudarstvennogo upravleniya v Irane i Sredney Azii v drevnosti : dis. ... kand. ist. nauk [History of public administration in Iran and Central Asia in antiquity: Cand. Sci. Thesis]. Dushanbe; 2004. (In Russ.)

3. Istoriya Turkmenskoy SSR [History of the Turkmen SSR]. Vol. 1. Book 1: From ancient times to the end of the XVIII century. Ashgabat: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR; 1957. (In Russ.)

4. Gusakov VV. Sako-massagety, ikh sosedi i sovremenniki v sredneaziatskoy politike derzhavy Akhemenidov [Sako-massagets, their neighbors and contemporaries in the Central Asian policy of the Achaemenid powers]. Bulletin of Vladikavkazsky Scientific Center. 2010;l(10):11— 16. (In Russ.)

5. Kuchma VV. Gosudarstvo i pravo Drevnego mira i Srednikh vekov : v 2 ch. [The State and Law of Ancient World and Middle Ages: in 2 parts]. Volgograd: Publishing House of Volgograd GU; 2001. (In Russ.)

6. Kozhin PM, Kosarev MF, Dubov NA, editors. Na puti otkrytiya tsivilizatsii : sbornik statey k 80-letiyu V. I. Sarianidi. Trudy Margianskoy arkheologicheskoy ekspeditsii [On the Way of Discovery of Civilization: Collection of Articles devoted to the 80th Anniversary of V.I. Sarianidi]. Proceedings of the Margian Archaeological Expeditio. St. Petersburg: Aleteya; 2010. (In Russ.)

7. Talezari AA. Stanovlenie i razvitie institutov prestupleniya i nakazaniya v istorii prava Irana : avtoref. dis. ... kand. yurid. nauk Formation and development of institutes of crime and punishment in the history of the law of Iran: Author’s Abstract of theCand. Sci. (Law) Thesis. Dushanbe; 2015. (In Russ.)