By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 3 February 2026
The Suffering of the Israeli Hostages Taken By HAMAS
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Tag Archives: Iran
Khomeini Orchestrated the 1979 Hostage Crisis Because Iranian-American Relations Were Going Too Well
A Note on the Concept of Sacral Monarchy in Iran
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 25 January 2026
The idea of sacral Monarchy stretches back to the foundations of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great, over 2,500 years ago, who ruled as Shahanshah (King of Kings), an office originating with the Zoroastrian deity Ahura Mazda, and all Kingly successes were attributed to this god. It is this sense of Persian Kings as vessels for divine will that explains why they are so anonymous when compared to, say, the Roman Caesars: what mattered was the role, not the idiosyncrasies of the individual playing it.
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