Ancient Middle East – Persia

World History: Week 31

Babylon Empire – 1787 B.C.

Big!

Assyrian Empire – 650 B.C.

Bigger!

Persian Empire – 490 B.C.

Biggest!

The Rise of Persia

• The Persians based their empire on tolerance and the use of diplomacy.

• They relied on a strong military to back up their policies.

Tolerance

Diplomacy

Military

Early Persian Leadership

• 559-530 - Cyrus the Great

• 529-522 - Cambyses (son)

• 521-486 - Darius I, the Great

• 485-465 - Xerxes I (son)

Conquests of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius created the world’s largest empire in a period of less than 50 years.

Persian Empires

Major Pre-Islamic Empires:

Achaemenids (558-330 BCE)

Seleucids (323-283 BCE)

Parthians (247 BCE-224 CE)

Sasanids (224-651 CE)

History of Iran in 5 minutes (3200 BCE - 2013 CE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60IDTAg33K0

Formation of Achaemenid Empire

Background: • Migration of Medes and

Persians from central Asia, before 1000 BCE, majority Indo-Europeans (Aryan)

• Capitalized on weakening Assyrian and Babylonian empires

• Capitalized on emblematic leadership like: “Cyrus the Shepherd” Peaking under “Darius the Great”

Administration: • 23 Administrative

divisions called Satraps Persian, but staff principally local

• System of spies, surprise audits to help minimized possibilities of local rebellion

• Standardized currency for taxation purposes

Potential Test Question: How did Persian Leaders keep control of such a vast empire?

• Broke Empire down into provinces

• Royal Governors = Satraps

• They were loyal (tolerance + fear) to the Emperor and did his bidding.

CONTROL!!!

The Persian Empire Achaemenid and Selucid Empires, 558-83 B.C.E.

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Starting in the Elamite town of

Susa

Finishing in the rich coastal

region of Sardes

Why Arrows?

Ok, but what is a Satrap?

Ruler (Darius)

Rules with absolute

power

Satrap 1 - Persian

Governor

Military Leader

Tax Collector

Local Ruler

Satrap 2 - Persian

Governor

Military Leader

Tax Collector

Local Ruler

Ok, but spies? Seriously?

• They spied on the citizens and on the governors to make sure they were not going to steal or revolt.

• Remember tolerance is great – but fear is better!

Persian Societal Structure

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• Ruler

• Regional (Clan) Leaders

• Imperial Administrators (Bureaucrats)

– Tax Collectors

– Record Keepers

• Artisans, Merchants, Craftsmen, Priests, Land Owners

• Laborers

• Slaves (Prisoners of war, conquered populations, Debtors Children, spouses also sold into slavery)

Do you think the colors

mean anything?

Early steppe (Aryan) traditions: Warriors, priests, peasants (Family/clan kinship very important

Persian Society

• Class-based

• Similar to the Caste System in many ways

• Persian Observed and adapted both as the invader/invaded

• Evidence suggests: unify not just as an Empire (separate-states) but an unified people…

Projects and Accomplishments

• Movement – Royal Road – Royal Couriers – Traveler Services

• Standardization – Taxes – Weights and Measures – Laws

• Qanat: System of

underground canals – Avoided excessive loss to

evaporation

Fun Facts about The Royal Road

• 1,677 miles long with 111 relay stations

• Other smaller roads branched off the royal road

• Relay stations had rest areas and fresh horses.

• The entire royal road could be traveled in a week by a horsemen

• Caravans took about a month

More fun facts! $$$

• Central feature of administration was the collection of tribute

• Satrapy was assessed on ability to actually pay

• Tribute said to be paid in gold, silver, horses, and eunuch boys – Babylonia paid 1000 talents

silver annually – Talent = 33kg Silver or $660K

• Tribute used to: – Supply court – Supply army – Bribes for Greek politicians

were usually a talent or two of silver

Persian Religions

• Zoroaster, a Persian thinker, helped to unite the religious beliefs by teaching that a single, wise god ruled the world.

• On Judgment Day, all individuals would be judged for their actions. Those who had done good would enter paradise. Evil-doers would be condemned to eternal suffering.

• Christianity and Islam stressed similar ideas.

Persian Religious Legacies

• Under Alexander: Massacre of Magi, burning Zoroastrian temples

• Weak Parthian support

• Major revival under Sasanids, persecution of non-Zoroastrians

• Discrimination under Islam

• Major Mesopotamian communities of Jews

• Composition of the Talmud, c. 500 CE – “constitution of

Judaism”

• Buddhism, Christianity and Manichaeism also survived

Persian Economy

• Several areas exceptionally fertile

• Long-distance trade benefits from Persian road-building

• Goods from India especially valued

Sea Trade

Desert Trade

Tolerance as a policy

• Persians respected the many political-religious traditions in their empire – Persepolis reliefs depict many ethnic groups – Decrees rendered in many languages – Semitic language of Aramaic used for politics/diplomacy

• Persian kings developed into the patron of local religious cults

• Religious tribute was paid in public and any religion was allowed to practice or pay tribute

• Cyrus allowed the Temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt

The Persian Empire

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Seleucid Empire

• Transition Achaemenid - Seleucid • Persians defeated at Marathon (490 BCE), retreated • Alexander the Great conquers the Achaemenid Empire

(334-331 BCE)

• Alexander the Great dies suddenly • Generals divide empire, best part goes to Seleucus (r.

305-281 BCE) • Attacked by rebellion in India, invasion of Parthians

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Selucid Empire Shrinks…

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Shaded Region

Parthian Empire

• Seminomadic Parthians drive Seleucus out of Iran

• Federated governmental structure

• Especially strong cavalry

• Weakened by ongoing wars with Romans

• Fell to internal rebellion

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The Parthian and Sasanid empires, 247 B.C.E.-651 C.E

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Shrinks again..

Sasanid Empire (224-651 CE)

• Claimed descent from Achaemenids

• Continual conflicts with Rome, Byzantium in the west, Kush in the east

• Overwhelmed by Arab conquest in 651

• Persian administration and culture absorbed into local Islamic culture

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Ok, back to leadership

Cyrus the Great

• Founder of Achaemenes Dynasty

• Power in 559 BCE, Cyrus defeated: – Media kingdom 550 – Croesus of Lydia in

547 – Babylonia in 539

• Dies fighting in northeastern Iran in 530

Cyrus the Great

• Cyrus use the idea of tolerance to keep the peace and to seem like a liberator.

• He allowed people to keep their local customs and religions.

• He showed kindness toward conquered peoples

• Military genius • Controlled an empire

spanning 2000 miles • Kindness toward

conquered people • Honored local customs

and religions – 538 BC - Allowed the

Jews to return to their homeland, Jerusalem

– Considered by the Jews to be one of God’s anointed ones

Primary Source

• “This is the word of Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he himself has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. To every man of his people now among you I say, God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord God of Israel, the God whose city is Jerusalem.”

• What type of ruler was Cyrus based on this quote?

Darius the Great

• Member of the king’s body guard, Overthrew the king in 522 BC

• Took power and created a well-organized efficient government, bringing peace and stability

• Expanded the empire by 500 miles but could not conquer Greece – Lybia, Nubia and Greece

reduced to vassalages – Gandhara (upper Indus

valley)

Darius and the Greeks

• Scythian expedition failed disastrously in 513 – Scythians could not be brought

to battle – Ionians holding the bridge

across the Danube (the only possibility for retreat) destroyed the bridge

• Ionians revolted in 499 • Athens supported the Ionians and

sacked Sardis • By 494 the Ionian towns were back

in Persian hands • Darius punished Athens with a

naval expedition in 490

Seals of Darius

The Persian Legacy Cont.

Plagued by… • Expedition in 490 defeated by

Athenians and Plataeans at Marathon • Darius dies in 488 • Egyptian revolt broke out in 486 • Xerxes invaded Greece in 480 with an

army of 2.6 million men and a navy of at least 200 ships

• Navy defeated at Salamis by Athens in 479

• Army defeated by coalition led by Sparta in 479

• Athenian navy decisively defeated Persian navy of Mt. Mycale in 479

• Athens continued the war against Persia through 449 when Athens and Persia accepted the Peace of Calias

• Persians controlled Greek politics from 413 to 336 by bribing Greek politicians

Problem of unity

• Size of empire greater than any previous state

• Administration difficult – Rebellions common – Power struggles among elite constant

feature of government

Any major trends developing here?

First Persian War

The Battle of Marathon

• The Athenians had won at Marathon but they certainly had not destroyed the Persian army.

• They had made plans before the battle that if they won, they would get word back to Athens as soon as possible because they knew that the Persian fleet was sure to sail around Attica and attempt to take the city while it was undefended.

• The citizens were to man the walls and make it appear that Athens was strongly defended.

How they won!

The term ‘Marathon’

• Miltiades sent a young soldier (probably Phaedippas) to take word back to Athens.

• He ran the entire distance, 42.192 kms, shouted "We have won!" and fell dead of exhaustion.

• In memory of this event the Marathon Run was included among the contests since the first contemporary Olympic Games.

Result of the 1st Persian War

Darius Lost!

Persia Continued to lose its power to

expand

Xerxes

• Became a Dictator

• Did not follow Darius or Cyrus and was not tolerant

• Wanted to conquer Greece at all cost

Second Persian War

Battle of Thermopylae

• It means the “HOT GATES”

• 300 Spartans held off 1 million troops of the Persian Empire

• Was really a delaying action to stall the Persians so that Athens could be evacuated.

• Tactical advantage because of choke point in the terrain.

Choke Point!

Psychological Victory

• Xerxes’s best troops in the Persian army.

• Supposed to be invincible.

• Spartans proved otherwise.

Battle of Salamis

The Persians eventually Broke Through

• After killing the

300 Spartans the Persians Marched on Athens

• Athens was deserted; evacuated to the Island of Salamis

• The Athenians forced a naval battle in the Bay of Salamis

Greek Trireme

Battle of Salamis

• Persians were bottlenecked in the small bay of Salamis

• They could not maneuver

• The smaller Greek Ships destroyed the Persian fleet.

I’m a Small Ship..

Result of the 2nd Persian War

Xerxes Lost!

Persia had to retreat home in

failure. Never again did Persia expand.

Alexander the Great

• Macedonian (Greek) King that laid the final death blow to the Persian Empire and conquered it.

Extra Extra! Cities of Note!

PERSEPOLIS • 518 BCE (King Darius )

• Utilized international influences and materials from all over his empire (Babylon, Egypt, Mesopotamian and Greece)

• The city included extensive use of columns

PERSEPOLIS

• The Apadana (Audience Hall) features wonderful low relief sculpture

• Apadana with huge columns 60 feet tall

• 36 columns with bull-shaped tops

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Persian Art

Persepolis, Iran • Reliefs on walls

symbolize Persian guards called Immortals

• 10,000 Immortals protected the city and ruler

• Large ramps leading to apadana enable chariots to enter hall