Ancient Middle East Persia - Weebly
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Ancient Middle East – Persia March. 5 th , 2013
Transcript of Ancient Middle East Persia - Weebly
Ancient Middle East – Persia
March. 5th, 2013
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 diplomacy. They relied on a strong military to back up their policies.
Tolerance
Diplomacy
Military
PERSIAN RULERS
• 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
• Four major dynasties
– Achaemenids (558-330 BCE)
– Seleucids (323-283 BCE)
– Parthians (247 BCE-224 CE)
– Sasanids (224-651 CE)
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ACHAEMENID EMPIRE (558-330 BCE)
• Migration of Medes and Persians from central Asia, before 1000 BCE
– Indo-Europeans (Aryan)
• Capitalized on weakening Assyrian and Babylonian empires
• “Cyrus the Shepherd”
• Peak under Darius
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THE PERSIAN EMPIRE ACHAEMENID AND SELUCID EMPIRES, 558-83 B.C.E.
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ACHAEMENID ADMINISTRATION: SATRAPIES
• 23 Administrative divisions
• Satraps Persian, but staff principally local
• System of spies, surprise audits
– Minimized possibilities of local rebellion
• Standardized currency for taxation purposes
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RECAP: HOW DID PERSIAN LEADERS KEEP CONTROL OF SUCH A VAST EMPIRE?
• Broke Empire down into provinces
• Royal Governors = Satraps
• They were loyal to the Emperor and did his bidding.
CONTROL!!!
SATRAPS
ROYAL SPIES
• They spied on the citizens and on the governors to make sure they were not going to steal or revolt.
PERSIAN GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE
Ruler (Darius) Rules with absolute power
Satrap 1 - Persian Governor Military Leader Tax Collector
Satrap 1 - Persian Governor
Military Leader Tax Collector
Satrap 1 - Persian Governor
Military Leader Tax Collector
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PERSIAN GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE
Ruler (Darius) Rules with absolute power
Satrap 1 - Persian Governor Military Leader Tax Collector
Local Ruler Local Ruler
Satrap 2 - Persian Governor
Military Leader Tax Collector
Local Ruler Local Ruler
Satrap 3 - Persian Governor
Military Leader Tax Collector
Local Ruler Local Ruler
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PERSIAN EMPIRE
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Social Structure
• 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)
PERSIAN IMPERIAL PROJECTS
• Royal Road
• Royal Couriers
• Traveler
Service
• Qanat: System of underground canals
– Avoided excessive loss to evaporation
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• Standardized
• Taxes
• Weights and Measures
• Laws
PERSIAN SOCIETY
• Early steppe (Aryan) traditions
– Warriors, priests, peasants
– Family/clan kinship very important
• Creation of bureaucrat class with Empire
– Tax collectors
– Record keepers
– Translators
• Similar to? Caste System
Middle Class
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
TRIBUTE
• Central feature of administration was the collection of tribute • Each satrapy was assessed according to its ability to pay • Tribute said to be paid in gold, silver, horses, and eunuch boys
(Babylonia paid 1000 talents silver annually) • Tribute used to:
– Supply court – Supply army – Bribes for Greek politicians were usually a talent or two of
silver
TOLERANCE AS POLICY
• Persians respected the many political-religious traditions in their empire – Persepolis reliefs depict many ethnic groups – Decrees rendered in many languages
• Persian king developed into the patron of local religious cults – 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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THE ACHAEMENID AND SELUCID EMPIRES, 558-83 B.C.E.
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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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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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THE PARTHIAN AND SASANID EMPIRES, 247 B.C.E.-651 C.E
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PERSIAN ECONOMY
• Several areas exceptionally fertile
• Long-distance trade benefits from Persian road-building
• Goods from India especially valued
CYRUS THE GREAT • Achaemenes founder of a local Persian Dynasty
• Cyrus came to power in 559 BCE
• By Cyrus defeated:
– Media and incorporated it into his kingdom 550
– Croesus of Lydia in 547
– Babylonia in 539
• Died fighting in northeastern Iran in 530
CYRUS THE GREAT - EMPIRE
• 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
TOLERANCE !!!
• 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
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?
PERSIA AND THE CITY OF PERSEPOLIS
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
PERSIAN EMPIRE, 500 BC
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
• Brought peace and stability
• Expanded the empire by 500 miles
• But could not conquer Greece
DARIUS THE GREAT (521 – 486 BCE)
• Incorporated
– Lybia and reduced Nubia to vassalage
– Gandhara (upper Indus valley)
– Greece to vassalage
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
PERSIAN WAR
• 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
SEAL OF DARIUS
PROBLEM OF UNITY
• Size of empire greater than any previous state
• Administration difficult
– Rebellions common
– Power struggles among elite constant feature of government
FIRST PERSIAN WAR
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.
MARATHON PART 1
MARATHON PART 2
MARATHON
Phaedippas
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 485-465
• 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.
THERMOPYLAE
THE IMMORTALS
• Xerxes’s best troops in the Persian army.
• Supposed to be invincible.
• Spartans proved othewise.
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
I’m a Small Ship..
BATTLE OF SALAMIS
BATTLE OF SALAMIS
• Persians were bottlenecked in the small bay of Salamis
• They could not maneuver
• The smaller Greek Ships destroyed the Persian fleet.
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.
WHERE IS MACEDONIA? GREECE?
PERSIAN RELIGION • 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.
ZOROASTRIANISM
• Monotheism
• Priests of Zarathustra known as Magi
• Oral teachings until Sasanid period composed Gathas
Good went to Heaven - Bad
went to Hell
FORTUNES OF ZOROASTRIANISM
• Under Alexander: Massacre of Magi, burning Zoroastrian temples
• Weak Parthian support
• Major revival under Sasanids, persecution of non-Zoroastrians
• Discrimination under Islam
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OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
• Major Mesopotamian communities of Jews
• Composition of the Talmud, c. 500 CE
– “constitution of Judaism”
• Buddhism, Christianity and Manichaeism also survived
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