Persia: The World’s First Superpower

Name Picture

Cyrus the Great

Achaemenid

Empire

Darius

Xerxes

Royal Road

Zoraster (Zoroastrianism)

Persian Empire

Persia was the first great empire.

An empire is a kingdom that rules over a diverse group of

people and over a large territory.

The Persians came from Medes, which is in the

mountains.

Rewrite

-Persia was a small kingdom.

-Persia only ruled over ethnic Persians.

Answer

1. What rivers is Persia near to that we have studied?

2. What names do you recognize from the map?

Warriors

The Persians came from the mountains just EAST of

Mesopotamia. They were known for being tough

mountain people.

They were great warriors and they took over the great

city-states of Mesopotamia.

They used spears and bows and arrows to kill their

enemies.

They got more and more territory because nobody could

beat their army. Nobody beat the Persians until the

Greeks did in the Greco-Persian War.

Rewrite

- The Persians came from the between the Tigris and

Euphrates

- The Persians were not very good at war

- The Persians didn’t have any good weapons

Persia ruled over all sorts of religions. They tolerated

them. Their great emperor, Cyrus, even made a

declaration of human rights.

Jews in Israel

God-kings of Mesopotamia

Marduk-worshippers in Babylonia

Here are some of the Gods that they tolerated:

The Persians paid for temples for everyone’s gods.

Rewrite

- The Persians had one religion that everyone needed

to worship.

Answer

1. What religions did the Persians tolerate?

2. What does tolerate mean?

Tolerance

One great story of tolerance is from the Hebrew people.

The Hebrews, of course, lived near Mesopotamia

between the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Sumerians.

The Hebrews were monotheistic and influenced our

religions.

The BIG ENEMY of the Hebrews were the Assyrians and

Babylonians. They DID NOT TOLERATE the Hebrew

religion.

Many bible stories talk badly about the Babylonians but

write about the Persians as heroes.

Making an Empire

The hero of the Persians is Cyrus the Great. He unified and expanded

the Persian Empire. He was the first great emperor of Persia. He even

made a declaration of human rights.

His son is Darius the Great. Under Darius, Persia grew to its largest.

Darius took over Egypt and conquered many lands. Darius attacked the

Greek city-states and lost, though.

Darius was good at organizing. He made roads, including the famous

Royal Road that linked Persia with Greece. He made a system of

bureaucracy called Satrapies.

His son, Xerxes, also attacked the Greeks. He also lost. If you watch the

movie 300, that is Xerxes!

Want a massage?

Cyrus is known for making Persia strong.

Because he made Persia a strong military force, Cyrus is famous.

However, the real strength of Persia was its organization.

This is what Darius did:

Cyrus organized Persia into satrapies. These were provinces or

departments. There are lots of names for them.

These are all of the satrapies.

If you look for Bactria or Baxtri, you will notice that it happens to be in

Afghanistan.

This is very far away from Mada, which is the homeland of the Persians.

This organization is called an IMPERIAL BUREAURACY.

Imperial = from the Empire

Bureaucracy = top-down organization like the Mafia

I’m the Satrap of Bactria.

I’m probably related some way to the Persian royal family.

My job is to collect taxes and send some of the money to Persia.

I’m responsible for keeping people faithful and loyal to Persia.

I’m responsible to NO ONE but the Persian royal family.

I have a harem, which is a group of wives and girlfriends.

Life is good

True/False Rewrite

____ The Hebrews hated the Persians and loved the Babylonians

____ The greatest Persian king was called Cyrus the Great

____ Cyrus had a son, Darius, who was also great but more famous for

starting a war with Greece.

____ Darius won the war with Greece.

____ Darius had a son named Xerxes who attacked Greece again.

____The Persians organized their empire through a system of

decentralized confederation.

____The Persian bureaucracy was organized along units called

Satrapies

____A satrap is like the governor or the mayor and he gets to collect

taxes and have a lot of girlfriends and respect

Answer

1. How did the Persians organize their empire?

2. What is a Satrap?

3. How many Satrapies are there?

Zoroastrianism

The religion of Persia is called Zoroastrianism.

It was started by Zoroaster, who was a great Persian prophet.

His idea was that there are two forces: GOOD and EVIL.

The way of GOOD = the way of fire = the path of Ahura Mazda

The way of EVIL = the way of darkness = the path of Ahriman

People who KNEW the TRUTH, knew about the DARKNESS and the

LIGHT. The two forces of GOOD and EVIL became….

(sort of…)

God and Satan in classical Judaism and Christianity.

There are still Zoroastrians today in India and Pakistan.

They are called Parsis.

This is a Parsi funeral.

Leaders Picture Why famous?

Cyrus the Great

Darius the Great

Xerxes

Conquered India and Egypt; made roads and imperial

bureaucracy; lost war to the Greeks

Unified Persia and captured land nearby; made the first

declaration of human rights ever

Started a second war with the Greeks; lost

Cloze’em Up

Persia is famous for being a large [ kingdom / empire] with diverse

people. It is also famous for its declaration of human rights, that

promoted [ hatred/tolerance] of other people. Even the Hebrews loved

the Persians.

Cyrus the Great was the first emperor. His son, [ Darius / Xerxes] made

Persia its biggest. He conquered India and Egypt, but lost a war with

[ Rome/ Greece]. Darius also made an [ imperial bureaucracy/

democratic monopoly] by creating satrapies that answered to the king.

The religion of Persia became [ Judaism / Zoroastrianism.]

Zoroastrianism Is dualistic, which means they believe in [ one / two]

opposing forces, like light and dark. Modern Zoroastrians live in India

and are called [ Hindus/ Parsis.]

Persia had a good relationship with Greece for a while. They traded

goods from Asia with Greece through the [ Royal Road / Persepolis

exchange]. However, that changed when they got in two very big wars.

Writing for fun: Leadership Lessons

Go to this site: (Ctrl + click)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/04/19/9

-timeless-leadership-lessons-from-cyrus-the-great/

Which of these lessons do you think are important to

teachers?