The Persian Empire
The Rise of Persia
• Persians will use diplomacy and
tolerance with strong military to
back up policies
• Ancient Persia included modern
day Iran
• 1000 BCE Indo-Europeans migrate
to Iran
• Good resources which helped trade
• Copper, lead, gold, silver
• Organized into tiny kingdoms at
first
Cyrus the Great Forges an Empire
• 550 BCE Cyrus began Persia’s
conquest of neighbors
• Empire spanned over 2,000
miles
• Soldiers had leather pants and
thick boots and short bows
• Army was very successful
between 550-539 BCE
conquering the entire Fertile
Crescent and most of Anatolia
The Rule of Cyrus the Great
• He was kind to people he
conquered
• No looting or burning of villages
he conquered
• Honored local customs and
religions
• Pray at local temples
• Subject peoples had freedom
• Allowed Jews to return to
Jerusalem (remember they were
exiled by the Babylonians)
• Died fighting nomadic groups
The Rule of Cambyses and Darius
• Cambyses, Cyrus’s son, captured
Egypt but was not fair and good
to them so there were
widespread rebellions
• 522-521 BCE Darius, a noble of
the ruling dynasty, seized the
throne
• Extended Persian conquests in the
east
• Never managed to capture Greece
• Established an efficient and wellorganized administration
Provinces and Satraps
• King divided empire into 20
provinces in order to control
them
• Each province could practice its
own religion, follow its own laws,
and speak its own language
• A Satrap (governor) was appointed
to rule over each territory
• Army leader and tax collection for
each province
• Darius sent out inspectors to
ensure the loyalty of the satraps
The Royal Road Enhances Trade and
Communication
• Royal Road
• Stretched 1,677 miles
• 111 relay stations along the road
spaced about 15 miles apart
• Manufactured metal coins that
had a standard value, which
promoted trade
Zoroastrianism
• Zoroaster was a Persian prophet that lived about 600
BCE and addressed the question of human suffering
• Zoroastrianism
• Two armies that fight for a person’s soul
• Ahura Mazda- god of truth and light
• Ahriman – god of evil and darkness
• When you die, souls are judged based on which god they
followed and would either go to paradise or a fiery pit
• Avesta- holy writings of the religion
• Spread to parts of India where it became the Parsi sect
• Influenced Manicheanism, a religious system that
competed with Christianity
The Legacy of the Persian Empire
• Brought political order to
southwest Asia
• Respect for conquered cultures
allowed those cultures to
flourish for years