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The Persian Connection: Its Impact and Influences 2000 BCE to 637 CE

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The Persian Connection: Its Impact and Influences 2000 BCE to 637 CE 8/5/2019 The Persian Connection: Its Impact and Influences 2000 BCE to 637 CE Chapter 6 The Persian Empire • Was established by Cyrus the Great of Persia in the 6th Century BCE and would become one of the largest civilizations the world has ever seen. • Cyrus the Great of Persia • Ruled the Persian Empire from 559-530 BCE, born in Persia (modern day Iran) around 600 BCE. • King Cyrus was a king of kings, he was a fearsome warrior and his military conquests founded the Persian Empire. • The Persian Empire served as an efficient state, including a strong system of government, a model for fostering commerce and cooperation with diverse peoples, and even integrated the formation of a universal god (as oppose to many gods), a god that rewards those who live good lives and work for justice. • Persia, is in many histories seen as barbaric, as written by the Greeks; however, the Persian civilization was rich in its own right and was only defeated by the legendary Macedonian Alexander the Great. • The Legacy of the Persian Empire profoundly influenced future Islamic culture and the modern state of Iran. • The Persian Empire is located on the arid Iranian plateau in southwestern Asia, unlike the River Valley Empires of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, & China. • At the height of the Persian Empire, Persian territory encompassed most of 2 southwestern Asia. 1 8/5/2019 Geographic Challenges Confront the First Persians The Iranian Plateau’s topography makes it easy to defend. 3 • The Iranian Plateau encompasses nearly one million square miles of inhospitable lands, including 2 large desserts, and small rivers that are difficult to navigate and offer little water for farming. The First • Including: Mountain ranges, seas, and desserts. Settlers of • Archeological evidence suggests that the early Persians domesticated sheep and goats, grew wheat and barley in the foothills of the the mountain ranges at least 10,000 years ago. Persian • Little is known about the early inhabitants of the region, but the first migrants were influenced by the Sumerian culture, but they blended Empire with their own customs and preferences. • These early immigrants were skilled artists, particularly in ceramics. • Around the year 1000 BCE an Indo European Tribe from Central Asia migrated down the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea into western Iran. • These people were from a branch of the Aryans who had earlier moved into India (Ch. 3), giving the region the name: Iran or “Land of the Aryans.” • The two main groups living in this region then was the Medes & Persians: • In the Zargos Mountains other migrants moved in known as the Medes (MEE-D-Zs). • The Persians then occupied the central region of the Iranian Plateau. • Both spoke the same language, known today as Farsi (FAHR-see), with differing accents, undistinguishable to the Greeks during the Greco-Persian Wars. 4 2 8/5/2019 The Median Empire • For the Medes to the North, the Zagros Mountains provided substantial protection from invaders, only having to fight periodically, thus giving the Medes the time to build a thriving economy & culture. • Mining minerals: gold, silver, precious gems, marble, iron, copper, and lead (used for artistic purposes and trade) • The Ice caps on the mountains provided a reliable source of water for agriculture, which was vital when just 12 inches of rain typically fell each year. • In the valleys agriculture and government centers were established, as well as the center of the economy. • Overtime, the Assyrian’s invaded and conquered both the Medes and Persians, implementing a tax, but not really ruling over them. • When Babylonia & Assyria erupted in civil war, the Medes & Persians took advantage of the conflict to free themselves. • The First King of Median was Cyaxares (SIGH-AX-AH-REE-s) built up a tremendous army, reducing the Persians to the status of vassal. • Cyaxares then aligned himself with the Chaldeans against Assyria, but nomadic warriors from the north invaded and forced Cyaxares to pay tribute and give a banquet to their leaders. • Cyaxares held a massive banquet, at which he got the leadership of their oppressors drunk and killed them, allowing the Medes to align themselves again with the Chaldeans and crush the Assyrian’s taking possession of northern Mesopotamia (or Babylonia) and clearing the way for the 5 establishment of the Persian Empire to come. • The Median Kingdom lasted for only a few decades before its Persian vassal started intriguing against it. Cyrus the Great • The Persian ruling family, called the Achaemenids (ah-KEE-muh-nids), married into the ruling house of Media. Cyrus lead with persuasion • Cyrus, a child of this union, managed to unify the Persian tribes and wage war against the Median and compromise, not King, who was also his father-in-law. necessarily the boot • In 550 BCE he capture the king and united the Medes and Persian people under the Achaemenids house. • Cyrus then extended his control from the Persian Gulf to central Anatolia, before going to war again against the King of a region called Lydia in western Anatolia (Modern day Turkey), who's armies were no match for the Persian Military. • The Lydian’s actually struck first in hopes of expanding westward. • In 547 BCE the Lydian cavalry struck the Persian infantry, the Persians then mounted their camels and struck back (counterattack). • The Lydian horses, which had never before seen such animals, panicked and threw their riders into the dust. • Cyrus’s victory gave the Persian Empire access to the Mediterranean Sea and control of several Greek city-states on the shores of Anatolia, making them a threat to Greece. • Cyrus made no move against the Greek mainland, but the Greeks did not like the proximity of such a large imposing Empire so close to their shores, but decided to merely keep a watchful eye on the Persians. • Cyrus then moved east, conquering the lands of Parthia and Bactria (modern day Afghanistan. • In 539 BCE Cyrus then pushed into southern Mesopotamia (The New Babylonian Empire), allying with oppressed tribes (as their liberator), Cyrus then entered Babylon without a fight. 6 • Now controlling the rich Babylonian domains from Mesopotamia to Palestine. 3 8/5/2019 Assimilation After Conquest: Cyrus the Great • Yes, Cyrus the Great created the vast Persian Empire, but beyond conquests Cyrus’s rule was remarkably sophisticated: • Typically conquering armies in that era pillaged defeated cities and enslaved the people. • Cyrus’s commanded respect of those he conquered. 1. Utilized Persuasion & Compromise rather than Force & Humiliation • Granting leadership honor and respect and maintained their militaries as oppose to leaving them defenseless. 2. Treated the peoples compassionately, even returning deported peoples to their homelands rather than enslaving them. • Thus, Cyrus won gratitude of the Jews when he freed them from captivity in Babylon and allowed them to return to Jerusalem and encouraged them to rebuild their temple the Babylonian’s had destroyed. 3. Allowed Religious freedoms rather than forcing conversion to the religion of the conquering peoples. • Which ultimately gained the people’s trust, because they were more likely to accept his rule and assimilate into the new society without loosing their own culture. They were not forced to bow down to any God but their own, thus sparing them humiliation and spite. 4. Standardizing Taxes and measurements, codified laws, and fostering commercial and cultural connections throughout the Empire. • Truly bringing diverse cultures under one umbrella. • Cyrus’s polices of tolerance were not so much based on benevolence as much as on pragmatism, he acted in a way he knew would work, understanding that if people were treated 7 humanely they were less likely to rebel. Confrontation with Greece • Over the years the Persian Empire expanded to the far reaches of the known world and on three continents, including Asia, Africa, and Europe. • After the Persian conquest of Lydia in 546 BCE, several of the Greek city-states along the western coast of Anatolia fell under Persian rule. • To the Greeks the Persian culture was a mystery. • The Persians were monotheistic which seemed strange to the Greek. • Persian tolerance for diversity also seemed odd to the Greeks who were known for the bondage of their conquest societies. • To the Persians the Greeks were no more sophisticated or threatening than any other society 8 they had conquered before. 4 8/5/2019 The Ionian Revolt & the Persian Response • For several decades after the defeat of Lydia, the west Anatolian city-states reluctantly accommodated themselves to Persian rule, then in 499 BCE the Ionian Revolt began. • Taking the Persian’s by surprise. • Thus, the Greco-Persian Wars… • Stalemate was reached… • In Hindsight, it is obvious why the Persian Empire lost. 1. They faced massive logistical problems to sustain a huge military force so far from home. 2. Their lightly armed soldiers were ill-equipped to fight in the narrow passes and rocky hills of Greece. 3. The Greeks were more highly motivated to protect their homeland (Home field advantage). • i.e. The Persians could retreat to fight another day, but the Greeks would lose their independence. 9 The Persian Resurgence: The Peloponnesian War gives Persia a new opportunity From 431 to 404 BCE, Greece was racked by the Peloponnesian War. • Rival alliances led by Athens & Sparta clawed at one another and left the Greek mainland open to intervention or invasion. • Persia then alternated between supporting one alliance or the other, but eventually funded the expansion of the Spartan fleet, allowing Sparta to challenge Athens longstanding control of the sea and defeat the Athenian alliance (Persia’s great adversary). • The Persian’s then took advantage of the Greeks exhaustion and moved to reclaim the Ionian city-states.
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