sign in sign up
<<
Home , Zagros Mountains

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 ) 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 . • 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 in southwestern , unlike the River Valley Empires of , 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

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 , grew and in the foothills of the the mountain ranges at least 10,000 years ago. Persian • Little is known about the early inhabitants of the , 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 migrated down the eastern shore of the into western Iran. • These people were from a branch of the 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 & 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 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 & 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 to central , before going to war again against the King of a region called Lydia in western Anatolia (Modern day ), 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 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 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 . • In 539 BCE Cyrus then pushed into southern Mesopotamia (The New Babylonian Empire), allying with oppressed tribes (as their liberator), Cyrus then entered 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 , including Asia, , and . • 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. Via Persian diplomacy and bribery, securing peace through the 387 BCE treaty called the King’s Peace, forcing the Greeks to withdraw in exchange for recognition of it’s control of Ionia. • The 16 year struggle was over, Persia emerged as the victor of the Peloponnesian War. 10

5 8/5/2019

Persia Under Macedonian Rule: Under Alexander the Great • Persia’s failure to fight Macedon leads to the final defeat of the Persian • Persia was now subjugated under Empire. the Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great. • In 341 BCE Persia refused to assist Athens in its war against Phillip II of Macedon, hoping to secure peace through diplomacy (or negotiations). • The Persian government, always tolerant, was now forced to accept • By 339 BCE Persian military was forced into the conflict. Greek political institutions and • By 338 BCE Phillip II had united all of Greece under his leadership. culture. • Greece now had useless leadership, which ultimately left Persia without an • Alexander encouraged the mixing of Greek & Persian peoples, taking ally, standing alone against the New Macedonian power in the west. several Persian wives himself. • Phillip was a formidable adversary, but he was murdered at his daughter’s • Alexander’s command worked well, wedding in 336 BCE, bring his heir and son to the throne of Macedon, there was no rebellion or unrest even Alexander III (a.k.a. Alexander the Great) to lead the Macedonian Empire. after his unexpected death at the age of 33 (323 BCE). • Alexander the Great was a military genius, who we’ll talk more about in ch. 7. • Persia, under Darius III severely underestimated the abilities of this 22- year-old newbie. • The Persian Empire had lost many battles but had always won the war (if their leaders could stall for time). • However, Alexander was impetuous, and had no intention of stalling, moving swiftly to take the city of Persepolis in 330 BCE and killed their leader Darius III that summer, bringing an end of the Persian Empire’s 11 Achaemenid dynasty, and Alexander proclaiming himself heir.

Persia Under Macedonian Rule: After Alexander the Great Dies

• After Alexander the Great’s death, his general Seleucus Nikator (sell-LOO-kus ni-KAH-tur) took control. Proclaiming the Empire as a new state named The Selucid Kingdom. • In an effort to gain this status with the Macedonian leadership, Selucus promoted Macedonian officials over Persians, despite his lack of sympathy for Persian culture or language. • Thus, Selucid’s loses support of the Persian nobility on the eastern fringes and Rebellions began. • By 304 BCE Selucus was forced to turn control of western India over to Chandragupta Maurya in the East, thus disintegration of the Persian Empire created a new empire in India. • By 129 BCE, the Selucid Kingdom had fallen apart, with 2 Principal successor states: • Grego-Bactrian Kingdom in northern Afghanistan and part of Over the following centuries, the former Northwestern India. • in to southwestern area of the Persian empire would be ruled over by other Arabian Sea. leaderships thanks to the very location of the Persian Empire. 12

6 8/5/2019

The Legacy of Alexander the Great

• Alexander the Great’s Macedonian Empire Conquered Persia, but its founder’s early death ultimately led to a split of his territory into three parts. • The Persian Empire was then ruled by: The Seleucid’s, Parthians, and Sasanians. • Persia’s strategic location across the Asian trade routes (The Silk Road) assured its continued economic importance. • Khursan II Dramatic victories of the Byzantine Empires seemed to signal reestablishment of western boundaries, but ultimately the Byzantines struck back, leaving the Sasanians open to unanticipated invasion of Arab armies that ended the Persian Empire. • Nevertheless, the successes and sophistication of the Persian Empire, established by Cyrus the Great, in both advancement and tolerance would continue to be a lesson for other forthcoming Empires and nation states for generations to come.

Questions?

14

7