AY KIDS DISCOVER FARS, FAR AW KIDS AncientAncientDISCOVER DOME PersPersiaia SWEET DOME WHAT A RELIEF! IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FRUITS WITH PERSIAN ROOTS Ancient_Persia_FC.indd 1 3/13/17 2:18 PM 2 r THE AREA WHERE the Persians lived was Fars, or Persis, a region in the south of present-day Iran. From Fars, the Persians built an empire (orange on the map) that stretched east to the borders of India and west to the Mediterranean Sea. The language of modern Iran is called Persian, or Farsi. The name Iran comes from the word Aryan, which is the name of the group from which the Persians descended. Thousands of years ago, the land now The First World Empire occupied by the countries of Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan was home to many dif- ferent groups of people. The Sumerians, the Babylonians, and the Assyrians ruled the area in turn. Around 3,300 years ago, a new group arrived. They were called Aryans, and they came from central Asia, l LEGEND HAS IT a small nation. r MUCH OF IRAN IS that the parents The line of a plateau – a high of Cyrus II were a Persian kings that flat area. It is Persian nobleman descended from encircled by the and the daughter Cyrus is called Zagros Mountains of a king of the the Achaemenid in the north and Medes. So when dynasty. A dynasty the Hindu Kush Cyrus conquered is a series of Mountains in the the Medes, he rulers from the east. Deserts actually defeated same family. cover much of the his own grand- plateau. Some fer- father. On his tile valleys exist in Persian side, Fars and provinces Cyrus traced his farther east. ancestry back to Achaemenes (ak-uh-MEEN-eez). According to leg- Why does the end, Achaemenes year 585 BCE had formed come before scattered groups 584 BCE? of Persians into Ancient_Persia_2-3.indd 2 3/13/17 2:27 PM 3 north of the Caspian Sea, an area that 612 BCE, the Medes had conquered the today is divided between Russia and Assyrians and become the dominant group Kazakhstan. The Aryans were made up of in the area. But the Medes didn’t rule for many tribes. One tribe, the Medes, set- long. Around 550 BCE, they were defeated tled in what is now northern and western by Cyrus II, king of Persia. From this tri- Iran; their land was called Media. Another umph, Cyrus went on to build the largest tribe, the Persians, made their home empire the ancient world had ever seen. farther south, in an area called Fars. By He became known as Cyrus the Great. d THE ANCIENT monuments. But Persians didn’t most of our knowl- write much about edge of ancient themselves. Some Persia comes from of what we know the writings of about them comes Greeks, particularly from sculptures Herodotus (left). and inscriptions on This Greek writer lived around the 5th century BCE and is sometimes called the first historian. Greeks and Persians were enemies for many centuries, and this may have affected some of the things Herodotus wrote about ancient Persia. Ancient_Persia_2-3.indd 3 3/13/17 2:27 PM 4 Kings of the Persian Empire From 550 BCE until 465 BCE, four kings built the Persian Empire. They r CYRUS THE GREAT was a fair ruler. also defended it against He allowed each rebellions by people they group that he had conquered. But the conquered to keep Babylonia, an area inder, Cyrus vowed Cyrus allowed its own language, that lay between to allow people the captive Jews to last two kings reached customs, and present-day Babylonians had return to Palestine, too far and failed to religion. The Cyrus Baghdad, Iraq, and enslaved to return which was also Cylinder records the Persian Gulf. In to their homelands. under his rule. accomplish their goals. his conquest of the text on the cyl- True to his word, WHEN CYRUS DIED OF died under myste- battle wounds rious circumstanc- in 530 BCE, his es along the way. son Cambyses II The leader of the (cam-BY-seez) rebellion was killed became king. In by seven nobles. 525 BCE, Cambyses One of them was easily conquered Darius (da-RYE- Egypt (where he us). He became is shown below, king in 522 BCE. under umbrella). Darius was from In 522 BCE, he left another branch of Egypt to return to the Achaemenid Persia to stop a family. rebellion, but he Ancient_Persia_4-5.indd 4 3/13/17 2:30 PM 5 Darius conquered Thrace, an area north of Greece, but he failed to take over the Greek mainland. In 490 What does a marathon race have to do with the Battle of Marathon? BCE, a large force of Persians attacked a smaller Greek force at Marathon. The Persians were defeated. Darius u DARIUS WAS not subdue the retreated to Persia, determined to Scythians. At the where he died in extend the empire same time, Persian 486 BCE. into Europe. He got scouts mapped the as far as southern coasts of Greece Russia but could and southern Italy. u DARIUS SPENT rial carved into a and calls himself a year stopping cliff at Behistun “king of kings,” revolts in differ- (BAY-his-TOON). a title adopted ent parts of the In the inscription, by later rulers of empire. He then Darius states his Persia. had a large memo- right to the throne r THE PERSIANS borrowed from the people they con- quered. The sea- u DARIUS WAS empire. With these Persians lost sev- faring Phoenicians succeeded by his men and a naval eral battles and provided Persian son Xerxes (ZURK- fleet of hundreds had to retreat to kings with ships seez), above. of ships, he invad- their homeland to use for trad- Advisers persuaded ed Greece. The without having ing. Imitating Xerxes to avenge Persians defeated subdued the the Lydians, the his father’s defeat the Greeks at Greeks. Xerxes Persians replaced in Greece, and in Thermopylae, was assassinated a barter system 480 BCE, Xerxes put and Xerxes then in 465 BCE. He was with coins, mak- together an army marched to Athens the first Persian ing long-distance of hundreds of and burned down emperor who had trade easier. Coins thousands of men the city. However, failed to expand pictured the king from all over the after that, the the empire. and spread his image through- out the empire. r THE PERSIAN neither the civilian Trade required rulers divided nor the military record keeping, their empire into leader could wield How did the so the Persians 20 satrapies, or too much power. troops of Darius hired Babylonian provinces. The king Under Cyrus, and Xerxes “walk scribes. The appointed a gover- each satrapy sent on water”? scribes kept nor called a satrap gifts to the king. accounts in to rule each one. Darius made the their language, A separate military arrangement more Akkadian, which commander for formal by estab- became an official each satrapy also lishing a system language of the reported directly to of taxation for empire. the king. This way, the satrapies. Ancient_Persia_4-5.indd 5 3/13/17 2:30 PM Rich Folk l IN NOBLE FAMILIES, to read and l BOTH MEN AND Persian army mothers cared for write, while girls women wore long large, men were their sons until the learned to spin robes gathered at encouraged to age of five; then the thread, weave the waist. Noble marry young, boys were placed in cloth, and play men dominated have more than their fathers’ care. an instrument. Persian society, one wife, and Boys learned to ride Children were but some wealthy have many chil- horses and to shoot taught to always women owned dren. Families with a bow and tell the truth. property and trav- were rewarded arrow. Some sons Lying was the eled far to manage for having sons. of nobles learned greatest shame. it. To keep the and glass from Egypt, and spices and gold dust Persian Society from India. There was a Persian society was strictly him. Below nobles on the small lower middle class of divided. At the top was an social scale were mer- skilled workers – bakers, all-powerful king. Below chants, who traded purple butchers, carpenters, and the king were a few thou- dyes and textiles from artisans. At the bottom of sand wealthy nobles. Even Phoenicia, perfumes from society were millions of nobles had to lie facedown Arabia (present-day Saudi poor people. These farm- in the presence of the king Arabia and lands north), hands, herders, servants, and avoid eye contact with timber from Crete, grains and laborers worked hard Ancient_Persia_6-7.indd 6 3/13/17 2:32 PM Poor Folk 7 u THE HOMES OF THE the homes of the read, but they poor were built of rich were made enjoyed stories sun-dried bricks of limestone or and poems recited made from mud bricks baked in from memory. and straw, and ovens. There were Music was an they did not have beds, chairs, and important part of much furniture. tables, and some the culture, and Families sat and homes were built harps, flutes, slept on rugs around a courtyard and tambourines that covered the with pools. Many were popular floor. In contrast, Persians couldn’t instruments. l BARLEY WAS ONE u EARLY PERSIANS Zoroastrianism the but made barely enough of the main crops prayed to many state religion, but to keep themselves alive. that Persian farm- nature gods. other religions still ers grew. It was Sometime between existed.