Political, Social, Economical Aspects of Persian/Hellenistic

EVENT POLITICAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC

Perisan Empire relied on long-range trade

first, largest multi-cultured empire, adopted foreign customs

highways built from trade encourage growth and exchange of goods

Achaemenid Persia550-465 b.c.e.

Royal family of rulers, Cyrus the Great, Cambyses II, Darius I, Xerxes

Revenue from land and road, production and consumption of goods taxes

539 b.c.e.-Conquest of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Lydia by Cyrus

Allowed subjects to continue traditions, Jerusalem rebuilt the temple

530-525-Begin of rule of Cambyses and conquest of Egypt

"accepted cultural differences" during governor of Babylon

EVENT POLITICA SOCIAL ECONOMIC

521 b.c.e Darius I Built Suez Canal connecting Nile to Red SeaLaw of code of Babylon, justice

Greco-Persian War Democratic means to gain favor in Ionian Greek cities

Lost trade to "peninsulan" Greeks

480 b.c.e.-second attempt to conquer Greeks islands by Xerxes

Regained control of Egypt, but altered views of Persian control

Royal Road Communication System for miltary and governent officials between provinces

allowed for continuation pf tradinational economic activies for conquered lands

EVENT POLITICAL SOCIAL ECONOMICS

336-323 b.c.e. Hellenistic age under Alexander the Great

King Phillip II developed professional militia

Hellenistic

Alexander expanded from Greece to western India and Nile Valley to Caucasus Mt.

Thinkers and sages, focused on observation and experiment

Destruction of Persepolis

Egyptians accepted Alexander as a ruler as a pharoah

divided empire among Macedonian generals

increased trade across different regions

EVENT

POLITICS SOCIAL ECONOMIC

Hellenistic Cities Autocratic sections of the empire

Center of Greek culture, influenced by local traditions of non-Greeks

Money-based economy

Rebuilt harbors and roads to encourage trade

Hellenistic Empire after Alexander's death

Empire divided into three parts

Parthians, adopted Hellenistic traditions

Ptolemies, Seleucids, and Antgonies

Conrad-Demarest Model Comparison1b. Preconditions for Rise of Hellenistic Empirea. Imperial state of Persia was under “mutual antagonism” because of disagreements between the ruling family, price increases, and difficulty bringing in economic revenue such as taxes from conquered lands. b. Mutual antagonism continued after Xerxes pressed for heavier taxes on governed provinces, which lowered the political and economical support c. Professional military to defeat the Greek cities 2. Persians allowed for the conquered people of their imperial state to maintain previous religious and social traditions and ideologies to give the “identification” with the state and as a way to connect with the empire the Persians treated them with respect.2b. Hellenistic society, shifted into a more monarchial government dependent on Greeks or Persians outnumbered by non-Greek or Persians, therefore the citizens weren’t united under like different peoples the Persian empire. The ideology of the provinces and citizens lacked the enthusiasm for the empire and unity. 2. Major Rewards of Persian Empirea. Economic revenue from trade, different taxes, and transportation systems

Ideological Changes

Persian/Hellenistic Empire

Religion Philisophy Means of Unification

Persian Imperial State

Zoroasterianism-founded by Zoroaster and presents dualist beliefs between good and evil

Not a politically diverse society as Hellenistic

Different peoples from Western Asia, united under the "king of kings" recognition

Hellenistic Age

Mithraism-cult who worshipped Mithra, that promised salvation after initiation of faith

Hellenism-combined culture of Western Asia and Greece, end of culture exhange

Spreading the Greek Culture

Hellenistic cities

Continued practice of Zoroastrianism, but stressed personal sacrifice and offered salvation

Cynicism-est. by Diogenes, simplistic lifestyle, detachment of material possesions and focuses on values

Earlier Greek societies, less individuality and logic and more emotional culture

Stoicism-importance of nature and the equality of all people

ID Terms

ID Terms

Cyrus (II) the Great began the Persian Empire and its expansion form 550-530 BCEoverthrew the Median king in 550 BCE.by 539 he had conquered Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Lydia, and all the Greek cities on the Anatolian peninsula.took him ten years to build his empire which stretched from the Aegean Sea to Central Asia.

(A map of this can be seen on the next page)made moderate policies in the conquered areas

he only asked for a fair amount of tribute.allowed the Jews in Babylon to return to Palestine and rebuild their temple.killed in 530 BCE while fighting against the nomads east of the Aral Sea.

ID Terms

Cambyses II�successor of Cyrus the Greataccepted cultural differencesconquered Egypt in 525 BCE

presented himself as a new Egyptian rulerinstead of a foreign conquerer

carved a granite slab in Egypt which said he would bring :stabilitygood fortunegladnessand health

ID TermsDarius I

the distant cousin of his predecessor, Cambyses II, and was not a modest person.seized power at the age of twenty-eight.began his reign by terminating a revolt in Egypt.spread Persian power east and west, and annexed the Sind region in northwestern India.claimed that with in his empire he cherished the good people, eliminated the bad, and prevented people from killing one another.supervised the organization and establishment of Egyptian law.in 519 BCE he made a law code for Babylon.

which were close to Hammurabi's laws, mad nearly 1500 years earlierconstructed the first Suez Canal, which connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas.his Suez Canal was 125 miles long and 150 feet wide.in 539 BCE he began building a new capital at Persepolis.campaigned unsuccessfully against the Scythians in 520 and 513 BCEin response to the Greek rebellion Darius decided to go west and attack the cities on the Greek peninsula. This plan failed.

(A map of this is on the next page)after this failure Darius favored the democratic forces in the Ionian cities

because he wished for them to remove anti-Persian conservatives.he minted coins.sent an expedition to India which resulted in laying the foundation for the conquest the southern Indus River Valley, and more trade by sea.

ID TermsDarius I (Continued)

worked to spread the religion of Zoroastrianismby publicly attributing his victories to Ahura Mazda

Ahura Mazda=The god in Zoroastrianismin Zoroastrianism a faravahar is one of the main symbols

faravahar=depiction of a Fravashi (guardian spirit)by spreading Zoroastrianism was spreading the idea of a god being opposed by the devil

which might have influenced Judaism and Christianity

ID TermsXerxes I

Darius I's son and successor tried to conquer Greece for a second time in 280 B.C.E.

he attacked with a huge armyas well as a huge navythe resulting war lasted two years

Xerxes I had one ally that was most effective Queen Artemisiafrom the Ionian Greek city Halicarnassus

Artemisia was glorified for three main things:1. Bravery2. Daring3. And the wise counsel she gave the Persian King

his attempt failedbut he still held a large part of Greece

he regained control of Egypthis defeat in the 2nd Greco-Persian war ended up being a vital turning point in Persian history

ID Terms

Xerxes I (Continued)�his policies weakened the Persian Empirethe policy was:

heavy taxationby 424 B.C.E. the Persian Empire suffered from:

civil unresta result of fighting between the royal family

difficulty collecting taxesand currency inflation

he gradually began to reverse the policies of Darius I and Cyrus the Great

ID Terms

Gender roles in the Persian EmpirePersians respected women.Royal court attendants could be male or female.Women could supervise groups of men and women.Women could earn higher wages than men.It was not a society of sexual equality.

Scribes had to be male.Servers of rations had to be female.

Women got extra rations if they birthed boys.Women had the right to hold property.Women could be the backers and patrons of men who sought power.

ID Terms

Gender roles in the Persian Empire (Continued)�some queens and noble women had an influence on their husbands

some of them controlled large estatessome queens were said to be more aggressive than their husbands

Women could become independently wealthyIrdabama, for example, was:

a major landownerhad control of a labor force of several hundredshe also ran her own wine and grain business

Egyptian women held onto most of the rights they had before be conquered by Persia

in Egypt marriages were mainly monogamous

ID Terms

King Philip of Macedon (II)established a paid professional army

opposed to one made of citizensmade a more effective infantry phalanx

phalanx=a group of heavily armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep, with shields joined and long spears overlapping

in 338 BCE he unified the Greeks by forced mainly by defeating the combined armies of Athens and Thebes in 338 B.C.E.

he then began to contemplate the idea of conquering Persia.he was assassinated two years later

most likely by a Persian-backed conspiracy.

ID TermsAlexander the Great (II)

succeeded his father Philip (II) at the age of nineteen.his mother was Queen Olympias

then he began to conquer Persia.was interested in opening up the Indian Ocean trade

or at least in taking control of its routes.his campaigns from 334 BCE he destroyed the Persian Empire in three years.

he then burned Persopolis, the Persian capitalhis success was unimaginable

it is often attributed to luck on the battlefield and interconnected skill.he eventually was convinced that he was divinely favored, or even divine.his control slipped in the last years of his life.he wanted to conquer beyond Persia’s boundaries

his troops refused, so he was forced to stop his invasion of India, shortly after crossing the Indus River.

died at the age of 32 from unknown causeshe died after setting the conquest of Arabia as his next objective.

he died in a drinking bout the favorite form of excess in Macedonia.

ID Terms

Alexander the Great (II) (Continued)after death his empire was divided into parts, and governed by former Macedonian generals

Ptolemy controlled Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean costthe Seleucus Family controlled Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syriafollowers of Antigonus controlled Macedonia and Northern Greece

(A map of this division is on the next page)became on of the worlds most written about hero.

glorified in an epic poem in Malay.in Ethiopia, India, and Scotland kings named themselves after him.his material legacy was fairly short.his empire did not outlast him.

though cultural exchanges throve in the areas among which it fragmented.the defeat of the Persian Empire, and the fall of Alexander the Great’s Empire resulted in a vacuum in the eastern Mediterranean that none of Alexander’s successors were able to fill.

ID Terms

Hellenistic Era (359-100 B.C.E.)lasted centuries after the death of Alexander the Great (II)�Hellenism=the widespread culture that combined western Asian (mainly Persian) and Greek (Hellenic) characteristics.during the era, Greeks ruled large parts of western Asia and North Africa

this was only ended by the Roman EmpireHellenism focused less on individual freedom and the use of reason, and focus more on emotions

compared to earlier Greek societyconquered ares studied Greek and borrowed Greek art styles

Key Figures

Key FiguresMain Persian Rulers

1. Cyrus (II) The Great2. Cambyses II3. Darius I4. Xerxes I

Significant Persian Women1. Irdabama

Key Persian Allies1. Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, an Ionian Greek city

Significant Persian Religious Leaders1. Zoroaster

Main Macedonian Rulers1. King Philip of Macedon (II)2. Alexander the Great (II)

Rulers of Alexander's Fragmented Empire1. Ptolemy2. The Seleucus Family3. Followers of Antigonus

Key Dates

Darius I's kingship

Key Dates of the Persian Empire630-550 B.C.E. Life of Zoroaster

640 B.C.E. Persians became subjects of the Medes

550-530 B.C.E. Cyrus (II) the Great's kingship

547-546 B.C.E. Conquest of Lydia

530-522 B.C.E. Cambyses II's kingship

525-523 B.C.E. Conquest of Egypt

521-486 B.C.E. 518 B.C.E. Conquest of the Indus Valley

499 B.C.E. Ionian Greeks rebel against Persian rule499-479 B.C.E. Greco-Persian Wars486-465 B.C.E. Xerxes I's kingship404 B.C.E. Egypt becomes independent from Persia

334 B.C.E. Persian Empire is conquered by Alexander the Great

Key Dates of the Hellenistic Era359-336 B.C.E. King Philip of Macedonia's kingship

338 B.C.E. Philip's conquest of the Greek states

336-323 B.C.E. Alexander the Great's kingship

332 B.C.E. Invasion of Egypt

330 B.C.E. Occupation of Persia

327-325 B.C.E. Invasion of India

306 B.C.E.- 30 C.E. Ptolemaic Egypt

238 B.C.E. The Parthian state in Persia

141 B.C.E. The Parthians' conquered the Seleucids

TIMELINE

Geography: Background

EARLY PERSIACentral trade position

Invests in Communications1700 Miles of Road

Allowed for spread of cultures Close proximity to Greeks

Greek insecurity and Persian conquest caused warsHeld together due to lenient rule

ALEXANDER'S EMPIREUses roads to conquer Persian Empire Short Lived

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