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Chapter 6
New Empires in Iran
and Greece,
2000 B.C.E.–651 C.E.
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The Rise of the Achaemenids in Iran,
1000–330 B.C.E.
• Indo-Europeans migrated into western Iran ca.
1000 B.C.E.
– Heartland of Iran is Persis, in the southwest
• The Persian Empire was ruled by the
Achaemenid dynasty, 550–330 B.C.E.
– The empire stretched from Samarkand in the east to
Egypt and Turkey in the west, the largest empire of its
time, between 30 million and 35 million people.
– Achaemenid Persian model of government was used
widely and successfully.
• The Greek historian Herodotus wrote an account
of Darius’s rise to power.
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The Rise of the Achaemenids in Iran,
1000–330 B.C.E.
• Zoroastrianism
– Avesta is a book of Zoroastrianism, the religion of
Persia. Also our main source for early Persian history.
– Zarathustra believed in Ahura Mazda, the Lord of
Truth, who created heaven and Earth, day and night,
darkness and light.
• Ahura Mazda also gave birth to twin spirits, one good and one
evil. The good and evil spirits, deities, and demons, are in
perpetual conflict.
– Zarathustra believed that each person had to choose
between good and evil.
• He also believed that there will be a day of judgment in which
Ahura Mazda will decide the fate of each person.
• Choosing good means thinking good thoughts, doing good
deeds, and telling the truth.
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The Rise of the Achaemenids in Iran,
1000–330 B.C.E.
• The Military Success of the Persian Empire,
550–486 B.C.E.
– Iran remained tribal until 612 B.C.E., when the Medes
tribe captured the Assyrian capital
– In 550 B.C.E., Persis tribe led by Cyrus defeated the
Medes, established Achaemenid dynasty.
– The Royal Road linked the Aegean coast with the
capital at Susa.
• Couriers could cover the 1600-mile Royal Road in less than
twenty days.
– Cyrus did not force conquered people to change their
religions or cultures, made offerings to local gods.
– Contact with Zoroastrianism may have introduced
Jews to concepts of an afterlife and a devil.
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The Rise of the Achaemenids in Iran,
1000–330 B.C.E.
• Darius’s Coup, 522 B.C.E.
– Cyrus’s son Cambyses inherited the throne and
continued his father’s conquests.
– In 522 B.C.E., Darius and a group of rebels killed
Gaumata, a pretender to the throne after Cambyses.
– Darius married the daughter of Cyrus, Artystone, to
emphasize his links to the Achaemenid dynasty, to
which he was only distantly related.
– Darius continued the Achaemenid expansion into
Thrace and the Indus Valley.
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The Rise of the Achaemenids in Iran,
1000–330 B.C.E.
• Darius's Administration
– Darius reformed the Persian administration, tax
system, and legal system.
• Reform of the legal system involved appointing judges for life.
• Darius divided the empire into provinces called satrapies.
– Each province was governed by a satrap, chosen from the
local populace.
– Each satrap was required to collect a fixed amount of
revenue each year.
• The ritual center of Darius’s empire was Persepolis
– Darius was succeeded by his son Xerxes in 486
B.C.E. who was killed by his younger son
• Assassinations became common in the Achaemenid dynasty
for a century.
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Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean
World, 2000–334 B.C.E.
• Greek Expansion in the Mediterranean, 2000–
1200 B.C.E.
– The earliest civilization in the Greek region was the
Minoan.
• In order to farm the area, they used irrigation channels,
growing wheat, olives, and grapes in different regions.
• The Minoans were located on the island of Crete, ca. 2000–
1500 B.C.E.
• Their writing, Linear A, has not been translated.
• the Minoans traded widely
– Mycenaeans based at the city-state of Mycenae, ca.
1600–1200 B.C.E.
• Wrote in Linear B, which was only deciphered in 1952.
• If there was a real historic Trojan War as Homer described it,
it was during the Mycenaean period.
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Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean
World, 2000–334 B.C.E.
• The Phoenicians and the World’s First Alphabet
– Phoenician homeland was in modern day Lebanon
ca. 900 B.C.E.
– Phoenicians invented a new system of writing, the
alphabet.
• The Phoenician alphabet had twenty-two letters. Each letter
represented a consonant; there were no vowels.
• The alphabet letters only depicted sounds; they were not
pictorial symbols.
– Phoenicians had established ports along the north
coast of Africa, including Carthage by 814 B.C.E.
• They also had ports along the southern coast of Spain.
– Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet and their
geographic knowledge.
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Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean
World, 2000–334 B.C.E.
• The Rise of the Greek City-State, 800–500
B.C.E.
– The polis, or city-state, emerged about 800 B.C.E.
• Each polis was independent and had its own law codes,
courts, and army. Each polis had a guardian deity and a
temple dedicated to it within the city walls.
– The Greeks believed in many gods, headed by Zeus
and his wife Hera.
– Greeks established over 250 city-states along the
Mediterranean and Black Seas.
• Greek colonies remained linked to the mother city by trade.
• major trade items included olive oil, wine, pottery, and lumber.
• Sparta and Athens
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Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean
World, 2000–334 B.C.E.
• The Greco-Persian Wars, 490–479 B.C.E.
– Athenian army consisted of citizen-soldiers
– Greek soldiers were called hoplites. Had better
shields, stronger armor, and better formations than
the Persians. Organized into units called phalanxes,
eight men deep
– Athens first defeated the Persians at Marathon in 490
B.C.E.
– Xerxes assemblies a force so large he hopes Athens
will surrender.
• Instead, Athens and Sparta form an alliance. First ever
coalition of Greek city-states
• Held the Persians at Thermopylae, until the Persians found a
hidden passage through the mountains
• Persians eventually forced out of Greek territory
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Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean
World, 2000–334 B.C.E.
• Culture and Politics in Athens, 480–404 B.C.E.
– During the fifth century, over 100 tragedies were
written. Three great playwrights of this period:
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
– In 478 B.C.E., Athens formed the Delian League, a
group of city-states who wanted to drive the Persians
from the Greek world.
• Athens then used the Delian League funds to build up the
Acropolis. The most important monument was the Parthenon,
dedicated to Athena.
– From 431–404 B.C.E., Sparta and Athens fought the
Peloponnesian Wars over Delian League leadership.
• Sparta defeated Athens, with the help of Persia in 404 B.C.E.
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Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean
World, 2000–334 B.C.E.
• Athens as a Center for the Study of Philosophy
– Greek philosophy began ca. 600 B.C.E. in Miletus, on
the eastern Aegean.
• Miletus school believed that the universe came from a single
physical element.
• First philosophers to propose a rational explanation rather
than a divine one for the creation of the universe
– Socrates, 469–399 B.C.E., stressed virtue, excellence
– Plato, 429–347 B.C.E., wrote Dialogues, founded
Academy
– Aristotle, 384–322 B.C.E., was tutor to Alexander the
Great.
• Aristotle taught that conclusions had to be explained using
logic, reasoning from one point to the next.
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Map 6-1 p149
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Alexander the Great and his
Successors, 334 B.C.E.–30 B.C.E.
• Philip and Alexander: from Macedon to Empire,
359–323 B.C.E.
– Philip II, r. 359–336 B.C.E., made Macedon powerful
• Philip reorganized the army into a professional force.
• Alexander divided his army into two groups: infantry
phalanxes and cavalry.
– Philip II was assassinated in 336 B.C.E.
– Alexander defeated the Persians in 331 B.C.E.
• Alexander took over the Persian administration intact and
adopted the satrapies. He also copied Achaemenid military,
administration, and tax systems
– Alexander’s army stopped at the Hyphasis River in
India, 326 B.C.E. Began to march back to Babylon,
where Alexander died in 323 B.C.E.
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Alexander the Great and his
Successors, 334 B.C.E.–30 B.C.E.
• The Legacy of Alexander the Great
– Alexander’s rule spread Hellenization.
– Alexander’s empire was split into three sections,
ruled by his generals.
• Ptolemy took Egypt.
• Antigonas took Greece and Macedon.
• Selecus took Mesopotamia, Mediterranean coast, and
satrapies to the Indus River Valley.
– In Egypt, Alexander had founded a city called
Alexandria in 332 B.C.E.
• All texts that traveled to Alexandria were copied by the library.
• In 240 B.C.E., Greek astronomer Eratosthenes was
appointed librarian of Alexandria..
• He measured the circumference of the Earth, estimating it at
24,427 miles.
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Map 6-2 p157
Figure 6-1 p161
The Parthians and the Sasanians,
Heirs to the Persians,
247 B.C.E.–651 C.E.
• Parthian empire, 247 B.C.E. - 224 C.E.
– Zoroastrian but religiously tolerant
– Famed mounted archers
• Sassanian dynasty, 224 C.E.-651 C.E.
– Persecuted new religions like Manicheanism and
Christianity
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