Download The Persian Empire

500 B.C.
Greek and Persian
Empires

 Greece
 Persia
The Royal Road

 The Persian territory was very large, and needed to
be linked by road systems.
 The Royal Road was the largest (1500 miles).
 The Road connected Persia to Anatolia and had
stations along the way for travelers to obtain food,
water, and fresh horses.
Major Cities

 Sardis
 Nineveh
 Susa
Major Bodies of Water

 Caspian Sea
 Black Sea
 Mediterranean Sea
 Red Sea
 Persian Gulf
 Arabian Sea
Kings

 Cyrus
 1st King
 Created an army that grew into the Persian Empire
 Under Cyrus’ rule, the empire stretched to be about
the size of the continental United States.
 Cyrus held his kingdom together by ruling fairly.
 Allowed his peoples to keep their own languages,
religions, and laws.
King Cyrus the Great

Kings

 Darius (522-486 B.C.)
 Reorganized the government to make it more
efficient.
 Divided empire into provinces called satrapies.
 Each satrapy was ruled by a governor called satrap.
Which means defender of the kingdom.
 Collected taxes, judged legal cases, managed police,
recruited for army.
King Darius I

Religion

 The Persians first worshiped many gods
(polytheistic).
 Then a religious teacher, named Zoroaster, preached
a new monotheistic (having one god) religion.
 This religion was called Zoroastrianism.
 Believed that there was one supreme god: Ahura
Mazda (Wise Lord).
 Believed there was good and evil in the world and
people were free to pick between the two.
Symbol of
Zoroastrianism

Compare and Contrast!

 Take out a sheet of paper.
 Draw a Venn Diagram.
 Label 1 section “Persia,” the middle “Both,” and the
other section “Greece.”
 Work with a partner to fill in all three sections with
at least 3 similarities/differences.
Persian Wars

 At the beginning of the 400s B.C., the Persians
wanted to expand.
 Quickly clashed with the Greeks in the
Mediterranean.
 The two societies were very different.
 Persians already controlled Greek cities in Anatolia.
 Athenians sent warships to help rebels that were
rising up, but Persians stopped the uprising.
Marathon

 490 B.C. Darius sent a fleet of 600 ships and an army
to invade Greece.
 Landed in Marathon.
 Persians outnumbered Greeks, so Greeks never came
to fight.
 Persians were leaving to attack Athens, then Greeks
attacked as the Persians were leaving and caught
Persians by surprise and won.
Persian Fleet

Land and Sea

 480 B.C. Persian King Xerxes attacked Greece at
Thermopylae.
 Persians won on land, but lost at sea.
 Athenian fleet ships lured Persian fleet into strait of
Salamis near Athens.
 Greeks won because their ships were fast and easy to
maneuver.
 Greek city-states combined forces to make a larger
army, trained, and defeated Persia.
Primary Source

 First you read.
 Second you annotate.
 Third you answer the questions with a partner.
 Make sure you agree before writing anything down
for an answer.
Decline

 After losses in Greece, Persia faced many challenges.
 Couldn’t defend entire empire.
 Unhappy with government.
 High taxes.
 Disagreement on who should rule.
 By 300s B.C. Persia couldn’t defend against any
attacks.
 Persia ended and a new Greek Empire emerged and
extended beyond Persia’s boundaries.