Download Persia and Greece Achaemenid (aka Perisan) Empire Zoroastrianism

9/22/2015
Achaemenid (aka Perisan) Empire
Persia and Greece
• 550-330 BCE
• Cyrus the Great conquered land from Egypt
and Turkey to Northeastern India (14 million
people)
Ch. 4-Classical Civilization in the
Mediterranean
550-300 BCE
Characteristics
• Tolerance of religious and
linguistic minorities
• Centralized bureaucracy
– Tax codes, uniform monetary
system
Zoroastrianism
• Monotheistic religion
• Life is a battle between good and evil
• Concept of a last judgment, heaven and hell
• Infrastructure
– Royal Road- network of
highways facilitated
communication and trade
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Greek Development
• Minoans (2700-1450 B.C.): island of Crete
• Myceneans (1600-1100 B.C.): Basis for
Homer’s epic poems, The Illiad and the
Odyssey
• Development of Polis
(city-states): 800-600 BCE
– Mountains made unified
govt. difficult
• Common culture and
written language
– Olympic games
• Athens and Sparta
dominated the region
Persian Wars (490-479 BCE)
• City-states united to fight against armies of
Xerxes
– Battles of Marathon and Thermopylae
• Delian league was created to defend against
further invasions
Greek Political System
• Tyrants: Rule by individual
strongmen
• Direct Democracy: All
citizens voted in general
assembly
• Pericles: Aristocrats led
through influence
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Philosophy
• Encouraged rational
thinking and debate to
better understand
humanity
• Socrates: question
conventional wisdom
• Aristotle and the Stoics:
Moderation and
balance in everything
Science
• Pythagoras created the Pythagorean theorem
(a²+b²=c² )
• Archimedes developed the Lever, specific
gravity, and death ray
Golden Age
• Classical Temples: Parthenon
– Athens was rebuilt after Persian War
• Drama: tragedy and comedy
– Plays performed at amphitheaters
• Idealistic sculpture
Economy
• Poor soil grew only grapes and
olives
– Commercial agriculture:
products for trade rather than
subsistence
• Most farmers were tenents of
landlords and owed debts
– Slavery was used extensively
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Decline
• Peloponnesian War : Athens
and Sparta fought for 25 years
• Plague killed 1/3 of Athenian
population in 430 BCE
• Macedonian Invasion
Hellenistic Empire
• Conquered the Persian Empire within 13 years
• Spread Greek (Hellenic) culture into Asia
– Alexandria, Egypt became a trade and intellectual
center
– Phillip II of Macedon took over in
338 BCE
– Alexander the Great took over in
336 BCE
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