Download Greek and Persia I. Persian Empire

Greek and Persia
I.
Persian Empire
About the Time athens was changing politically, Persia build empire. Persia located in
Southwestern Iran. early persians were warriors or cow herders. Dynasty of kings
brought persia together. 500 B.C. Cyrus the Great built strong army. started creating
empire as big as ancient world.
A. Creating an Empire.
540 persia took over Mesopotamia, syria, judah, and greek city-states area of anatolia.
ruled fair to keep persia together. let them keep language religion and law. ​
Cyrus
allowed jews to return to babylon. other rulers took over egypt, western India and
lands northeast of greece. distance from east to west was 3000 miles. travelers could
obtain​
food, water, and fresh at roadside stops. royal route, Messenger travel from
persia from anatolia in 7 days. same journey took 3 months before.
B. Persian Government
as expanding became difficult to manage. Darius I rule from 522 to 486 B.C. reorganized
government. divided empire to provinces called​
satrapies.​
Each was ruled by governor
called ​
satrap​
, meaning “Defender of the kingdom” Collected tax, Judged legal cases,
managed police, and recruited soldier. Persia maintained full-time, paid, Professional
army. best fighters trained to defend king. Known as immortal because if one died
another would take their place.
C. Who Was Zoroaster?
worshiped many gods. 600 B.c. religious teacher, Zoroaster preached new monotheistic
religion. many accepted. called ​
Zoroastrianism​
. taught that 1 supreme god called ​
Ahura
Mazda​
or “Wise lord” who was the creator of all things. People choose between good
and evil. teaching, prayers and hymns written in holy book. because of religion persian
began to view their monarchy as sacred institution or role. after ​
Darius​
rule, persians
still practiced Zoroastrianism.
II. The Persian Wars
400’s persia was ready to expand to europe. soon clashed with greeks. They were very
different. Persia, all powerful king. Greek, power of people. In 499 b.c. lands in greece
conquered by persia revolted. Athens sent warships to help rebels but persia crushed
uprising. ​
King Darius​
was angry. wanted to punish the greeks.
A. How Did the Greeks Win At Marathon?
In 490 B.c. ​
Darius​
sent 600 ships and an army to invade greece. Perian land at Marathon,
a plain 25 miles northeast of athens. expected greeks to come. athens did not. 10000
athens vs. 20000 persia. when not attacked persia sailed to athens. when persians were
leaving, athens attacked downhill. persia was out of formation. ​
According to Greek
legend, a young messenger raced 25 miles from Marathon to Athens with news of the
victory. When the runner reached Athens, he cried out "Victory" and then ​
collapsed​
and
died from exhaustion. Today's marathon races are named for that famous run and are
just over 26 miles (41.8 km) long. B. land and sea battles
After the defeat at Marathon, the Persians vowed revenge against the Athenians. In 480
B.C.​
, a new Persian king named ​
Xerxes​
invaded Greece with about 200,000 troops and
thousands of warships and supply vessels. City-states fought together. ​
King Leonidas
supplied most soldiers. ​
Themistocles​
commanded navy.​
Persian ships supplied the invaders
​
with food. Themistocles wanted to attack the Persians' ships and cut off the army's supplies. To
do this, the Greeks had to stop the Persian army from reaching Athens. Spartan King Leonidas
led 7,000 soldiers into a battle that lasted for three days. The Spartans' bravery at
Thermopylae was much celebrated.
The Greeks, however, could not stop the Persians at Thermopylae. A traitor showed the
Persians a trail leading around the Greek line, allowing them to attack from behind.
Realizing that his Greek army would soon be surrounded, Leonidas dismissed most of the
troops. He and 300 Spartans remained and fought to the death. The Greek historian Herodotus
(hair • RAH • deh • tuhs) gave this description of the battle:
"They [the Spartans] defended themselves to the last, those who still had swords using them, and the others resisting with their hands and teeth; till the barbarians [Persians], who in part . . . had gone round and now encircled them upon every side, overwhelmed and buried the remnant [remainder] which was left beneath showers of missile weapons." —from ​
The Histories​
by Herodotus Spartan’s heroic stand gave time for navy to carry out the plan. Athenian ships lured persia
to the strait Salamis. A strait is a narrow ​
channel​
of water between two pieces of land. The
Greeks hoped this move would give them an advantage in battle. Themistocles believed that
the heavy Persian ships would crowd together in the strait, making them difficult to move.
His assumption proved to be correct. fight between two navies. greek fewer ship but faster and
smaller. greeks sank 300 persian ships. lost 40. finding city deserted persia burned it. The
combined forces of Greek in 479 B​
.C.​
formed largest army yet. Improved their fighting forces
with better armor and weapons. At Plataea, northwest of Athens, the Greek army again faced
the Persians. In numbers, the two sides were evenly matched. Each fielded a force of about
100,000 men. the Greeks defeated the Persian army. Fighting continued as the Greeks went on
the defensive to free the city-states in Anatolia from Persian rule. Peace between the Greek
allies and the Persians did not come until 449 ​
B.C.
C. Decline of Persia
After loss in greece, persia faced difficulties. no longer strong enough to defend. Persian
grew unhappy with government. ​
The kings taxed the people heavily to pay for
magnificent palaces and other luxuries. Members of the royal family disagreed about
who should rule. Became open to outside attacks. 300 b.c. could not defend against
alexander. The Persian Empire ended, and a new Greek empire emerged that extended
beyond even Persia’s boundaries.