Download Packet 4 - Pascack Valley Regional High School District

Packet #4
Persia and Greece:
The Classical Era 600 b.c.e.- 600 c.e.
Greece vs. Persia Scorecard
Marathon (490 BCE)

26 miles from Athens
Thermopylae (480 BCE)

300 Spartans at the
Mountain pass
Salamis (480 BCE)

Athenian navy victorious
Packet #4
Classical Persia
The Medes and the Persians migrated from central Asia to Persia (southwest Iran) where they were
subject to the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. The Medes and Persians were militaristic. When the
Assyrian and Babylonian cultures weakened in the 6th century b.c.e. the Medes and the Persians set
forth on imperial conquest.
Road to Conquest and Empire
Cyrus: Cyrus the Achaemenid reined from 558-530 b.c.e. and launched the Persians’ imperial
venture. He was the king of the Persian tribes. He initiated a rebellion against his Median
overlord, whom he crushed within three years (there goes the Medes people). In 546 b.c.e. he
conquered Lydia and Anatolia, modern Turkey. Later he campaigned in central Asia and Bactria
(Afghanistan). He seized Babylonia, whose states recognized him as their lord. Cyrus eventually created
an empire that stretched from India to the borders of Egypt. His
son, Cambyses, conquered Egypt in 325 b.c.e.
Darius: Darius was the greatest Persian ruler. He extended the
empire east and west. He pushed to the Indus River and into
Macedonia.
Darius presided over more than 70
ethnic groups. Within the Persian
Empire were many languages,
religions and cultural traditions. The
empire was well-maintained and was
sustained on a tax system to
administer the territories. His
pioneering administration techniques
outlasted him and his empire and
influenced future empires. Darius later
centralized his administration, building
a capital at Persepolis. It was a place of great grandeur and administration. Darius enlisted the help of
governors to enable him to preside over the vast region. The 23 regions were called the satrapies that
were administrative and taxation districts governed by . Darius levied formal taxes. He did not abolish
the existing laws of individual lands or peoples, nor did he impose a uniform law code on his entire
empire. He directed legal experts to study and codify the laws of his subjects and peoples, modifying
them when necessary to harmonize them with the legal principles observed in the empire as a whole.
Darius also built intricate roads to connect the far-flung realm. Most notably, they built the Persian
Royal road that stretched 1600 miles.
Packet #4
Why are roads so important to an empire?
Political:
For administrative purposes, the empire had been divided into approximately twenty provinces called
satrapies. Each province was ruled by a governor or satrap, “protector of the kingdom.” The collected
tributes, were responsible for justice and security, and commanded a commission of soldiers. With a
central king, the Persians had a vast administrative system. Although not considered to be a god in the
manner of an Egyptian pharaoh, the king was nevertheless the elect one or regent of the Persian god
Ahuramazda. All subjects were the king’s servants, and he was the source of all justice, possessing the
power of life and death over everybody.
Culture:
Of all of the Persians’ cultural contributions, the most original was their religion, Zoroastrianism.
Zoroaster was born in 660 b.c.e. After a period of wondering alone, he experienced revelations that
caused him to be revered as a prophet of the “true religion.” His spiritual message was monotheistic.
Humans had free will. Ahurmazda was the Supreme Being who fought to overcome an evil being and
succeeded. The idea that there is an omnipotent god that was responsible for all creation who prevailed
over a purely evil being, the idea that human beings must strive to observe the highest moral standards,
and the doctrine that individuals will undergo judgment with the option of being reward in paradise vs.
punished in hell are based on Zoroastrianism.
The Persian Empire’s vastness meant it encompassed a diverse network of people, both religiously and
ethnically.
Economy:
Agriculture was the economic foundation of classical Persian society. Needed an agricultural surplus to
support military forces and administrative specialists as well as residents of cities who were artisans,
crafts workers, and merchants rather than cultivators. Empire encapsulated fertile lands of Egypt,
Mesopotamia, and northern India. Barley and wheat were the grains cultivated most commonly in
Persian Empire.
Persians encouraged rapid economic development and trade. They invented standardized coins. Long
distance trade grew rapidly. Land and sea routes facilitated trade.
Decline and Fall of the Achaemenid Empire/the challenge of the Greeks:
Difficulties between rulers and subject peoples undermined the integrity of the Achaemenid Empire. In
499 b.c.e. Ionian Greeks rebelled against Persian rule. Greece (which we’ll get to later) was a group of
city states that often fought each other. They were vastly different politically from the centralized
Persians. Athens sent ships to help them. As the historian Herodotus wrote some years later, “These
ships were the beginning of mischief both to the Greeks and to the barbarians”
Packet #4
Athenian interference infuriated Darius. Darius would send a
huge force across the Aegean Sea to punish Athens for its
interference. The mighty Persian army landed near Marathon, a
plain north of Athens, in 490 b.c.e. The Persians greatly
outnumbered Athenian forces. A force of Greeks broke through
the much bigger Persian line and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand
combat. Overwhelmed b the fury of the assault, the Persians
hastily retreated to their ships. Darius died before he could mass
his troops for another attack. By 480 b.c.e. his son Xerxes sent a
much larger force to conquer Greece. This time the Athenians
enlisted the aid of another Greek city-state, the ever-militaristic
Spartans. The Persians landed in northern Greece. A small Spartan
force guarded the narrow mountain pass at Thermopylae. Led by
the great warrior King Leonidas, the 300 Spartans held out heroically against the enormous Persian
force, but were defeated in the end. The Persians marched south and burned Athens but the people had
already withdrawn to safety. They had built a fleet and lured the Persians into a narrow strait of Salamis.
Then, Athenian warships, powered by rowers, drove into the Persian boats with underwater battering
rams. On the shore, Xerxes watched helplessly as his mighty fleet sank. Another Greek victory secured
the fall of the Persian invasions. The entire Persian Empire would crumble at the hands of the great
Macedonian leader, Alexander the great in around 331 b.c.e.
QUESTION
1. What is the “cult of kingship?”
2. How did Persia govern its
people?
3. What did Herodotus say about
Persian cultural diffusion?
4. What components of Persia’s
infrastructure made it a wellmanaged empire?
Textbook: pages 99-101
Packet #4
The Greeks:
Political
Greece is in the Balkan region of Eastern Europe. In the 9th century b.c.e. the Greeks organized a series
of city-states, which served as the political context fro the development of classical Greek society. In the
absence of a centralized state or empire, local institutions took the lead in restoring political order in
Greece. The most important institution was the city-state, or polis. These were the commercial centers.
The levied taxes on their hinterlands appropriated a portion of the agricultural surplus to support the
urban population. By 800 b.c.e. they were cities that were the centers of Greek society. The Poleis
developed differently. Some had small monarchies, but most were under the collective rule of local
notables who ruled as oligarchs. The most important of the poleis were Sparta and Athens, whose
contrasting constitutions illustrate the variety of political styles in classical Greece.
Athens:

Greatest expression of political participation

Solon—great reformer of Greece (594 BCE) pushed Athenian politics towards democracy—
breaking away from an aristocratic stronghold

More access to public office. It was a direct democracy (not representative). Excluded women,
slaves, foreigners.

Pericles—great Athenian statesman from 461-429 b.c.e. under his leadership, Athens became
the most sophisticated of the poleis, with a vibrant community of scientists, philosophers, poets,
dramatists, artists, and architects. Known as the “Golden Age of Athens”
Sparta:

Region of Peloponnesus (Island south of Balkan peninsula)

As Sparta expanded—assumed people into jurisdiction- people were called helots (servants of
the Spartan state). They were not free but they were not slaves. They could form families but
they could not leave the land. Their role in society was to provide agricultural labor and keep
Sparta supplied with food.

Distinctions between Spartans seen in military talent

Life was dedicated to the military
Economy

Rocky terrain yielded only small harvests of grain, and the southern Balkan Mountains hindered
travel and communication. Greek societies depended heavily on maritime trade.
Packet #4

Greek merchants traded wine and olive oil. They imported grain and other items. Trade
generated considerable prosperity in the Greek word. Merchants and mariners linked Greek
communities throughout the Mediterranean world.
Culture:

Highly patriarchal society. Male family heads ruled the households, and fathers even had the
right to decide whether to keep infants born to their wives. They couldn’t legally kill infants but
they could abandon them in the mountains or countryside. Greek women fell under the
authority of their father, husbands, or sons. Upper class women spent most of their time in the
family home. When outside, wore veils. The only public position opened to Greek women was to
be a priestess.

Sappho: literacy was common among upper class Greek women. Sappho was a famous woman
who was a poet – she composed nine volumes of poetry. She invited young women into her
home for instruction in music and literature. Critics charged her with homosexual activity, which
was frowned on in Greek culture amongst women (but not men). Little of her work survives.

Slavery: some slaves were formerly Greeks who entered slavery because of debt. Many were
soldiers caught in war. Slaves were also traded- slave markets at Black Sea ports sold
seminomadic Scythians captured in Russia, and Egyptians provided African slaves from Nubia
o

Greek Philosophy: the mot distinctive expression of classical Greek thought was philosophy,
which brought he power of reason to bear on human issues as well as the natural word.
o

Slaves were private chattel of their owners. Often provided needed labor. Not always
for life.
Socrates: the pivotal figure in the development f philosophy. Athenian. Had the urge to
understand human beings & human affairs in all their complexity. He taught Plato who
then taught Aristotle (other notable philosophers from Greece).
Greek Religion: did not recognize a single god. They constructed myths that related the stories
of the gods, their relations with one another, and their stories in brining the world to its present
state.
o
Polytheistic
Alexander the Great:
The Peloponnesian War was from 431 to 404 b.c.e. between Athens and Sparta. Greece divided into
two armed camps under the leadership of Athens and Sparta—the most powerful of the poleis and the
principal contenders for hegemony (dominance) in the Greek world. The conflict was debilitating to
Greece and significantly weakened Athens. This gave rise to a force in the North and the rise of the great
Macedonian leader, Alexander the Great.
Packet #4





Alexander, who succeeded his father Philip, created a massive Greek Empire by
force that extended from Egypt to India.
Alexander was anointed as pharaoh of Egypt or “son of gods”
When he died, his empire divided
His conquests spread Hellenistic culture (of or relating to the period of Greek
culture, history, or art after the death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.)
Created the great city of Alexandria in Egypt along the Mediterranean.
Textbook pages 99-108
Point of Comparison
Persia vs. Greece
Similarities
Packet #4
SOCIAL
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
Persia
SOCIAL
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
Greece
Packet #4
Spartan Women
Athenian Women
Textbook pp 173-177 Contrasting Patriarchies in Athens and Sparta
Packet #4
Vocabulary
Cyrus
Royal Road
Ahuramazda
Satraps
Zoroaster
Polis
Athens
Helots
Sparta
Sappho
Socrates
Definition
Packet #4
Salon
Pericles
Hellenistic
Culture