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Greece and Persia
Chapter 7, Lesson 3
Persia’s Empire
While Athens was going through Political changes, the
Persians were building a powerful empire in Southwest
Asia.
 Persia is located in what is now southwestern Iran.
► Early Persians were warriors and cattle herders from
grasslands in central Asia.
 Once they settled in the highlands of Persia, they
were ruled by other people.
 Eventually, a dynasty of kings brought the Persians
together into a powerful kingdom.
► In the 500s B.C., a talented king known as Cyrus the
Great built a strong Persian army.
 Using this army he created an empire that would be
the largest of the ancient world.
►
► During
Creating An Empire
the 540s B.C., the Persians swept
through nearby lands.
 The Persians took control of Mesopotamia,
Syria, Judah, and the Greek city-states around
Anatolia and began to rule them.
► Cyrus
held his empire together by treating
his conquered peoples fairly.
 They were allowed to keep their languages,
religions and law.
 He even let the exiled Jews in Babylon return to
their homeland.
► After
Creating An Empire
Cyrus, other Persians rulers continued
to expand the empire.
 They took Egypt, western India, and lands to
the northwest of Greece.
 Their land stretched almost 3,000 miles from
east to west. (roughly the size of the U.S.
today)
► They
worked on improving the roads begun
by the Assyrians to link the entire empire.
 The most important road was known as the
Royal Road and was 1,500 miles from Persia to
Anatolia.
Creating An Empire
► Travelers
could attain necessary supplies
such as food, water, and fresh horses at
roadside stations along the route.
► Using this road messengers could travel
from Persia to Anatolia in just seven days.
 The same journey before the road’s
construction would take 3 months.
► As
Persian Government
the empire expanded it made it more
difficult to manage.
► Darius I, who ruled from 522 to 486 B.C.,
reorganized the government in order to
make it more efficient.
 He divided the empire into provinces called
satrapies (the territory governed by an official
known as a satrap [meaning: Defender of the
Kingdom]) who collected taxes, judged legal
cases, managed the police, and recruited
soldiers for the army.
► Persia
Persian Government
maintained a full-time, paid, professional
army.
 Greek only had citizens serve during times of
war.
► The best fighters in the Persian army were the
10,000 soldiers who were trained to guard the
king.
 They were known as the immortals because
when one died. Another took his place quickly.
► At
Who Was Zoroaster?
first the Persians worshipped many gods.
(polytheistic).
► Sometime around 600 B.C., a religious
teacher names Zoroaster preached for a
monotheistic religion.
 Most Persians accepted his religion known as
Zoroastrianism.
► Zoroaster
taught that their was only one
supreme god known as Ahura Mazda, or
“Wise Lord.”
► Ahura
Who Was Zoroaster?
Mazda was the creator of all things and the
leader of the forces of good.
 Zoroaster believed that evil existed in the world.
► People were free to choose between good and
evil, but at the end of time good would prevail.
► Zoroastrian teachings, prayers, and hymns (sacred
songs) were written down in a holy book.
► Due
Who Was Zoroaster?
to Zoroastrianism, the Persians began to view
their monarchy as a sacred institution or role.
 Persian kings believed that they ruled by the
power of Ahura Mazda and were responsible to
him alone.
► After Darius’s rule ended, the Persians continued
to practice zoroastrianism for centuries, The
religion has about 200,000 followers today.
 Most live in South Asia.
► As
The Persian Wars
the 400s B.C. entered, the Persians were
ready to expand into Europe.
 They ended up clashing with the Greeks
who had colonies in the Mediterranean
area.
► They were both very different civilizations.
 The Persians obeyed an all-powerful king.
 Greeks believed they should choose their
rulers and government.
► As
The Persian Wars
a result of Cyrus’s earlier conquest
Anatolia belonged to the Persians.
 In 499 B.C., these Greek revolted against their
Persian rulers.
 Athenians sent warships to help the rebels, but
the Persians crushed the uprising.
► Darius
was angry that the Athenians
interfered.
 He decided to punish the mainland Greeks for
meddling in his empire.
► In
How did the Greeks Win at
Marathon?
490 B.C., Darius sent a fleet of 600 ships
and an army to invade Greece.
 The arrived at Marathon, a plain 25 miles
northeast at Athens.
 They waited for several days expecting the
Greeks to arrive and fight them.
 The Athenians never came, only having 10,000
troops compared to the Persians’ 20,000
soldiers.
► When
their enemy refused to fight, the
Persians decided to sail directly to Athens
How did the Greeks Win at
Marathon?
► When
their enemy refused to fight, the Persians
decided to sail directly to Athens and attack by
sea.
 They loaded their ships with their strongest
units – the cavalry.
► As soon as the horsemen were on the ships, the
Athenians charged down the hills onto the plains
of Marathon.
 They caught the soldiers standing in the water
out of formation.
 They could not receive assistance from the
cavalry because they were already on the ships.
How did the Greeks Win at
Marathon?
► The
Persians suffered a terrible defeat.
 According to their legends, a young
messenger ran across the 25 miles to
Athens to inform them of the victory only
to collapse and die from exhaustion.
►Marathon’s today are celebrated thanks
to that famous run and are just over 26
miles long.
► After
Land and Sea Battles
the defeat at Marathon, the Persians
wanted revenge.
 In 480 B.C., a new Persian king named
Xerxes invaded Greece with about 200,000
troops and thousands of warships and
supply vessels.
 The Greek city-states banded together to
fight the Persians.
► King Leonidas of Sparta provided most of the
soldiers while Themistocles of Athens led the
naval forces and came up with a battle plan.
Land and Sea Battles
► Persian
food.
ships supplied the invaders with
 Themistocles’ plan was to cut off the army’s
supply.
► In
order to do this, they needed to prevent
the Persians from getting to Athens.
 King Leonidas led 7,000 men into battle that
lasted three days and their bravery at
Thermopylae (thur-MAH-puh-lee) was much
celebrated.
► The
Land and Sea Battles
Greeks could not stop them at
Thermopylae.
 A traitor showed a route around the Greek
forces allowing them to attack from behind.
► When
Leonidas realized what was to
happen he dismissed most of his troops.
 He and 300 Spartans remained and fought to
the death.
► The
Land and Sea Battles
Greek Historian Herodotus game this
description…
“The [the Spartans] defended themselves to
the last, those who still had swords used
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.”
► The
Land and Sea Battles
Spartan’s stand gave Themistocles time
to carry out his plan to attack the ships.
 The Athenian fleet lured the Persian ships into
the strait of Salamis near Athens hoping it
would give the Greeks an advantage in battle.
 A strait is a narrow channel of water between
two pieces of land.
► Themistocles
believed the Persian ships
would be forced to crowd against one
another, making it difficult to move around.
 He was right to believe this.
► The
Land and Sea Battles
two navies faced off fiercely.
 The Greeks had fewer ships but were
smaller and faster and the plan was
continuing to work.
 The sunk 300 Persian ships (almost the
entire fleet) and only lost 40 of their own.
► The Persian’s foot soldier continued onto
Athens only to find it almost deserted.
 They then proceeded to set it on fire.
► The
Land and Sea Battles
combined forces of the Greek city-states
created the largest of their armies yet in 479 B.C.
 Improved their forces with better armor and
weapons.
► At Plataea, northwest of Athens, the Greeks and
the Romans faced off again.
 In numbers, they were evenly matched with
each side having about 100,000 men.
 This time the Greeks won.
► The fighting continued as the Greeks went on the
defensive to free the city-states in Anatolia.
 Peace would not arrive until 449 B.C.
► After
Decline of Persia
the losses faced against the Greece, Persia
had many challenges.
 The army was no longer strong enough to
protect the entire empire.
 The Persian people grew unhappy with their
government.
 The king taxed the people heavily to pay for
magnificent palaces and other luxuries.
 Members of the royal family disagreed about
who should rule.
► As
Decline of Persia
it continued to weaken it made it easy to
be attacked further.
 It could not resist the invasion by a young and
powerful ruler named Alexander.
► The
Persian Empire ended and a new Greek
empire was born that extended way past
Persia’s boundaries.