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Persian Empire
Persian Empire
Persia Becomes an Empire
 Persians were nomadic people, they were
constantly moving
 Persians would often fight other people
 The Medes took over Persia and ruled for
150 years
Cyrus the Great
 550 BC Cyrus II revolted against the Medes
 He conquered Medes and started the Persian
Empire
 Cyrus conquered a lot of Southwest Asia,
several Greek cities and Mesopotamia
Cyrus the Great
 He let the people that he conquered keep
their way of life so that they wouldn’t
revolt.
 When Cyrus died in 529 BC, he ruled over
the largest empire the world had ever seen
 He is known as Cyrus the Great
The Persian Army
 Cyrus had a strong army-it was well organized and
very devoted to him
 His army had a powerful cavalry-soldiers who ride
horses
 He used his Calvary to charge and
shoot his enemies with arrows
 This weakened his enemies and
then his foot soldiers would
attack
The Persian Army Grows
Stronger
 After Cyrus died, his son, Cambyses
continued to expand the Persian Empire
 He conquered Egypt
 Then a rebellion broke out in Persia and
Cambyses died
 4 days after Cambyses died, a prince named
Darius claimed the throne
Political Organization
 Darius divided the Persian Empire into 20
provinces
 Each province had its own governor or
satrap that ruled over that province
 Satraps collected taxes and acted as judges
but Darius was still the ruler
 Darius sent officials to the provinces to
check on his satraps
Persian Society
 Darius built many roads connecting the
empire
 The “Royal Road” was 1700 miles long!!
 The roads were used to send messages
throughout the empire
 He built a new capital called Persepolis
Persian Society
 Persepolis was full of beautiful art- carvings and
statues
 Darius started a new religion called
Zoroastrianism
 This religion taught
that there were 2 forces
fighting for controlgood and evil
The Persians Fight Greece
 499 BC several Greek cities revolted
against Persian rule
 Greek City states that were not part of the
Persian rule, sent soldiers to help the Greek
cities fight against the Persians
 Persians won the revolt but it made Darius
very mad at the Greeks
The Battle of Marathon
 9 years after the Greeks rebelled, Darius
invaded Greece
 His army sailed to the plains of Marathon
near Athens
 This invasion of Greece began a series of
wars between the Greeks and Persians,
called the Persian Wars
The Battle of Marathon
 Athenian Army had 11,000 soldiers
 Persian Army had 15,000 soldiers
 The Athenian army won because they had
better weapons and leaders
 According to legend, a messenger ran from
Marathon to Athens-26 miles to tell of the
victory
The Battle of Marathon
cont.
 After he told the Athenians the news, he fell
to the ground and died
 Athletes today recreate the Greek
messengers run in 26 mile races called
marathons
The Second Invasion of Greece
 10 years after the battle of Marathon,
Darius’ son, Xerxes, tried to conquer
Greece again
 480 BC the Persian Army and Navy set out
for Greece
 This time the Sparta joined Athens in
fighting the Persians
The second invasion cont.
 The Spartan army attacked the Persian
Army
 Athenian Navy attacked the Persian Navy
 The Spartan sent soldiers to Thermopylde
where the Persians had to cross to get into
the Greek City States
The second invasion cont.
 For 3 days the Spartan army kept the
Persian army from crossing into Greek City
States
 Then the Persians asked a traitorous Greek
soldier for a different route into the Greek
City States
 Persians attacked and killed all Spartan
soldiers then attacked and burned Athens
The end of the Persian Wars
 A few days after Athens was burned, the
Athenian Navy defeated the Persian Navy
in a battle known as the Battle of Salamis
 Then armies from all over Greece beat the
Persians in a battle called the Battle of
Plataea, this battle ended the Persian Wars
 Persians were humiliated and Greeks had
saved their homeland!
Review Questions
1. What did the Greeks do that made Darius angry
and led him to invade the Greeks?
2. Who was the Battle of Marathon between? Who
won? Why?
3. Who joined Athens when Darius’ son, Xerxes,
attacked Greece?
4. How did the Persians get past the Greeks so that
they could attack Athens?
5. Who won the Persian Wars?