Download Chapter 5 Notes Ancient Iran and Greece Notes ANCIENT IRAN

Chapter 5 Notes Ancient Iran and Greece Notes
ANCIENT IRAN (PERSIAN EMPIRE) –
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“Land of the Aryans”, link between W. and S. & Central Asia.
6th century B.C.E., Persians created largest empire the world had yet seen.
Mostly Greek perspective, as hardly any written records exist.
Geography and Resources:
 Bounded by Zagros Mts. (W.), Caucasus Mts. and Caspian Sea to the NW and N, The Mts. of Afghanistan
and the desert of Baluchistan to the E and SE, and the Persian Gulf to the SW
 Harsh land, limited natural resources. Had to use irrigation channels.
 Resources: Copper, tin, iron, gold, and silver. Traded minerals and crafts like textiles and carpets.
 Rise of the Persian Empire:
 Medes people (first Iranians to have complex political organization) played a major role in destroying the
Assyrian Empire in the late 7th century B.C.E.
 Extended their power west across Assyria into Anatolia (Turkey) and SE towards Persian Gulf (Persians).
Medes married Persians (Achaemenes). Persian Empire built up by 3 kings:
- Cyrus (550-530 B.C.E.) – United the Persians and overthrew the Median monarch. Captured kingdom
of Lydia in 546 B.C.E. (taking all of Anatolia) and then Mesopotamia (539 B.C.E.)
- Cambyses (r.530-522 B.C.E) – Son of Cyrus, took Egypt and sent exploring expeditions to Nubia and
Libya.
- Darius I – Seized throne after death of Cambyses. Medes began to play lesser role, Persians extended
control as far E. as Indus Valley and W. into Europe. Considered 2nd founder of Persian Empire (after
Cyrus). Created new organizational structure:
a. Divided empire into 20 provinces. Each under control of satrap (governor). Satraps collected and
sent tribute (precious metal) to king.
b. Royal roads connected provinces to heart of empire. Way stations and strategic points. Admin.
Center was Susa.
 Imperial Organization and Ideology:
 Darius I had various wives and kids. Royal women were simply put; plotting, power-hungry gold-diggers
(according to the Greeks).
 Entourage also included sons of aristocrats (hostages and educated), noblemen, central administrators,
royal bodyguard, and courtiers and slaves.
 Had personal land everywhere.
 Records (cuneiform) show distribution of food and essentials.
 Created and published laws; had judges. Still allowed tradition.
 Began to build citadel at Persepolis, finished by his son Xerxes. Influenced by Mesopotamians. Grandson
Artaxerxes I finished Persepolis.
 Religion:
 Zoroastrianism. Great god “wise lord” Ahuramazda locked in struggle against evil Angra Mainyu. Good
prevails. Darius I had “will of God”.
 Started by Zoroaster (1700 to 500 B.C.E. range). Wrote Gathas (important text) “hymns”.
 Persians also revered nature and elements (water and fire). Concerned about purity of body and still
revered major past pagan deities (Mithra-sun and defender of oaths and compacts). Evil-doers followed
“the Lie”. May have had major influence on Judaism (and Christianity).
 Persian Society:
 Patriarchal family organization.
 3 social classes: Warriors, priests (Magi), peasants.
ANCIENT GREECE –
 Geography and Resources:
 Ecological zone that includes Mediterranean Sea and the lands surrounding it.
 Migrate, transfer crops and technology, and trade.
 Poor soil and dry and rocky. No large rivers; depended on rainfall for crops.
 Resources: Few metals and timber. A lot of building stone, including fine marble and clay.
 The Emergence of the Polis:
 Emerged from Mycenaean civilizations into “Dark Ages” (1150-800 B.C.E.). Dark Ages had
depopulation, poverty, and backwardness, and then left few traces in archaeological record. Mostly due to
lack of access to vital resources.
 Isolation ended when Phoenician sailors arrived in the Aegean. Reestablished contact and gave Greek
civilization push to start “Archaic” period (800-480 B.C.E.).
 Got new ideas like a writing system (Phoenicians used set of 22 symbols to represent consonants, leaving
vowel sounds inferred). Greeks used Phoenician symbols with no Greek sound equivalent and made them
vowels, creating first true alphabet. Simpler written system made higher literacy.
 Greeks used new tech to produce new forms of lit., law codes, religious dedications, and epitaphs.
 Population increased dramatically and people switched diet from meat to bread.
 Villages merged into urban centers. Labor became specialized.
 Polis – “city-state” consisted of urban center and the rural territory it controlled.
 Acropolis – “top of the city” provided refuge. Fortified high point.
 Agora – “gathering place” was an open area where citizens approved decisions or lined up weapons.
Government buildings located there. Also became marketplace. Fortified walls.
 Rural populations of Greek city-states were free and members of community.
 Frequent conflict (jealous and suspicious) between each city-state.
- By early 7th century B.C.E., came up with warfare waged by hoplites (heavily armored infantrymen
who fought in close formation to break enemy’s line of defense). Mostly farmers. Quick battles.
 When population growth outstripped available resources, the Greeks sent excess population to colonize
other areas in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Some voluntarily set out, some went “kicking and
screaming”. Threatened with death upon return. Brought them closer to other peoples, introduced new
ideas but also made sharpened their Greek identity (called themselves Hellenes).
 Started using coins in early 6th century B.C.E.
 Tyrants seized power in mid-7th and 6th centuries B.C.E. – eventually were ejected and either developed
oligarchy or democracies (free, male adults). Worshiped and sacrificed animals to gods.
 Athens and Sparta:
- Preeminent city-states of late Archaic and Classical periods.
- Sparta in the Peloponnese in S Greece. Took over Messenia. Fear of uprising led to military
preparedness. Spartan army superior to all others. Boys taken from families at 7 and put into barracks
and toughened. Didn’t participate in economic, political, and cultural Renaissance happening in the
rest of Greece. Other Greeks admired them for courage, commitment and martial skills but put off by
their arrogance, ignorance and cruelty.
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Athens was large (300,000 people). Lived in region of Attica, with moderately fertile plains good for
olive trees.
Developed democracy after ejected tyrants.
THE STRUGGLE OF PERSIA AND GREECE –
 In 499 B.C.E. the Greek cities of Anatolia, aided by Eretria and Athens, staged the five-year Ionian Revolt
against Persian rule – led to the Persian Wars—two Persian attacks on Greece.
 In the First Persian War, the generals of Darius I captured Eretria and attacked Athens (490 B.C.E.).The
attack on Athens was foiled when Athenian forces defeated the Persians at Marathon.
 In the Second Persian War, Xerxes led a large army and a fleet against the Greeks in 480 B.C.E. Many Greek
city-states submitted.
 In southern Greece, Sparta organized the Hellenic League, an alliance of city-states that defeated the Persians.
Then the Greeks, led by Athens and organized in the Delian League (477 B.C.E.), went on the offensive and
drove the Persians out of most of the eastern Mediterranean (except Cyprus).
The Height of Athenian Power –
 The Classical period of Greek history (480–323 B.C.E.) was marked by the dominant role of Athens, which
subordinated the other states of the Delian League and became an imperial power.
 Power based on navy. Strength was in technological innovation and use of lower-class men as rowers (further
democratization of society as men demanded full rights of citizenship). Developed the trireme (fast,
maneuverable 170-oar boat).
 Used power to carry out profitable trade and extract annual tribute from subject states.
 The wealth of the empire made it possible for Athens to construct:
 Impressive public works
 Grand festivals
 Development of arts and sciences.
 Socrates – philosopher and sculptor who
- Turned the focus of philosophy to ethics
- Probed the precise meaning of words
- Created the Socratic method of question and answer
- Brought to trial for corrupting youth. Jury condemned him to death by drinking hemlock. Considered
martyr by students.
 Plato, the disciple of Socrates, founded the Academy and wrote down his thoughts.
- Wrote dialogs exploring concepts such as justice, excellence, and wisdom.
- Taught that the world as we see it is a pale reflection of a higher, ideal reality.
Inequality in Classical Greece:
 Athenian democracy very limited in scope; only free adult males (10-15% of total population).
 Women, children, slaves, and foreigners did not have the rights of citizens.
 Slaves:
- Mostly foreign (1/3 of population)
- Property treated like domestic servants.
- Provided male citizens with the leisure for political activity.
 Women:
- Position varied in different Greek communities
- In Sparta, were relatively free and outspoken.
- In Athens, were more confined and oppressed
- Athenian marriages were unequal arranged unions of younger women to older men.
- Duties of a wife were to raise kids (especially sons), weave cloth, and cook and clean.
- Bisexuality among men since there were no meaningful relationships between men and women.
Failure of the City-State and Triumph of the Macedonians –
 After Persian invasion, emergence of Athens as an imperial power caused suspicions of Greek states leading
to conflict between former allies.
 431B.C.E – Peloponnesian War broke out. Athenian vs. Spartans.
 Victorious Spartans took over Athens’s overseas empire.
 Internal conflict in the Greek world allowed Persians to regain influence, but they were still distracted due to
rebellions in Egypt, Cyprus, and Phoenicia.
 Alexander, son of Philip who made improvements in traditional combat, overpowered Persians and defeated
King Darius III. (r. 336-330 BCE).
 He ruled from a combination of motives, both pragmatic and idealistic experimenting with unexpected
political actions. (glory, booty, revenge)
The Hellenistic Synthesis
 Alexander did not plan after his death leading to a half-century of chaos.
 After chaos, there were three major kingdoms, each ruled by a Macedonian dynasty – the Seleucid, Ptolemaic,
and Antigonid kingdom.
 Ptolemaic: Ruled Egypt from Alexandria, the first new city laid out by Alexander. Alongside Nile.
Extract wealth from land. Controlled economy.
- Alexandria was the greatest city of the time.
 Seleucid: Faced greatest challenges. Were very open to attack. Everything was lost/split off. What
remained was in Mesopotamia, Syria, and parts of Anatolia.
 Antigonid: Europe. Ruled Macedonian homeland and northern Greece. Little hostility as opposed to
Ptolemaic and Seleucid.
- Spartans had many heroic but futile stands against the Macedonian armies.
- Athens pursued a foreign policy of neutrality. City became a large museum.
CONCLUSION:
 Persians and Greeks played pivotal roles in first millennium B.C.E.
 Persian Empire was largest yet.
 Alexander’s conquests spread Greek influence.