GREECE AND IRAN

Mr, Lucas, Global

Studies, 2010
1000-30 B.C.E
AIM/EQ: By governing with tolerance
and wisdom, the Persians established a
well-ordered empire that lasted for 200
years.
Why it Matters: Leaders today try to
follow the Persian example of tolerance
and wise government.
 Ancient Iran – The Persian Empire
 Geography and Resources
 Iran’s location, bounded by mountains, deserts, and
the Persian Gulf, left it open to attack from Central
Asian nomads
 The fundamental topographical features included
high mountains on the edges, and deserts in the
interior

•How did the Persians unite a huge empire?

  Iran had limited natural resources
 Water was relatively scarce, and Iran’s environment
could only support a limited population
 Because of the heat, irrigation networks had to use
underground tunnels.
 Iran had mineral resources—copper, tin, iron, gold,
and silver—and plentiful timber.

•How did the Persians unite a huge empire?

Empires of the Ancient World
 Sargon (2300BC): Ruler of Akkad, invaded and
conquered city-states of Sumer creating the first
empire in history.
 Hammurabi the Lawgiver (1790BC): King of
Babylon managed to bring much of Mesopotamia
under his control. His contribution was making
laws public.
 Assyrians: lived in the upper Tigris where they
learned to make iron weapons. By 1100BC they
began expanding in Mesopotamia.
•How did the Persians unite a huge empire?
Empires of the Ancient World
Continued
 Babylon revived in 612BC under Nebuchadnezzar. He
expanded the empire from the Mediterranean to the Persian
Gulf.
Why did
the
Persian
Empire
have so
many
capital
•How did the Persians unite a huge empire? cities???
The Rise of the Persian Empire

 The Median kingdom

in northwestern Iran
helped to destroy the
Assyrian Empire in
the late seventh
century B.C.E
 The Persian Empire
was built up by a
series of three kings:
Cyrus, Cambyses,
and Darius I.
•How did the Persians unite a huge empire?
 Cyrus captured the kingdom
of Lydia (546 b.c.e.), thus
bringing all of Anatolia
under his control, and later
took Mesopotamia (539
b.c.e.)
 Cambyses II defeated Egypt
and sent expeditions to
Nubia and Libya. Under
Darius I, the role of the
Medes Empire declined as
the Persians asserted greater
dominance

•How did the Persians unite a huge empire?

Persepoli
s

Persepolis
Darius I began the elaborate citadel; his son, Xerxes, continued its
construction; and his grandson, Artaxerxes I, completed the magnificent
city of Persepolis, which was a confluence of styles--Median,
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Greek. Only portions of the audience hall
remain. (George Holton/Photo Researchers, Inc.)
 Imperial Organization and Ideology

 From Darius on, the empire was divided into twenty

provinces; a satrap (governor) who was related or
connected to the royal court administered each province.
 Provinces were required to pay annual tribute/taxes based
on its resources or wealth.
 The “Eyes and Ears of the King” were agents who visited
each satrap.
 Similar to Hammurabi, Darius adapted laws from the
people he conquered and drew up a single code of laws
for his empire.
•How did the Persians unite a huge empire?
 The central government tended to hoard so much gold and
silver that these metals became scarce and more expensive
 The provinces were crossed by a system of well-
maintained roads that converged on the capital city of
Susa (in southwestern Iran)

•How did the Persians unite a huge empire?

 The Persian kings developed a style of kingship in which
they were held powerful masters of all their subjects and
nobles
 They held vast amounts of land.
 Kings acted as lawgivers, but allowed each people of the
empire to live in accordance with its own traditions-
tolerance.
 Religion of Persia
 The major religion of the Persian Empire was
Zoroastrianism. The origins of this religion are unclear
 The most important text, the Gathas, (the hymns of
Zoroastrianism), were written by Zoroaster (Zarathustra),
who lived sometime between 1700 and 500 b.c.e
RELIGION
 Zoroastrianism shows the existence of a dualistic universe
in which the god of good, Ahuramazda, was locked in an
epic struggle against the god of evil, Angra Mainyu
 Zoroastrianism’s dualism may have had an influence on
Judaism and thus on Christianity and Islam.
Relief of two Persian Magi

Relief of two Persian Magi

This stone relief from Dascylium,
headquarters of the Persian
governor in northwest Anatolia,
shows two magi wearing veils over
their mouths and holding bundles
of sticks used in the ceremony of
sacrifice. The Persian kings and
their subordinates were
Zoroastrians, and it is likely that
Zoroastriainsm spread to the
provinces, where significant
numbers of Persians lived, and
influenced the beliefs of other
peoples. (Courtesy,
Archaeological Museums of
Istanbul)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Detail from the first page from Artae Viraz Namak, the sacred Zoroastrian
book. Founded by a Persian prophet, Zoroaster, in the 500's B.C.,
Zoroastrianism thrived as a religion in Persia from about 550 to 330 B.C.
There were periods of revival in the following centuries, but the faith was
largely eclipsed by the spread of Islam beginning in the 7th century A.D.
Zoroastrianism today is practiced by a small minority in Iran and by a
people called Parsis in India. The religion teaches a belief in one God,
Ahura Mazda, who wages a struggle against the forces of evil.
THE RISE OF THE GREEKS, 1000–
500BCE
The Rise of the Greeks, 1000–500 b.c.e
 Geography and
Resources
 Greece is in the
Mediterranean Sea, an
area in which all the
various lands have a
similar climate, similar
seasons, and similar
crops .
 This characteristic of the Mediterranean zone is highly
conducive to migration, transfer of crops and technology,
and trade
 The areas inhabited by the Greeks relied entirely on
rainfall, having no water resources sufficient for
irrigation.
 Limited water and limited, thin arable soil meant
that the area could not support large populations.
 Greece had few metal resources and little timber,
but it did have plentiful harbors..
 The Emergence of the Polis
 The polis (city-state) was an urban center and its rural
territory
 Characteristic features of the polis included an acropolis,
an agora (marketplace), fortified walls, and public
buildings and...
 What else would a polis have?
 There were frequent wars between the various city-states.
Great Acropolis in Athens
 The Greeks developed a style of warfare that used hoplites—a
close formation of heavily armored infantrymen who would
try to break the enemy’s line of defense
 The soldiers were mostly farmer-citizens who served for short
periods of time when called.
Hoplite combat was centered around a single
idea: that battle should be bloody, horrible, and
decisive. This fit the needs of an agrarian society
that could not spare its men to a professional army,
but needed them back in time for harvest. Battles
were short, and casualties were surprisingly low
(proportionally to the combatants) in comparison
with modern combat. Through most of their history,
the ancient Greeks meant to keep wars short–even
just a single battle–so that people combated get
back to their lives. If they frequently judged war to
be necessary, it was still just a necessary evil.
Hoplites
 When population growth outstripped available resources,
the Greeks sent excess population to colonize other areas
in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
 Colonization
brought the
Greeks into
closer contact
with other
peoples.
 Which

other
 Colonization introduced the Greeks to new ideas, but it
also sharpened their sense of Greek identity
 One of the most significant new developments of this
period was the invention of coins in Lydia (western
Anatolia/modern day Turkey) in the early sixth century
b.c.e
Greek Government
 Increasing prosperity and the growth of a middle class in Archaic
Greek society led to the emergence in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE of
one-man rule by tyrants.
 Tyrants were influential opportunists that came to power by securing
the support of different factions of a polis. Tyrants carried no ethical
connotation, it could be anyone, good or bad, who obtained
executive power in a polis by unconventional means. Support for the
tyrants came from the growing middle class and from the peasants
who had no land or were in debt to the wealthy land owners- the
aristocracy.
 It is true that they had no legal right to rule, but the people preferred
them over kings. The Greek tyrants stayed in power by using
mercenary soldiers from outside of their city-states.
Greek Systems of Government
 The tyrants were eventually came out of favor and
government developed in one of two directions:
oligarchy (power rests with small elite part of society)
or democracy (rule by the majority).
 Describe our democracy!
 Who participates?
 Who does not participate?
 Why!?!?!?!?!
 How should we choose our leaders?!?
 Greek religion
 involved the worship of
anthropomorphic (is the
attribution of human
characteristics to animals or
non-living things, phenomena,
material states and objects or
abstract concepts) gods, many
of which represented forces of
nature.
 These gods were worshiped at
state ceremonies
 Animal Sacrifice was a central part of religious practice
and helped to create a sense of community
 Athens and Sparta
 Sparta was a polis located in the Pelopponese in southern
Greece
 In order to assure
its supply of food,
Sparta took over
the more fertile
land of Messenia
and enslaved the
Messenians.
 Find it on the

map!
 Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and
constitution, which completely focused on military training and
excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as:
1. Spartiates: (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights).
2. Mothakes: (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans).
3. Perioikoi: (freedmen).
4. Helots: (state-owned serfs, enslaved non-Spartan local
population).
 Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education
regimen, and Spartan phalanxes were widely considered to be
among the best in battle.
 Spartan women enjoyed considerably more rights and
equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world-
 Fear of an uprising of their Messenian slaves inspired the
Spartans to create a severely ascetic and highly militarized
society in which all Spartan males trained for the army
and devoted their lives to the needs of the state.
 What are the roles of individuals in Spartan society?
 What is the role of the collective society?
Athens
 Athens had an unusually large hinterland (Attica)
that supported a population of about 300,000 in the
fifth century b.c.e.
 Athens went through a period of rule by tyrants in
the sixth century b.c.e.
 In the late sixth and early to mid-fifth centuries
b.c.e., Athens ejected the tyrant family and
developed a democracy!
 The Struggle of Persia and Greece, 526–
323 b.c.e (Early Encounters)
 In 499 b.c.e. the Greek cities of Anatolia, aided by Eretria
and Athens, staged a five-year revolt against Persian rule.
 This 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.
Darius I
(ancient Greek
Vase)
Greek Corinthian Helmet
and the skull reportedly
found inside it from the
Battle of Marathon, now
residing in the Royal
Ontario Museum,
Toronto.
A reconstruction of beached Persian ships
at Marathon prior to the battle.
 Xerxes I (artist depiction)

 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, 480–323 b.c.e

 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.
 Athenian power was based on the Athenian navy
 The keys to the strength of
the Athenian navy were Trireme
technological innovation and
the use of lower-class men as
rowers
 The major technological
innovation was the
development of the trireme—
a fast, maneuverable 170-oar
boat
 The use of lower-class rowers
meant further
democratization of Athenian
society
 These men, realizing their
importance, demanded the
full rights of citizenship.
 Athens used its power to carry out profitable trade
and to extract annual tribute from subject states
 The wealth of the empire made it possible for
Athens to construct:
 1. impressive public works
 2. put on grand festivals
 3. support development of the arts and sciences.
Socrates and
Plato

 The two most

influential
philosophers of
the Classical
period were
Socrates and
Plato
Socrates
 turned the focus of philosophy to ethics
 probed the precise meaning of words
 created the Socratic method of question and answer
 He was tried on charges of corrupting the youth
and not believing in the gods of the city and
sentenced to death.
Plato
 wrote dialogs exploring concepts such as justice,
excellence, and wisdom.
 Plato taught that the world as we see it is a pale
reflection of a higher, ideal reality.
Inequality in Classical Greece

 Athenian democracy was very limited in its scope

 Only free adult males participated in Athenian
democracy
 They accounted for about 10 or 15 percent of the
total population.
 Women, children, slaves, and foreigners did not
have the rights of citizens
Slaves

 were mostly foreign, accounted for one third of the

population
 were regarded as property
 The average Athenian family owned one or more
slaves who were treated like domestic servants
 Slaves provided male citizens with the leisure for
political activity.
Women

 The position of women varied in different Greek

communities
 In Sparta, women were relatively free and
outspoken.
 In Athens women were more confined and
oppressed
 Athenian marriages were unequal arranged unions
of younger women to older men
 The duties of a wife were to produce and raise
children (especially sons), to weave cloth, and to
cook and clean.