How Did The Persian Empire Grow Throughout The Achaemenid Empire

From 1567 to 330 B.C. humanity experienced many subsequent development as well as decline in its civilizations. Among these events emerged three colossal empires that had shaken the world and forever changed the course of human history. The Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian Empires have been instrumental in influencing technology, religion, and ideas throughout the world. Various factors have contributed to the success and downfall of these giants. Each of the “World Powers” have similarities as well as distinctions in its government form and organization, religion, and economy that contributed to their triumph.

In the Persian Empire, King Darius introduced the usage of standardized currency and the Royal Road; and Shi Huangdi of the Chinese Empire initiated a centralization program for a highway system and standardization of measurements, including money. In these two similarities, we see the reason behind the long-lasting and strong control the two empires had, as both currency and road systems encouraged trade to flourish—consequently bringing prosperity and peace. Having consolidated the foundations of an empire, people prospered and grew content under the rule of powerful kings such as Darius in Persia and Shi Huangdi in China. However, even with such similarities, there are a two critical differences the two empires

The Persian Empire is considered one of the most successful empires at its time. What made the Persian Empire so unique and successful, was because of how sophisticated there government was. Like other empires the Persian Empire had a religion. This made the people of Persia freely think about their ruler and help the empire out in any way. The Persian empire compared to preceding empires, (such as the Assyrian Empire etc) were relatively less oppressive and abusive to their people. This prevented the empire from collapsing that easily. Which is one reason why they advanced their rule for another 200 years (1,429 years in Dynasty rule (1979)).

The ancient civilizations had very different ways of running their empires throughout their time. The Persians and Greeks held very true to this statement. They both had different sources that contributed to the power they held. The Persians had a very large empire and had a specific way of controlling it. First lets see how the Persians came to be. Cyrus, the son of the Assyrian king, was supposed to be killed as a baby. He was instead taken to a village that soon became called Persia. As Cyrus matured, the people could tell he had the characteristics of a king. He soon became just that. He didn’t want to be just a ruler though, he wanted to be different. His tactics were based on mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. Cyrus did go to war still

Alexander the Great, he is one the most glorified and historically significant leaders within history. Unique, the one word that could be used to describe the details and importance of his life. Unlike his predecessors that came before him, what sets him apart has to be how he rose to power and how he used that power. And even though he only lived until the age of 33, he accomplished what those that came before him failed to do so. The topics to be discussed are how he rose to power and what he managed to accomplish through military strategies and his cultural influence on the Persian Empire.

A man named Cyrus overthrew the Persian monarch and became the forefather of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. He united the Persian tribes and conquered Lydia, as well as Mesopotamia later on in his rule.

Empires were different in the way they exerted power because they could affect places outside their empire in a positive or negative way. The Persians exerted their power by thinking they were superior to all other people at that time and when they heard a place had riches they would go plunder it. In document 1 it describes that since they thought they were superior they had the right to go plunder places with luxury.

IEP10 #36 Rebecca Darius the Great Imagine frequent warfare is ongoing in your country, and everyday hundreds of thousands of people are dying. This is what happened in Persia, the largest empire ever established around 500 BCE. No leaders could govern the entire empire, but there was one person out of many who reinstated order in Persia. His name was Darius I. Darius created a permanent army composed of paid soldiers, and brought political stability to Persia through the division of land into regions and the development of the Royal Roads.

The Persian Empire, although disadvantaged, geographically, was still able to thrive throughout the 200 years that it reigned for, due to the Persian government’s ideas and ideals. These ideas were greatly affected by their lack of a good geography and their vicinity of geography. As Cyrus came into power in 546 BCE, he gained more territory, due to his ideals on the government being based on conquering. Due to Cyrus’ conquering, he was able to take advantage of both what the conquered land had, and tried to benefit the Persian Empire by using the geographical features that the territories provided.

Cyrus II the Great is credited as the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus II reigned from 558-530 B.C.E. Cyrus II took control of the weakened Assyrian and Babylonian empires through his powerful, strategic military. Under Cyrus II’s rule, the empire’s military expanded and conquered most of Asia and parts of Europe creating the largest empire in the world during this time period. Cyrus II led his kingdom by respecting the religions and customs of the people he conquered. Cyrus II was successful in molding a centralized administration and creating a stable, working government. His achievements involving military strategy, politics, and human rights impacted and influenced not only the Achaemenid Empire but both Western and Eastern Civilizations. Cyrus II fell wounded while protecting the northeastern border of his empire from raiders ending his reign.

The beginning of the Persian Empire is accredited to the wise guidance of a man known as Cyrus the Great. Cyrus was a bright and influential Persian king whose approach for expanding the Persian Empire was to conquer nearing lands with the goal of uniting them into one vast empire. With his dexterous guidance and a solid military, Cyrus succeeded in fashioning a massive empire that lasted for more than two hundred years. The strong roots and influences brought to the Persian Empire by Cyrus gave the emperors after him much power, like Darius I, who continued to enlarge the Empire. In the year 550 Cyrus the Great took power over the land of Media. As he began to create a strong government he elected both Median and Persian nobles as civilian officials. After conquering Media’s people states throughout Anatolia soon fell under his reign. He then even conquered lands in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. After this the Persian Empire was enormous. Cyrus implemented a rule of toleration toward all his conquered

Although they bear some superficial similarities, the differences between Greeks and Persians during the years 1000-30 B.C.E are clear. The thought that the Greek empires are better than the Persian empires is one that I believe in.

The impact of expansion on the core Persian Empire was generally looked at and received in a positive manner. Increasing populations created more cities and more job opportunities allowed many Persians the luxury of making more money as the empire grew. The bulk of the empire was still mostly farmers, however. One of the largest influences on the core empire was Zoroastrianism. This was advocated by both Cyrus and Darius, Darius used it in order to claim divine right to kingship. This new religion spread very quickly through high-ranking Persians (Bentley and Ziegler, 174). Zoroastrianism preached for people to enjoy this life but to live well for the afterlife (Stearns, Zoroastrianism: The Major Persian Religion, 43-45). This allowed people to have fun in this life and still be able to have eternal bliss; when people are having fun and happy they are less likely to challenge their rulers.

Long before the great king, Cyrus’ death the Persian Empire had reached the milestone that allowed it to be the first empire that was so large. Cyrus had a son, who took over the throne in 530 B.C.E., named Cambyses II. Cambyses would show the same ambition we saw in his father. In 525 B.C.E he added Egypt to the Persian Empire. His victory was not to be enjoyed for long. He died in 522 B.C.E. and it is assumed that he may have died from a sword wound. This wound is believed to be accidental. Although, his death was not mourned for like that of his father. This may have been due to his

Persia was not only a military conquering empire, but one that is culturally rich and technologically advanced. The Persian Empire invented a coinage system, roads, postal system, and finding and filtering water from rocks with chisels, which created a breakthrough for underground canals called Kinuectics. They used canals to have drinking water, to water farms, and to dispose of wastes. Canal building was one of Persia’s best innovations, invented around 525 B.C.E, but after the fall of the Persian Empire, there was a shift in the climate and the canals were damaged. Cyrus knew at what great lengths to reach for