The Persian Empire : The Success Of The Persian Empire

As we are introduced to the Great Persian Empire, we find that Amy Chua’s thesis talks about how tolerance was critical in allowing the Persians to not only establish and prosper their world dominant empire, but to maintain it for over two centuries. The thesis of the book, Day of Empire by Amy Chua, is about the “study of colossal power and the conditions needed to maintain it”. Not only this, but it discusses “the contest between ethnic “purity” and ethnic pluralism”. Amy Chua argues that The Achaemenid Persian Empire was “one of the first hyper powers in world history, governing a territory larger than all the ancient empires, including even Rome’s.” (Day of Empire pg. 4) Along with this, she argues that the Persian Empire was “one of the most culturally diverse and religiously open empires in history.” (Day of Empire pg. 4) Therefore, the author argues that The Persian Empire is relevant when discussing large powerful world authorities with a large size, long period of ruling, and ethnic tolerance it

The Persian War was fought by the Greeks and the Persians, and if the Greeks lost, we would not have democracy, science, or education. The war was started when the Greeks helped rebels in a city state near Persia burn a Persian city. The Greeks used strategy and their surroundings to their advantage to win the Persian War. The Persian War had three main battles: Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis

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.

The Persian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Greek states and the Persian Empire from 500-449 BC. It started in 500 BC, when a few Greek city-states on the coast of Asia Minor, who were under the control of the Persian Empire, revolted against the despotic rule of the Persian king Darius. Athens and Eretria in Euboea gave aid to these Greek cities but not enough, and they were subdued by the Persians. The Persians became determined to conquer Hellas and make Athens and Eretria pay for helping the Ionian cities. In 492 BC, the first Persian invasion had its fleet crippled by a storm before it could do any damage. King Darius sent another Persian expedition in 490 which destroyed

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

The Persian empire was more fair towards their people. The workers got paid for their work. There was freedom of believing in what they wanted and thinking of what they wanted. They also did ban slavery. When Persia conquered other empires, they would allow them to keep their own religious beliefs and languages. The Persian empire also had conquered more land than the Roman empire. Persia had reached about eight million km of land while Rome, only had 6.5 million km of land.

Cyrus II of Persia, also known as Cyrus the Great, was one of the most influential and powerful rulers in the Ancient World.¹ By overthrowing the Assyrian empire, he was able to start the Persian Empire. Through his superior diplomacy skills within his empire, to his genius war tactics, he built the foundation for a line of Persian Kings to rule one of the largest empires in world history.

After the Assyrian Empire fell to the Chaldeans, later, the Chaldeans then surrendered to the Persian Empire. The Persians were a nomadic people that obtained the Indo-European tongue. Cyrus the Great was a Persian ruler that created the Persian state even more powerful with the introduction of satrapies, provinces when they continued to expand their nation. Je was a ruler with great wisdom and restraint that Babylonians experienced when Cyrus took them over. Cyrus, a merciful leader, allowed the Jews to return to their home city, Jerusalem, with all their sacred objects and could rebuild their Temple. He was a respected king for he allowed the practices of Assyria, Babylonia, Egyptian, and Lydia to occur in his palace. Even after he died,

It is crazy how two different civilizations from two different times can have such similar ideas about their economies. But, India, becoming an empire much later than Persia, had some improved technologies and ideas which made these two civilizations somewhat different. Persia’s main focus of strengthening their economy was the development of agriculture. By growing crops like grains, fruits, and vegetables, the Persians were able to acquire a great amount of food, making the population grow and grow. Fortunately, their location helped them conquer smaller civilizations so they can gain fertile soil, which is extremely important in agriculture. The abundance of food that the Persians had helped them trade with other civilizations that couldn’t grow the crops they needed. In return they would receive items that they needed to help their economy grow. Persia’s main trade route was the Persian Royal Road, which was about 1500 miles long. To transport themselves to deliver a message or items to trade with, the Persians would have intervals along the road and one horse would pull one man until he reaches his stop. It would take about nine days to travel the whole road using couriers, while on footy it would have taken them three months, making trade and communication very slow. Persia did have a social class, with the royal family on top, and of course, the slaves at the bottom. Slaves were a very big part in the labor systems of

Cyrus the Great became ruler of the Persians because he did not want to be controlled by the meads and along with his nomadic warriors, he overtook them. Previously, the Medes had an Iranian religion of whom the Magi were like the priests of Persia and with their great architectural knowledge, they build fire temples which were used by the Magi to perform ceremonies & rituals. This religion derived from magic and astrology, principles of dualism (good & Evil) and resurrection. This religion is one of the causes for which Cyrus the great, rebelled against the Medes. With his army, he conquered most of Asia and remained in power because of the type of ruler that he was. Cyrus allowed the people to keep their customs and practice their own religions, worship their own gods and carry their separate rituals,

Throughout history many civilizations have risen and fallen without so much of a second thought from historians. However there have been civilizations that climbed to the top of the metaphorical food chain and stayed there and influenced not only their region but the world for countless millennium even after they were no longer a functioning empire. Two such empires were the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. The first factor to consider when thinking of successful empires would be geographical location. The second factor would have to be the leadership, and the third would have to be the method in which the empire expands. All of these factors are what makes a small civilization with great potential a formidable empire that lasts longer than a lifetime.

The First Persian War took place at the Battle of the Marathon near Athens and it was known as one of the infamous battle between the Athenians and the Persians. In 501 B.C.E., a Greek tyrant named Aristogorus provoked the Persian rulers by instigating an uprising in Miletus and Ionia to revolt against the Persian Empire. In order to ward off the Persian Empire’s wrath, Aristogorus reached out to his compatriots on the mainland in Greece of Athens and Sparta. “Sparta refused, but Athens sent twenty ships-enough just to anger the Persians, but not to save Miletus.” Nevertheless, the Athenians conquered the Persian’s capital of Lydian in Sardis in order to steal the golds, but they accidentally ended up burning down the richest capital of Sardis.

Similar to the Roman Empire the Persian Empire stretched across vast lands without any serious rivalry. At the height of the empire it stretched across, not only, Asia, from the Aegean to the Indus River, but also included part of the continent of Africa. We get the word, Persia, from the Greek word Parsa meaning, “Above reproach”. The Persians unlike most other Empires would be ruled under a benevolent ruler. This would bring a large amount of cultural diffusion to the Empire. The empires history is separated into three historical periods: Old Persia (600-300 B.C.E), Middle Persia (300-800 B.C.E.) and modern Persia (800-Present). The height or the Empire was reached around 500 B.C.E. (Ancient and Medieval History

Iran was included in the territory of what was then the ancient Persian Empire. For centuries Iran (land of the Aryans) was also referred to as Persia, which was the official name until 1935. Fourteen years had passed before the Iranian government allowed the use of both names. Few groups of people today have significant history like the Iranians, descending from the ancient Persians, who possess one of the world’s richest and oldest cultures. Historically, a variety of other cultures and groups had once occupied the ancient Iranian plateau as early as 4,000 B.C.E, with little importance. Beginning by the third millennium, Persia was ruled by some of the greatest kings of all time, from Cyrus the Great to Darius the III, who turned the