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World 's Most Culturally Diverse And Religiously Open Empire

Decent Essays

ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE The Achaemenid Empire existed from 559 BC to 330 BC, and was considered the world’s most culturally diverse and religiously open empire in history. The author’s thesis of this chapter is mainly about how tolerance is pivotal in the rise and eventual fall of an empire. She argues that the willingness of the leaders to accept each culture led to great things, like fewer rebellions, but it also caused the lack of each group to have a common language, religion, or interest to respect and worship. The empires success is mainly attributed to tolerance. For example, as each leader took over more territory and civilizations it let the people go about their lives normally and keep there same religions and traditions. Also, the multiple rulers had vast naval armies and always had a strong military. One ruler, King Darius, was always an exceptional administrator and would ensure the empire was one of the most sophisticated civilizations in history by overseeing contraction sites, introducing a standard currency, providing a royal mail service, and so on. The “glue” that kept the civilization together was the tolerance throughout the empire, without it civilians would have resented the leaders and riots would have occurred. However, the empires tolerance began to decline as leaders brutally crushed rebellions by tearing down significant religious structures, killing priests, and enslaving subjects in the process. The rebellions led to servitude, which

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