The PersiansSection 3

Persia – 539 B.C. – 350 B.C

•Conquered the Chaldeans in 539 B.C.

•Descended from Aryans•Present day Iran•Persians are Iranians of today•Peaceful; large farms owned

by nobles and worked by laborers

Plateau of Iran

Geography•Plateau of Iran covers ¾ of the country

•Gets only a few inches of rain per year

•Zagros Mountains – from NW Iran to Persian Gulf (150 miles wide)

•Elburz Mountains: along southern shore of Caspian Sea

•Crops must be irrigated•Depended on water from mountain streams and melting snow

Elburz Mountains

Zagros Mountains

•Developed irrigation system 2500 years ago – underground canals called qanats to carry water to fields (30 –100 feet below surface)

Army and Empire

•600 B.C. Medes conquered Persians

•Cyrus the Great organized LARGE army

Cyrus the Great•Overthrew Medes•Immortals: led the battles; best fighters; replaced dead, sick, or injured soldiers so number never dropped below 10,000

•Allowed Hebrews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple

•Allowed conquered people to keep language, religion, laws

•Treated conquered people fairly

Why did Persians allow conquered people to keep

culture?Believed loyalty could

be won more easily with fairness than

with fear and force!

Darius

•Strong king•Built grand palace-fortress-treasury in Persepolis

Government Officials•Divided conquered land into 20 provinces or satraps

•Spoke Aramaic – used by M.E. merchants

•Each province had a governor, secretary, and general

•Collected taxes, settled disputes, protected people

•Inspectors (“Eyes and Ears of the King”) – checked on ability of people to pay taxes and checked on rumors of rebellion

•Judges – made sure laws of the king were carried out

Family Life•Men were head of house•Women and children had very few rights

•Poor women had more freedom but had to work harder

•Rich women remained mostly in the palace away from men

•Rich women were carried in a litter – carriage without wheels that was carried by servants

Zoroastrianism•Worshipped many gods at first

•Zoroaster – 628 B.C. spoke of struggle between good and evil

Ahura Mazda•Good•Keeping work•Giving to poor•Working land•Obeying laws

Ahriman•Evil•Being lazy•Proud•greedy

People must choose between good and

evil!

Trade•Did not encourage trade•Why????•Believed it made people lie, cheat, and be greedy

•Did encourage trade among conquered people

Contributions•Susa became capital•Built Royal road – 1600 miles•Opened caravan route to China which brought silk to west

•Borrowed idea of coins from conquered kingdom of Lydia; used coins throughout empire

The Silk Road

Fall of Empire•486 B.C. – some satrapies began to revolt

•Persia fought a series of wars with Greek city-states

•330 B.C. Persia fell to ….Alexander the Great

Azidi TowerTehran

Meidan-e EmanIsfahan

The largest square in the world

Mountain north of Tehran

Above Tehran

Bridge in Isfahan

Bridge – IsfahanBuilt in 1602

Bridge in Isfahan

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