Essential Question: Why does conflict develop? 9.3 The Persians Standard 6.52 Essential Question: Why does conflict develop? PP. 248-251

Success Criteria Who was Cyrus the Great? Who was Darius I? Who was Xerxes I? Why did the Greek Ionians revolt against the Persians? Why did conflict (the Persian Wars) begin between the Persians and the Greeks?  Vocabulary: Persia Cyrus the Great Royal Road Darius I Ionian Revolt

Persia’s Empire

Cyrus the Great Built a strong Persian army & created the largest empire in the ancient world (Persia conquered Mesopotamia, Syria, Judah, and the Greek city-states of Anatolia) Cyrus treated conquered people fairly Allowed them to keep their own languages, religions, and laws Allowed the Jews to return to Israel

Persians improved the roads begun by the Assyrians Royal Road was 1,500 miles from Persia to Anatolia Messengers could travel from Persia to Anatolia in just seven days The same trip would have taken 3 months before the road was built

Persian Army Persian maintained a full-time, paid, professional army Best fighters were 10,000 soldiers called the “Immortals” because when one died another soldier immediately took his place

Ionian Revolt Athens

Summing up the Ionian Revolt Greeks in Anatolia revolted against Persia Athenians sent warships to help rebels Persians crushed the uprising Revenge: King Darius I decided to punish Athens for helping the Ionians revolt. -- this is the reason why the Persian Wars begin…

Success Criteria Who was Cyrus the Great? Who was Darius I? Who was Xerxes I? Why did the Greek Ionians revolt against the Persians? Why did conflict (the Persian Wars) begin between the Persians and the Greeks?  Vocabulary: Persia Cyrus the Great Royal Road Darius I Immortals Xerxes I Ionian Revolt

Who was Zoroaster? Persians were polytheistic A teacher named Zoroaster Preached a monotheistic religion Religion was called Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism Taught one supreme god God was called Ahura Mazda or “Wise Lord” Ahura Mazda was creator of all things Leader of the forces of good Believes people were free to choose between good and evil Religion still has about 200,000 followers today. Most in South Asia.

Persian Government Darius I ruled Persia from 522 to 486 BC Divided the empire into provinces called satrapies Each satrapies ruled by a governor called a satrap (means “defender of the kingdom”) Satrap collected taxes judged legal cases managed the police recruited soldiers for the Persian army