2. Greek civilization
From the 9th to the 5th centuries BCE, Greece dominated the Mediterranean world.
During this time, Greek civilization was extremely influential militarily, politically, and artistically.

3. Greek civilization
In the city-state of Athens the world's first democracy was developed under Cleisthenes.
Sparta was able to exert power through the strength of its military.

4. Athens: The Acropolis

5. Herodotus Father of History
Greek source for information on the Persian Empire.
Told the famous story of Croesus of Lydia asking the Greek Oracle at Delphi whether to go to war against Cyrus the King of Persia.
Croesus was worried about the growth of the Persian Empire.

6. Oracle at Delphi
The Oracle responded that an attack on Cyrus the Great would destroy at great kingdom.
The kingdom destroyed was Croesus kingdom.

7. Persian Victory Over Lydia
Turning point for the Persian Empire
Lydia was extremely wealthy and gave Cyrus money for his future campaigns.
Lydia central trading point for Greece, Egypt, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and Persia.
Lydia gave Cyrus strategic position in the Mediterranean Ocean.

8. Map of Lydia

9. Medes and the Persians
Before a 1000 BCE the Medes and the Persians migrated from central Asia to Persia (south-western part of modern day Iran)
Medes and the Persians spoke an Indo-European language.
Shared many of the same cultural traits of their cousins the Aryans.

10. Medes and the Persians Organized in Clans
Exceptional archers, and possessed equestrian skills.
Paid taxes to local Mesopotamian overlords, and at the same time they frequently raided the wealthy lands of Mesopotamia.

11. Medes and the Persians
Assyrian and Babylonian empires weakened in the 6th century BCE
Warriors conquered the region from the Indus River to and southeastern Europe.
Persian Empire was larger than the earlier Assyrian and Babylonian Empires.
Persian rulers relied heavily on Mesopotamian techniques of administration

12. Dynasties/Persian Empire
Achaemenid=600 BCE to 330 BCE
Seleucids=323 BCE to 83 BCE
Parthians=247BCE to 224 CE
Sasanids 224 CE to 651 CE

13. Achaemenid Empire 600 BCE to 330 BCE
First great Persian empire ( B.C.E.)
Cyrus the Achaemenid (reigned BCE) also known as Cyrus the Shepherd and Cyrus the Great.

14. Cyrus the Great

15. Cyrus the Great

16. Cyrus the Great
546 BCE Cyrus had brought the Kingdom of Lydia in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) under his control.
539 BCE Cyrus seized Babylonia.
530 BCE Cyrus was fatally wounded fighting nomadic raiders in his Northeastern frontier
Cyrus was placed in a tomb at his palace in Pasargadae.

17. Tomb of Cyrus the Great

18. Achaemenid Empire 600 BCE to 330 BCE
Cambyses (son on Cyrus) reigned from 530 BCE to 522 BCE
Cambyses conquered Egypt in 525 BCE and brought its enormous wealth into Persian hands
King Darius reigned from 521 BCE to 486 BCE

19. King Darius

20. King Darius
Darius pushed his empire into Northwestern India as far as the Indus River, absorbing the northern Indian kingdom of Gandhara
Darius also conquered Thrace, Macedonia, and the western coast of the Black Sea in southeastern Europe.
Darius ruled over a population of 35 million people

22. King Darius Ruled over seventy distinct ethnic groups.
The empire under Darius was the largest empire the world had ever seen.
Darius presided over an empire stretching some 1,865 miles.
Darius was a more important administrator than a conqueror.

23. King Darius Darius centralized his administration.
Built a new capitol near Pasargadae called Persepolis.
Persepolis served as the center of the empire until the end of the Achaemenid dynasty in 330 BCE
Darius divided his realm into twenty-three satrapies—administrative and taxation districts governed by satraps.

24. Persepolis

25. Persepolis

26. King Darius
Darius replaced irregular tribute payments with formal tax levies.
Darius improved administrative efficiency by regularizing tax levies and standardizing laws.
Darius issued standardized coins—this fostered trade throughout the empire.
Administrators built roads to knit the empire closer together.

27. THE ROYAL ROAD
Persian rulers and administrators built roads and highways linking different regions of the empire.
Persian roads enabled better trade, better governmental communication, and quicker movements of troops.
Persian roads became the vehicle for the exchange of religious and philosophical ideas through out the empire.

28. The Royal Road

29. THE ROYAL ROAD
The Persian Royal Roads stretched 1,600 miles through the empire
The Imperial government organized a courier service and built 111 postal stations at intervals 25 to 30 miles along the Royal Road.
Each station kept fresh horses to speed from one postal station to the next.

30. The long decline of the Achaemenid Empire
Darius’s successor, Xerxes (reigned BCE).
Darius reversed the policy of toleration established by Cyrus and Darius.
Xerxes imposed his own values on conquered lands (especially in Mesopotamia and Egypt).
Xerxes new policies caused growing problems for future Achaemenid rulers.

31. Xerxes (reigned BCE).
Xerxes in the 300

32. Ionian Greek Rebellion
In 500 BCE the Ionian Greek City-States under Persian control rebelled against the empire.
Ionian City-States expelled or executed their governors, and asserted their independence.
Their rebellion launched a series of conflicts known as the Persian Wars ( BCE)

33. Ionian Greek Rebellion
Hostilities escalated when peninsular Greeks sent fleets to aid their kinsmen in Ionia.
King Darius managed to put the rebellion down and reassert control over Ionia.
In 490 BCE Darius attempted to forestall future problems by trying to conquer the rich Greek cities and absorb them into the Persian Empire.

34. Battle of Marathon by Brian Palmer.

35. Persian Wars BCE
10 years later King Xerxes returned to Greece to start the war again.
Within eighteen months Xerxes army had suffered enough defeat by Greek hands, he too returned home.
For the next 150 years conflicts would intermittently arise between Greek cities and Persia.

36. The Rise of Alexander the Great
These skirmishes between the Greek cities and Persia never erupted into a large scale campaign.
The standoff between Greece and Persia came to an end with the rise of Alexander of Macedonia (Alexander the Great).
334 BCE Alexander the Great invaded Persia with 48 thousand experienced Macedonian troops.

37. Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great fighting Persian king Darius III (Mosaic in Pompeii)

38. Alexander the Great
331 BCE Alexander the Great defeated the Achaemenid forces at the Battle of Gaugamela, within a year the empire dissolved.
Alexander led his forces into Persepolis, confiscated the wealth, paid respects to the tomb of Cyrus, and then declared himself rightful heir to the Achaemenid rulers.
After a short occupation Alexander and his troops set a disastrous fire (intentionally or not) to Persepolis

39. Seleucid empire BCE.
Alexander the Great died at age 32 in 323 BCE
Alexander’s chief generals carved up his empire.
The former Achaemenid empire went to Seleucus (reigned BCE).
This began the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanid empires.

42. Seleucid Empire BCE
Seleucus (reigned BCE) and his successors kept the Achaemenid system of administration, taxation, imperial roads, and postal service.
Seleucids founded new cities and attracted Greeks to settle in them.
These new cities advanced trade in the empire.

43. The Decline of the Seleucid Empire
The foreign Seleucids faced opposition from their native Persian subjects.
Seleucids soon lost their holdings in northern India, and the seminomadic Parthians took over Iran in the 3rd century BCE.
Roman conquerors finished off the little they had left in 83 BCE.

44. Parthians=247BCE to 224 CE
Parthians had occupied the region of eastern Iran around Khurasan since Achaemenid times.
Retained many of the customs and traditions of the nomadic people from the steppes of central Asia.
Skillful warriors.
Parthians portrayed themselves as enemies of the foreign Secluids and restores of rule in the Persian tradition.

45. Parthian Empire in 1st Century BCE

46. The Sasanids 224 CE to 651 CE
The Sasanids came from Persia and claimed direct descent from Achaemenids.
Toppled the Parthians in 224 CE
Rebuilt an elaborate system of administration and founded or refurbished numerous cities.
Introduced into Iran the cultivation of crops like rice, sugar cane, citrus fruits, eggplant, and cotton.

47. Sasanid Empire

48. Sasanid Empire
A Magian, worshipping at a fire altar, Sasanian period (British Museum, London)
The oldest known relief of a heavily armored cavalryman, from the Sassanid empire

49. Development of the Cosmopolitan Empire
Development of a cosmopolitan empire brought new complexities to the Persian empire
A new class of educated bureaucrats emerged and undermined the old warrior elite.
By the later time of Achaemenids and the Seleucids, Persian cities were the home of administrators, tax collectors, and record keepers.
Imperial survival depended on these literate professionals.

50. Trade Agricultural was the foundation of the Persian economy.
Long-distant trade grew rapidly during the Persian empires and linked lands from India to Egypt in vast commercial zones.
As trade grew, the regions of the Persian empires all contributed particular products to the larger imperial economy.

51. Trade India supplied gold, ivory, and aromatics.
Iran and central Asia supplied lapis lazuli, turquoise, and other semiprecious stones.
Mesopotamia and Iran supplied finished products like textiles, mirrors, and jewelry.
Anatolia supplied gold, silver, iron, copper, and tin.

52. Trade
Phoenicia supplied glass, cedar, timber, and dyed woolen fabrics.
Arabia provided spices and aromatics
Egypt supplied grain, linen textiles, papyrus writing material, and gold, ivory, and ebony from Nubia.
Greek oil, wine , and ceramics were also found throughout the empire

53. Trade products Persian Achaemenid Jewelry - 500 BC
Sassanian gold pendant from the Wolfsheim tomb treasure. Ca. 378 A.D
Persian Achaemenid Jewelry BC

54. Trade
Approximately 500 B.C. - 23k gold - used as decoration on top of flag pole carried by the Persian cavalry in battle.
A Griffin emblem, one of the symbols of the Persian Empire

55. Persian Religions
Earliest Persian religions recognized many of the same gods as the ancient Aryans, and their priest performed sacrifices similar to those conducted by the Brahmins in India.
Like the Aryans, the ancient Persians glorified strength and martial virtues.

56. Zoroastrianism
In the classical era Zoroastrianism emerged and became widely popular in Iran.
Zoroastrianism influenced the beliefs and values of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Zoroastrianism emerged from the teachings of Zarathustra
Little is know about the historical figure od Zarathustra.

57. Ahura Mazda
King Darius' Seal – Ahura Mazda Rises In Midst

58. Zoroastrianism
Many of the first Zoroastrian teaching did not survive because the priest (magi) passed their stories down orally.
In the Secluid dynasty the magi began to write down the oral tradition.
Under the Sasanid empire the magi compiled the Zoroastrian holy book Avesta.
The arrival of Islam in the 7th century CE and the decline of Zoroastrianism resulted in the loss of most of the Avesta and the later Zoroastrian works.

59. Zoroastrian Teachings
Followers were not strict monotheists.
Ahura Mazda the supreme deity.
Zarathustra also spoke of 6 other lesser deities called the Gathas.
Ahura Mazda engaged in a cosmic conflict with an evil spirit known as Angra Mainyu.
This conflict would end with the triumph of Ahura Mazda, and the judgment of individual human souls would begin.

60. Zoroastrian Teachings
Honest and moral individuals would enter a heavenly paradise, and demons and their brethren would go to a hellish realm.
Zarathustra taught the material world was a blessing, and that included sexual pleasure, wealth, and social prestige (as long as it was in moderation).
Zoroastrianism began to attract large numbers in the 6th century BCE.

61. Zoroastrianism
During Alexander’s campaign in Persia his forces burnt several temples and killed numerous magi.
At this time Zoroastrianism was still an oral tradition.
Once the Parthians established power they observed Zoroastrian rights.

62. Decline of Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism became close to the official state religion under the Sasanids, and the Sasanids would persecute other faiths if they began to rival in popularity.
7th century CE the Islamic conquerors toppled the Sasanid empire.
Islamic empire did not outlaw Zoroastrianism but put enough pressure on them that remaining believers fled to India.
In India they were known as Parsis, where their descendents still observe Zoroastrian traditions today.
A few thousand faithful still maintain a Zoroastrian community in modern-day Iran

63. Webliography
Athens Photo: The Acropoliswww3.nationalgeographic.com/places/photos/pho... Accessed 19 Sept 2007
Oracle at Delphi Accessed 19 Sept 2007
Tomb of Cyrus the Great Accessed 20 Sept 2007
Cyrus the Great Accessed 20 Sept 2007
Cyrus the Great Accessed 21 Sept 2007
Cyrus the Great Accessed 21 Sept 2007

64. Webliography
King Darius Accessed 22 Sept 2007
King Darius with Lion, Accessed 22 Sept 2007
The Persian Empire of 490 BCE, etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/.../complete.html Accessed 22 Sept
Persepolis Accessed 22 Sept 2007
Sky of Persepoliswww.astronomyforbeginners.com/.../236.html Accessed 22 Sept 2007
persepolis_citadel Accessed 22 Sept 2007
Xerxes karenswhimsy.com/persian-history.shtm ... Accessed 22 Sept 2007
Xerxes in the 300 tepasmas.com/foro/viewtopic.php?t=5225&start=... Accessed 22 Sept 2007
Battle of Marathon by Brian Palmer. Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Alexander the Great fighting Persian king Darius III (not in frame) Accessed 23 Sept 2007

65. Webliography
Detail from a depiction of Alexander the Great on horseback striking down a Persian soldier. End of the 4th cent. B.C. Archelogical Museum, Istanbul Sept 2007
The Death of Alexander, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Death_of... Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Hellenistic world after the death, Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Parthian Empire in 1st Century BCE, americanhistory.si.edu/.../frames/parhom.htm Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Ctesiphon home.nordnet.fr/.../Surfaces/quad_archi_cyl.html Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Ctesiphon ecai.org/iraq/EraEmpireProfile.asp?EraID=30 Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Sasanid Empire Accessed 23 Sept 2007
The oldest known relief of a heavily armored cavalryman, from the Sassanid empire, en.allexperts.com/e/k/kn/knight.htm Accessed 23 Sept 2007

66. Webliography
A Magian, worshipping at a fire altar, Sasanian period (British Museum, London), Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Sassanian gold pendant from the Wolfsheim tomb treasure. Ca. 378 A.Dwww.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/ugp/index.html Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Persian Achaemenid Jewelry BC Accessed 23 Sept 2007
A Griffin emblem, Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Ancient Persian Moon-goddess Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Anahita (Immaculate-one) : Accessed 23 Sept 2007
Portrait of Zarathustra Accessed 23 Sept 2007

67. Webliography
Ahura-Mazda Accessed 23 Sept 2007
KingDarius' Seal - AhuraMazda Rises In Midst