1. The Persian Empire 500 B.C. – 479 B.C. What you need to know:
Who was Cyrus?
Who was Darius?
What made the Persian Army
strong? (the Immortals, calvary)
Political Organization (who were the Satraps? What was their job?)
Persian Society (What did the ruler, Darius accomplish?)
Persian Wars: What were the battles? Who won?

2. First Great Persian Leader
Cyrus the Great II leads and wins a revolt against a group of people called the Medes.
Cyrus wins independence for Persia and marks the beginning of the Persian Empire (Map of the Persian Empire, text – pg. 287)
Cyrus lets people he conquered keep their own customs making them less likely to rebel
Cyrus is called Cyrus the Great by historians because of his great successes.

3. Political Organization
Darius organizes the empire into 20 provinces
Satraps – governors – chosen for each province to rule each province
Satraps must remain loyal to Darius
People in the provinces paid taxes to Darius.

4. Persian Society Darius makes improvements to the empire
Built many roads – built roads to connect parts of the empire. Messengers could travel quickly throughout Persia. Royal Road – 1,700 miles long
New religion – Zoroastrianism – taught there are two forces fighting for control of the universe – one force was good and one was evil. Priests urged people to help the side that was good.

5. The Persian Wars
Several Greek cities in Asia Minor rebelled against Persian rule.
A few city-states in mainland Greece sent soldiers to join the fight.
Darius is angry and seeks revenge on Greece.
Darius and his army invade a city called Marathon. This begins The Persian Wars.

6. The Persian Army The Persian Army: Led by Cyrus the Great
Strong army due to being well organized and people loyal to Cyrus
Army had a powerful calvary – unit of soldiers who ride horses
10,000 soldiers known for bravery and skill – The Immortals, also made the Persian army strong
Cyrus dies, young prince Darius claims the Persian throne

7. Battles of the Persian Wars
Battle of Marathon:
Athenians versus Darius’ Persian Army: Greeks won due to having better weapons and clever leaders.
Second battle:
Xerxes I (Darius’ son) tried to conquer Greece. They are joined by the Persian navy. Sparta joins Athens (powerful navy). Persians win this battle and attack and burn the city of Athens

8. Battles of the Persian Wars 2
Athenians regain power: Battle of Salamis:
Athenians led the larger Persian navy into a narrow straits of Salamis. Persian can’t steer well their large ships. Smaller Athenian boats easily sank many Persian ships. The ones not destroyed returned home.
Battle of Plataea:
Armies from all over Greece gathered and beat the Persians at Plataea. This battle ended the Persian Wars and Persians left Greece.

9. The battle: The Persians sailed into the Straits of Salamis, and were trapped by the Greeks. The Greeks were outnumbered, but swift and deadly Athenian triremes defeated the Persian navy.

10. Legend has it that Pheidippides (fahy-dip- i-deez) ran the 42 km back to Athens to announce their great victory and died on the spot. Today’s marathon is based on this last run by Pheidippides.