Persians and Greeks Early Classical empires What is similar and what is different about these maps??

Prompt: How did empires rise in the classical era?

AP Prompt: How did the empires of the Classical era fall?

The World’s First “Superpower”: Persians At the beginning of the classical era The Persian Empire was the most dominant ON EARTH To this day(!) as a percent of human population (50%) the Persian Empire was the LARGEST ON EARTH. Southwest Asia: Persian Empires Achaemenid (550-330 BCE) Parthian (274 BCE-224 CE) Sassanid (224-651 CE)

3 Persian Empires Achaemenid Empire 550-330 BCE Founded by Cyrus *Quick expansion to conquer surrounding people of Egypt, Babylonia and others *By the rule of Darius the Great, The empire stretches from Turkey and Libya to India.

Estimated extent of Achmaenid Empire 330 BCE

How did they do it. How did they rule How did they do it? How did they rule? What was the secret to their success? Provincial government 20 or more provinces, ruled by satraps. ROYAL Road, Postal system, and standard currency Patriarchal and stratified Religion-Zoroastrianism. Tolerant of other faiths. No slavery. Unusual for the time

Zoroastrianism-State religion of Persian Empire Monotheistic and Dualistic Good and evil Heaven and Hell Right and wrong Ahura Mazda-the Wise Lord

Marathon 490 BCE—Darius loses battle to the Greeks Parthian Empire Series of wars with Greece that allow the Ach. Empire to succumb to Greece When Alex the Great dies, they rise up Grew very wealthy from the Silk Road Enemies of the Romans Sassanid Empire Rose up in place of Parthian More Riches for Silk Road Swept awary with spread of Islam in 700’s

Persepolis. The capital. The Gate of all Nations Unesco Cultural Heritage Site

The Great Double Staircase at Persepolis

Qanat Technology video.nationalgeographic.com/video/170524-iran-ancient-qanats-vin

Greek City-States (700 BCE-300 BCE) Greece was the polar opposite of Persia: local city-states, democracy, citizen participation, polytheism Most city-states, such as Athens, functioned without a Divine monarch; even those with kings still had senates (Sparta) Their empire took the form of multiple coastal and island settlements (pitstops) throughout the Mediterranean One characteristic of Greek city-states was their lack of unity and competition They frequently warred with one another, switching alliances, and competing for power

Greeks Continued The only true unity experienced by these city-states was their union vs. Persia When Darius and Xerxes each attempted to conquer Greece, the city states united, winning battles at Marathon and Platea, and on the sea, to hold Persia off While this victory kept them independent, the Greeks would be forcibly united by Phillip and later Alexander the Great, from Macedonia (300 BCE) Alexander would unite the Greeks, and set his conquest East, defeating every major power he came across Alexander was responsible for conquering the massive Persian Empire, only being stopped by his death due to illness at age 33

Overview with John Green Crash Course

Prompt: How did empires rise in the classical era? As early states and empires grew in number, size and population they frequently competed for resources and came into conflict with one another. In doing so, they built powerful military machines and administrative institutions that were capable of organizing human activities over long distances, and they created new groups of military and political elites to manage their affairs. As these empires expanded their boundaries, they also faces the need to develop policies and procedures to govern their relationships with ethnically and culturally diverse, sometimes to integrate them within an imperial society and sometimes to exclude them.

AP Prompt: How did the empires of the Classical era fall? In some cases, these empires became victims of their own successes. By expanding their boundaries too far, they created political, cultural and administrative difficulties that they could not manage. They also experienced environmental, social and economic problems when they over exploited their land and subject and permitted excessive wealth to be concentrated in the hands of the privileged classes.