The Persians Lived in present-day Iran King Cyrus added many new territories to the empire Northern Mesopotamia, Syria, Canaan, Phoenician cities, Lydia, Greek city-states in Asia Minor Later his son conquered Egypt  brought the entire Middle East under Persian control

The Persians Ruled more than 35 million people Empire stretched more than 3000 miles – from Nile to Indus River Best organizer among Persian kings = Darius Divided empire into 23 provinces Each province ruled by a satrap = governor

Persian Empire

The Persians Persians = very tolerant rulers Allowed conquered people to keep own languages, religions, and laws Artisans built city of Persepolis = most magnificent city in the empire

The Persians Big network of roads Allowed for trade between different peoples/cultures in the empire Allowed for easy movement of soldiers Royal Road = longest road in the empire  had stations along it so travelers could get food, water, and fresh horses

The Persians 480 BCE = Darius’s son Xerxes tried to conquer Greece to expand the empire Failed to defeat the Greeks

From 600 B.C.E-600 C.E in the Middle East… Continuities Changes Royal Road Zoroastrianism Persepolis Strategic role of trade Dynastic Absolute monarchies Universal coinage system Bureaucratic Satrapies Qanat System Military ( ex immortals, war) Building of palaces and temples Persian culture Tolerance then intolerant during various wars and subsequent dynasties Achaemenid- Parthian-Sassanid Loss to Greeks and the Hellenistic forces Once dominant empire becomes increasingly less so after defeats and subsequent Dynasties Zoroastrianism decline but influences Judaism and Christianity Jewish Revolts Christianity (messiah, Heaven and Hell) Discrimination against Christians ((sided with Romans?) Loss to Greece, Hellenistic and competition from Rome leads loss of dominance in trade ( more of a Middle Man) Constant war with Byzantines and Arabs Loss of territories with more dominant states

I. From 600 B.C.E-600 C.E the most dominant political capital in the Middle East will remain Persepolis united by its ability to administers justice and tax collection from its Satrapies, Zoroastrianism will remain the state-sponsored belief system influencing Judaism and Christianity, however, successive dynastic Persian Empires like the Seleucid and Sassanid will follow the Achaeminid to connect the royal Road to the long trans-regional silk routes. Persepolis was centrally located along the royal road and facilitated a centralized administrative bureaucracy organized along over 30 satrapies. Zoroastrianism would continue to serve as the state-sponsored belief system focusing on the need to concentrate on the god’s will ( Ahura Mazda) and eliminating wrongdoing which would profoundly influence the ideals of good and evil, saints and sinners and God and the devil in Christianity and Judaism The royal roads connecting Persepolis to the Mediterranean would be greatly expanded when the Silk road would connect regional trading patterns of Persia to trans-region patterns connecting India and China. This way of having local rulers working directly for the Emperor allowed Persepolis to collect taxation and conscripts ( those to fight in the military like the immortals), in an efficient manner to allow fairness and local justice governed from representatives of the Persian Emperor. The need to create a universalizing ideology and its influence of tolerance of other religions would see great advancements of individuals trying to attain goodness through righteous actions and beliefs. Goods and items including silks, perfumes, dyes and precious metals would be carried by various nomadic groups like the Arabs to facilitate great trade and pass ideas from the Mediterranean world across the Middle East and into South and East Asia passing religions like Buddhism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism.