Persian Empire Persian Empire

Persia Becomes an Empire Persians were nomadic people, they were constantly moving Persians would often fight other people The Medes took over Persia and ruled for 150 years

Cyrus the Great 550 BC Cyrus II revolted against the Medes He conquered Medes and started the Persian Empire Cyrus conquered a lot of Southwest Asia, several Greek cities and Mesopotamia

Cyrus the Great He let the people that he conquered keep their way of life so that they wouldn’t revolt. When Cyrus died in 529 BC, he ruled over the largest empire the world had ever seen He is known as Cyrus the Great

The Persian Army Cyrus had a strong army-it was well organized and very devoted to him His army had a powerful cavalry-soldiers who ride horses He used his Calvary to charge and shoot his enemies with arrows This weakened his enemies and then his foot soldiers would attack

The Persian Army Grows Stronger After Cyrus died, his son, Cambyses continued to expand the Persian Empire He conquered Egypt Then a rebellion broke out in Persia and Cambyses died 4 days after Cambyses died, a prince named Darius claimed the throne

Political Organization Darius divided the Persian Empire into 20 provinces Each province had its own governor or satrap that ruled over that province Satraps collected taxes and acted as judges but Darius was still the ruler Darius sent officials to the provinces to check on his satraps

Persian Society Darius built many roads connecting the empire The “Royal Road” was 1700 miles long!! The roads were used to send messages throughout the empire He built a new capital called Persepolis

Persian Society Persepolis was full of beautiful art- carvings and statues Darius started a new religion called Zoroastrianism This religion taught that there were 2 forces fighting for control- good and evil

The Persians Fight Greece 499 BC several Greek cities revolted against Persian rule Greek City states that were not part of the Persian rule, sent soldiers to help the Greek cities fight against the Persians Persians won the revolt but it made Darius very mad at the Greeks

The Battle of Marathon 9 years after the Greeks rebelled, Darius invaded Greece His army sailed to the plains of Marathon near Athens This invasion of Greece began a series of wars between the Greeks and Persians, called the Persian Wars

The Battle of Marathon Athenian Army had 11,000 soldiers Persian Army had 15,000 soldiers The Athenian army won because they had better weapons and leaders According to legend, a messenger ran from Marathon to Athens-26 miles to tell of the victory

The Battle of Marathon cont. After he told the Athenians the news, he fell to the ground and died Athletes today recreate the Greek messengers run in 26 mile races called marathons

The Second Invasion of Greece 10 years after the battle of Marathon, Darius’ son, Xerxes, tried to conquer Greece again 480 BC the Persian Army and Navy set out for Greece This time the Sparta joined Athens in fighting the Persians

The second invasion cont. The Spartan army attacked the Persian Army Athenian Navy attacked the Persian Navy The Spartan sent soldiers to Thermopylde where the Persians had to cross to get into the Greek City States

The second invasion cont. For 3 days the Spartan army kept the Persian army from crossing into Greek City States Then the Persians asked a traitorous Greek soldier for a different route into the Greek City States Persians attacked and killed all Spartan soldiers then attacked and burned Athens

The end of the Persian Wars A few days after Athens was burned, the Athenian Navy defeated the Persian Navy in a battle known as the Battle of Salamis Then armies from all over Greece beat the Persians in a battle called the Battle of Plataea, this battle ended the Persian Wars Persians were humiliated and Greeks had saved their homeland!

Review Questions 1. What did the Greeks do that made Darius angry and led him to invade the Greeks? 2. Who was the Battle of Marathon between? Who won? Why? Who joined Athens when Darius’ son, Xerxes, attacked Greece? How did the Persians get past the Greeks so that they could attack Athens? Who won the Persian Wars?