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

2. Prompt: How did empires rise in the classical era?

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

4. 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 ( BCE)
Parthian (274 BCE-224 CE)
Sassanid ( CE)

5. 3 Persian Empires
Achaemenid Empire 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.

6. Estimated extent of Achmaenid Empire 330 BCE

7. 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

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

10. 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

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

12. The Great Double Staircase at Persepolis

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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Overview with John Green Crash Course

18. 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.

19. 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.