1. What is an Empire? Daily Dialogue

2. Empire Vast territory (in size or number) Many peoples & cultures Under a single authority

3. Empire Usually formed through conquest Purpose = $ and extraction of resources

4. Why conquer? How to extract wealth? How does one maintain an empire? Direct rule? Established authorities? How are conquered peoples affected? Imposed culture? Cultural tolerance?

5. Empire

6. New Directions in Government & Society 400 bce 300 bce 200 bce 100 bce 100- 1 bce 1- 100 ce 100 ce 200 ce 300 ce 400 ce 500 ce Greece Roman RepublicRoman Empire GuptaMauryan Han Qin Sui Persia

7. Persian Empire Legacy: Enormous empire Successful incorporation of different peoples Lasted 200 years

8. Persian Empire: sources Scarcity of historical inscriptions Primarily economic records Greatest detail from Classical writers in Greece

9. Herodotus It is [the Persian’s] general practice to deliberate upon affairs of weight when they are drunk; and then on the morrow, when they are sober, the decision to which they came the night before is put before them by the master of the house; and if it is then approved of, they act upon it; if not, they set it aside. Sometimes, however, they are sober at their first deliberation, but in this case they always reconsider the matter under the influence of wine.

10. Herodotus There is no nation which so readily adopts foreign customs as the Persians. (This was the greatest weakness of the Persians, and the chief cause of their decline.) Thus, they have taken the dress of the Medes, considering it superior to their own; and in war they wear the Egyptian breastplate. As soon as they hear of any luxury, they instantly make it their own. Each of them has several wives, and a still larger number of concubines.

11. Other examples… Cambyses: What he did: conquered Egypt and attempted to legitimize his rule and gain acceptance among the people (mixed results) What the Greek say: Cambyses slaughtered many Egyptians out of insanity, tortured and killed the Apis bull, attempted suicide, practiced incest, and regularly mocked Persian and Egyptian customs. He stabbed the Apis bull for his pure enjoyment and to mock the Egyptians. Then he forced the priests to torture the Apis bull and put to death any priests who disobeyed. He left the bull to bleed to death in pain. His name! Not Cambyses = Kambujiyahya

12. Persian Empire: sources Scarcity of historical inscriptions Greatest detail from Classical writers in Greece Exceedingly biased! Effeminate, pants, eunuchs, concubines, luxury, greed, laziness Only cared about western part of empire

13. Persian Empire: Rise Achaemenes: started dynasty Cyrus Defeated Media Greeks: Persian King = Mede Rapid expansion of empire Anatolia, Babylon Cambyses Egypt not raided  true incorporation of country into Persian empire

16. Persian Empire: Rise Darius Battle of Marathon in Greece – lost Xerxes Greece = primary goal Herodotus: 2,617,610 men End of expansion

17. Military Draws from enormous population State land rented to groups who, in return, provide military service Different skills from different cultures Arabian camel drivers Libyan charioteers Phoenician navy w/ Egyptain, Cypriot, Ionian sailors “Immortals” – native Persians, king’s personal bodyguard

18. Rule King = absolute authority ordained by Ahura Mazda Satraps Persian governors that rule provinces and answer to king Local authorities

19. How did they handle diversity? First to acknowledge the variety among its people Successfully brought together areas with different languages, cultures, economies, sociopolitical organization