Download - Persia and Greece
Chapter 5
Classical Civilizations:
Persia & Greece
Persia• Contemporary Iran
• Four major dynasties
–Achaemenids (558-330 BCE)
–Seleucids (323-283 BCE)
–Parthians (247 BCE-224 CE)
–Sasanids (224-651 CE)
Achaemenid Empire (558-330 BCE)• Migration of Medes and Persians from central Asia,
before 1000 BCE– Indo-Europeans
• Capitalized on weakening Assyrian and Babylonian empires
• Cyrus (r. 558-530 BCE) founder of dynasty– “Cyrus the Shepherd”
• Peak under Darius (r. 521-486 BCE)– Ruled Indus to the Aegean– Capital Persepolis
Achaemenid Administration:The Satrapies
• 23 Administrative divisions
• Satraps Persian, but staff principally local
• System of spies, surprise audits
– Minimized possibilities of local rebellion
• Standardized currency for taxation purposes
• Massive road building, courier services
Technological Developments
• Qanat: System of underground canals
– Avoided excessive loss to evaporation
• Extensive road-building
– Persian Royal Road
• 1,600 miles, some of it paved
– Courier service
Decline of the Achaemenids
• Policy of toleration under Cyrus, Darius
– Rebuilding of Temple in Jerusalem
• Xerxes (486-465 BCE) attempts to impose Persian stamp on satrapies
• Increasing public discontent
Persian Wars (500-479 BCE)
• Rebellious Greeks in Ionia
• Peninsular Greeks join in
• Persians defeated at Marathon (490 BCE), retreated
• Alexander the Great conquers the Achaemenid Empire (334-331 BCE)
Seleucid Empire
• Alexander the Great dies suddenly
• Generals divide empire, best part goes to Seleucus (r. 305-281 BCE)
• Attacked by rebellion in India, invasion of Parthians
The Achaemenid and Seleucid empires, 558-83 B.C.E.
Seleucid & Parthian Empires
Don’t really need to know them.
You’re welcome.
Sasanid Empire (224-651 CE)
• Claimed descent from Achaemenids
• Continual conflicts with Rome, Byzantium in the west, Kush in the east
• Overwhelmed by Arab conquest in 651
• Persian administration and culture absorbed into local Islamic culture
Persian Society
• Early steppe traditions
– Warriors, priests, peasants
– Family/clan kinship very important
• Creation of bureaucrat class with Empire
– Tax collectors
– Record keepers
– translators
Slave Class
• Prisoners of war, conquered populations
• Debtors
• Children, spouses also sold into slavery
• Principally domestic servitude
– Some agricultural labor, public works
Persian Economy
• Several areas exceptionally fertile
• Long-distance trade benefits from Persian road-building
• Goods from India especially valued
Zoroastrianism
• Early Aryan influences on Persian religious traditions
• Zarathustra (late 7th-early 6th c. BCE)• Prophet of Ahura Mazda, against Angra Mainu • Priests of Zarathustra known as Magi• Oral teachings until Sasanid period composed
Gathas
Fortunes of Zoroastrianism
• Under Alexander: Massacre of Magi, burning Zoroastrian temples
• Weak Parthian support
• Major revival under Sasanids, persecution of non-Zoroastrians
• Discrimination under Islam
Other Religious Groups in the Persian Empires
• Major Mesopotamian communities of Jews
• Composition of the Talmud, c. 500 CE
– “constitution of Judaism”
• Buddhism, Christianity and Manichaeism also survived
Mediterranean Society:
The Greek Phase
Early Development of Greek Society
• Minoan Society– Island of Crete– Major city: Knossos
• C. 2200 BCE center of maritime trade
• Undeciphered syllabic alphabet (Linear A)
Decline of Minoan Society
• Series of natural disasters after 1700 BCE– Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves
• Foreign invasions
• Foreign domination by 1100 BCE
Mycenaean Society
• Indo-european invaders descend through Balkans into Peloponnesus, c. 2200 BCE
• Influenced by Minoan culture
• Major settlement: Mycenae
• Military expansion throughout region
Chaos in the Eastern Mediterranean
• Trojan war, c. 1200 BCE– Homer’s The Iliad– Sequel: The Odyssey
• Political turmoil, chaos from 1100 to 800 BCE
• Mycenaean civilization disappears
The Polis (plural = poleis)
• City-state
• Urban center, dominating surrounding rural areas
• Highly independent character– Monarchies– “Tyrannies” – not
necessarily oppressive– Early Democracies
Sparta
• Highly militarized society
• Subjugated peoples: helots– Serfs, tied to land– Outnumbered Spartans 10:1 by 6th c. BCE
• Military society developed to control threat of rebellion
Spartan Society
• Austerity the norm
• Boys removed from families at age seven– Received military training in barracks– Active military service follows
• Marriage, but no home life until age 30
• Some relaxation of discipline by 4th c. CE
Athens
• Development of early democracy– Free, adult males only– Women, slaves excluded
• Encouraging of culture – art, music, drama, philosophy
Athenian Society
• Maritime trade brings increasing prosperity beginning 7th c. BCE
• Aristocrats dominate smaller landholders
• Increasing socio-economic tensions– Class conflict
Pericles
• Ruled 461-429 BCE
• High point of Athenian democracy
• Aristocratic but popular
• Massive public works
• Encouraged cultural development
Greek Colonization
• Population expansion drives colonization– Coastal Mediterranean, Black sea
• Sicily (Naples: “nea polis,” new city)
• Southern France (Massalia: Marseilles)
• Anatolia
• Southern Ukraine
Classical Greece & the Mediterranean Region800-500 B.C.E.
Effects of Greek Colonization
• Trade throughout region
• Communication of ideas– Language, culture
• Political and social effects
Persian Wars (500-479 BCE)
• Revolt against Persian Empire 500 BCE in Ionia
• Athens supports with ships
• Greek rebellion crushed by Darius 493 BCE; routed in 490
• Successor Xerxes burns Athens, but driven out as well
The Delian League
• Poleis create Delian League to forestall more Persian attacks
• Led by Athens– Massive payments to Athens fuels Periclean
expansion– Resented by other poleis
The Peloponnesian War
• Civil war in Greece, 431-404 BCE
• Poleis allied with either Athens or Sparta
• Athens forced to surrender
• But conflict continued between Sparta and other poleis
Kingdom of Macedon
• Frontier region to north of Peloponnesus
• King Philip II (r. 359-336 BCE) builds massive military
• 350 BCE encroaches on Greek poleis to the south, controls region by 338 BCE
Alexander of Macedon
• “the Great,” son of Philip II
• Rapid expansion throughout Mediterranean basin
• Invasion of Persia successful
• Turned back in India when exhausted troops mutinied
Alexander's Empire, c. 323 B.C.E.
The Hellenistic Empires
• After Alexander’s death, competition for empire
• Divided by generals
– Antigonus: Greece and Macedon
– Ptolemy: Egypt
– Seleucus: Persian Achaemenid Empire
• Economic integration, Intellectual cross-fertilization
The Hellenistic Empires
Trade and Integration of the Mediterranean Basin
• Greece: little grain, but rich in olives and grapes
• Colonies further trade
• Commerce rather than agriculture as basis of much of economy
The Greek Language
• Borrowed Phoenician alphabet
• Added vowels
• Complex language– “middle” voice
• Allowed for communication of abstract ideas– Philosophy
Socrates (470-399 BCE)
• The Socratic Method
• Student: Plato
• Public gadfly, tried and condemned on charges of “corrupting the youth of Athens”
• Forced to drink hemlock
Plato (430-347 BCE)
• Systematized Socratic thought
• The Republic– Parable of the Cave– Theory of Forms/Ideas
Aristotle (389-322 BCE)
• Student of Plato
• Broke with Theory of Forms/Ideas
• Emphasis on empirical findings, reason
• Massive impact on western thought
• Tutor to Alexander
Greek Theology
• Polytheism
• Zeus principal god
• Religious cults– Eleusinian mysteries– The Bacchae– Rituals eventually domesticated
Greek Drama
• Evolution from public presentations of cultic rituals
• Major tragic playwrights (5th c. BCE)– Aeschylus– Sophocles– Euripides
• Comedy: Aristophanes