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

Dont really need to know them.
Youre 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
Homers 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 Region

800-500 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 Alexanders 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