Alan Guerra, Andrea Castaneda and Evan Amador
Mr. Casso
B4
9/14/12
CH.2SEC. 4
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
• Cyrus the Great• Darius I• Satrap• Xerxes• Zoroaster• dualism
• King of Persia and founder of the Persian Empire; he defeated the Median army and united the Persians and Medians under his rule.
• King of Persia from 522 to 486 BC; he reorganized and strengthened the Persian Empire by reforming the army and the government.
• Governors of ancient Persia.
• King of Persia; his armies invaded Greece but were eventually defeated by the Greeks.
• Religious teacher and prophet of ancient Persia; he founded a religion known as Zoroastrianism based on the idea that people have free will and can act as they choose.
• The belief that the world is controlled by two opposing forces, good and evil.
KEY WORDS
• After the death of the King Cambyses, Darius had a lot of controversy in getting to the throne and keeping it, as well as to change the systems Persian had then.
• Zoroastrianism teaches that the world was created by a god named Ahura Mazda who fought against an evil sprit named Ahrima. This was one of the first religions to teach dualism- the belief that the world is controlled by two opposing forces, good and evil.
• One of the greatest achievements was cultural unity. The people worked together to advance and it was relatively peaceful in its early history. It had a huge empire stretching into most of Asia as well.
• Who shaped the growth and organization of the Persian Empire?
• What were the main teachings of Zoroastrianism?
• What were the most significant Persian achievements?
READING FOCUS QUESTIONS
Questions Answers
• Before the great Persian empire, Medes had conquered Persia. The king had a daughter who was married with a Persian prince, and they had a son, Cyrus. The king had a dream that the baby would one day overthrow him. So he ordered it to death. Not wanting to kill a baby, the guards gave it to a poor farmer. After some years, Cyrus grew up and led a rebellion and declared himself king of Persia.
RISE OF THE EMPIRE
THE PEAK OF THE EMPIRE
• Darius I organized a strong army in Persia.
• He trained a troop of soldiers called the Ten Thousand Immortals.
• This group were given fast moving horses, chariots, and much support.
THE PERSIAN ARMY.
• Communications was essential to running the empire, the ruler need to know what was happening in the other parts if the country.
• At the heart of its communication was Persias roads.
• They had high quality roads that linked every part of the country
• The largest was the the royal road witch was the worlds first high way and was 1500 miles long.
• It connected to the 2 most important cities, Susa and Sardis, from there other smaller roads branched off connecting other key cities.
COMUNICATION
• The Persians had a message system pretty similar to other early civilizations.
• They had horseman travel short distances at a time before giving it off to the other rider with a fresh horse.
• These guys went on for day in any and all conditions.
• They can get a message across the empire in a matter of days
THE PERSIAN MESSENGERS.
• Being a culturally united country, Persia had many cultural advancements.
• There art work mainly consisted of animals such as lions, bulls, and giraffes.
• The also crafted solid gold cups incrusted with gems, these cups were in the shape of animals.
• There architecture was monumental nothing like it in the far east. One example was the great hall of the city Persepolis.
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
• Most historians would agree that Darius I was the peak of the empires exsistence. No other ruler had such power folowing Darius.
• Xerxes tried to build on his fathers cuccess when he past.
• He even tried to invade Greece ad tried to succeed where his father failed. But he too in turn failed and returned a failure.
PERSIAN DECLINE
• After Darius’ death, the empires trade began to slow down and rebellions were common.
• However the empire continued for 150 years.
• In 330 B.C. Alexander the great invaded Persia and effectively ended the empire.
AFTER DARIUS’ DEATH
SOURCES• The book
• Google images