Chapter 4 Section 3
The Persian Empire
By governing with tolerance and wisdom, the Persians establish a well-ordered empire that
lasts for 200 years.
The Rise of Persia
The Persian Homeland
• Persia (ancient Iran) has fertile land and minerals
• Medes and Persians rose to power there
Cyrus the Great Founds an Empire
• Starting in 550 B.C., Persian King Cyrus conquers neighboring
lands
• Cyrus was famous and unusual for how he governed with tolerance toward
conquered peoples and embraced diversity
• Honors local customs, including religious ones
• Allows Jews to return to Israel to rebuild temple of Jerusalem
Persian Rule
Cambyses and Darius
• Cyrus’s son, Cambyses, conquers Egypt but rules unwisely
• Darius seizes control, establishes stability; expands empire to India
• Darius was famous for his extraordinary skill as a government
administrator as well as for his military conquests
Provinces and Satraps
• Darius divides empire into 20 areas of local administration
• Appoints satraps—governors—to rule each area
• Build Royal Road to make communication within empire easier
• The Royal Road covered about one-half of the Persian Empire
Darius the Great
• Building the Royal Road and having long coastlines gave Persia an advantage in trade.
• Issues coins that can be used throughout the empire
• Egypt was the province of the Persian Empire that extended the farthest south
• Bactra was a province that had no harbor or seacoast
• Persia wanted to control Jerusalem because it sat on the corridor linking Syria and Egypt
The Persian Legacy
Zoroaster
• Persian thinker called Zoroaster develops new religion
Zoroaster’s Teachings
• Life is a battleground between good and evil
• One god will judge us by how well we fight for good
• Zoroastrianism influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam because
it was a monotheistic religion that believed in only one God.
Political Order
• Through tolerance and good government, Persians bring political order
• Preserve earlier cultures, find new ways to live and rule
Symbol of
Zoroastrianism
Prophet
Zoroaster
Xerxes
• Became a Dictator
• Did not follow Darius or Cyrus and was not tolerant
• Wanted to conquer Greece at all cost
• Lost the Battle of Thermopylae to Alexander the
Great of Greece.
Battle of Thermopylae
• It means the “HOT GATES”
• 300 Spartans held off 1 million troops of the Persian
Empire
• The Battle of Thermopylae was depicted in the major
motion picture “300.”
• Was really a delaying action to stall the Persians so
that Athens could be evacuated.
• Tactical advantage because of choke point in the terrain.