Drawing on historical and archaeological evidence, this fascinating documentary by dr. A slide show presentation about the persian achaemenid empire. The persian empire became a dominant force in the ancient world through able leadership, adept administration, a skilled military force and religious and cultural. The persian empire is the name given to a series of dynasties centered in modernday iran that spanned several centuriesfrom the sixth century b. It followed the median empire as the second great empire of the iranian peoples. A recurring problem was court intrigue and illdefined rules for succession. The iranian revolution past, present and future glittering achievements, the sassanid empire was characterised by extreme oppression of the downtrodden masses. Out of a lifetime of study of the ancient near east, professor olmstead has gathered previously unknown material into the story of the life, times, and thought of the persians, told for the first time from the persian rather than the traditional greek point of view. It ranged, at its greatest, from anatolia and egypt across western asia to the borders of northern india and central asia. Herodotus recited his history in athens in 445 bce, as pericles made a thirty years peace with sparta and moved toward challenging the persian empire by accepting a large present of gold and grain from libyan rebel psamtik and establishing tribute districts from cities in caria, ionia, hellespont, and the islands. They cost a lot though in both ebook and hardcopy formats. Teach your students how to write a timeline while learning about the accomplishments of the persian empire. The persian empire discussed in this unit did not have fixed boundaries but expanded and contracted along with the political fortunes of its emperors. Cyrus the great had a concept of one world and the unification of all people around the known world.
Former assyrian empire the royal road 0 0 500 miles 1,000 kilometers persian empire, 500 b. Ancient history persian empire documentary youtube. Persian carpets and rugs were initially woven as articles of necessity to cover the floors of nomadic tribesmen, giving them protection from the cold and damp. This judgement, we can now see, was premature, a dream.
Nevertheless, for the iranian world the advent of islam meant not liberation but defeat and conquest by an alien people. It puts history versus currents events into perspective. For a version of this image altered to display better in wikipedia articles converted to png format, slightly cropped in file. A concise history of the achaemenid empire, 550330 bce. It is a fun way to keep kids engaged during the video. Achievements in human rights, politics, and military strategy.
The origin of the persian empire can be attributed to the leadership of one man cyrus the great. Media, asia minor lydia, babylonia, syria, and palestine. Territory to the indus river valley, thrace, and macedonia to the west organization of the persian empire. It does so chronologically and does a decent job of presenting the historical evidence critically before coming up with conclusions. Background greece was a collection of citystates sprinkled across the tip of the balkan. Annotation recommended annotation visible only to you. The blood of flowers by anita amirrezvani, the persian expedition by xenophon, persian fire. After subduing all of the persian empire, his army marched east and got as far as india before turning back. How alexander the great conquered the persian empire history. A concise history of the achaemenid empire does exactly that. The persian empire peaked around 500 bce, although the seeds of its decline were planted earlier. The persian empire enlarge pdf for print freely distributed map of the achaemenid persian empire at its greatest extant 490 bc.
At its height, the persian empire stretched from india to libya, uniting the entire near east under the rule of a single great king for the rst time in history. In this book, matt waters gives a detailed historical overview of the. The oxford world history of empire motivation it was for a long time part of received wisdom that humanity has entered a postimperial era. Political memory in and after the persian empire edited by jason m. When the assyrians were carving out the worlds first true super empire from the period of 10th century to 7th century bc, a wave of pastoral tribes from north of the caspian sea was busy settling in the eastern side of zagros mountains, in an expansive plateau that stretched all the way to western india.
The achaemenid persian empirethe persian empire of the 6th through 4th centuries. Ancient persian civilization middle east studies center. After the roman army was defeated and besieged by the persian forces, king shahpur took emperor valerian and the. The persian achaemenid empire was actually the last great empire of the ancient near east.
The art of carpet weaving in iran originated more than 2,500 years ago. The first dynasty of the persian empire was created by the achaemenids, established by cyrus the great in 550 bc with the conquest of the median, lydian and babylonian empires. Aligned to middle school ela common core literacy standards in history social studies, this presentation features. As decolonization saw the dismantling and collapse of european colonial overseas possessions, empire seemed to be a thing of the past.
Ancient persia the achaemenid persian empire, at its greatest. Put history into a perspective when the first line of the book is when cyrus entered bablyon in 539bc the world was old. Region compare the map of the persian empire with that of the assyrian empire on page 96. This book is great at detailing the list of achaemenid kings and their conquest. In modern times, persia and iran have often been used interchangeably.
The achaemenid empire, also called the first persian empire, was founded by cyrus the great and became one of the most powerful, largest empires in ancient history. Farzin rezaeian reconstructs 7,000 years of iranian history. This historical map image could be recreated using vector graphics as an svg file. C o n c l u s i o n 27 part 1 t h e e m p i r e b u i l d e r s. Decline of the empire military problems was conquered by alexander the great in 330 bc persias defenses were smashed by alexanders army even though persian soldiers outnumbered them, alexanders army was able to take them by surprise and break through a weak point in persian lines. The origin of the persian empire can be attributed to the leadership of one mancyrus the great. The ancient persian empire had been overthrown by the.
Its boundaries extended from the aegean sea in the west to the indus river in the east, such a large empire was created in just a little over 10 years by cyrus ii the. This map reveals the persian empire in 580 bc under its greatest ruler darius i. At the height of its power, the achaemenid empire had about 7. Achaemenid empire simple english wikipedia, the free. Topics achaemenid collection opensource language english.
The death of a king often triggered a scramble for the throne that exhausted the treasury, eroded morale, and loosened the governmental hold on the provinces. Persepolis, the most famous historical site related to persian empire in the achaemenid era, has been a unesco world heritage site since 1979. Matt waters is professor of classics and ancient history at. The oxford world history of empire stanford university. A brilliant and powerful persian king, cyrus strategy.
Persia had been the first real empire, an empire with an organizational structure developed from a realistic idea of how to govern different subject peoples. You can find the episodes on amazonthis worksheet is editable so you can change it as you please to fit your classroom. The great king shahpur invaded roman empire territory in the years 253260 c. Egypt and expeditions to the surrounding areas ethiopia, libya darius. I second quora users opinion and highly recommend the cambridge history of iran series. Ancient persia the achaemenid persian empire, at its greatest territorial extent under darius i r.
The natural consequence was that the history of the mighty achaemenid empire was presented as a series of uncor rected episodes which found unity and. Deals with a lot of prehistory relics and writings. Added egypt in 525 to the medopersian empire 522 486 darius i came to rule he organized the persian empire along cyrus plan of satraps he set up coinage like lydias 486 465 xerxes i esther put down egyptian revolt intended to invade greece, but was defeated in the battle of thermopoly in 480 xerxes i was assassinated in 465. It defined the role of an emperor and set a template for future empires from the romans to the british. The fullest and most reliable presentation of the history of the persian empire in existence. The achaemenid empire, or achaemenid persian empire, 550330 bc was the first of the persian empires to rule over significant portions of greater persia or iran.
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