PERSIA. Egypt, Babylonia, and Assyria were many centuries old when a vigorous people appeared on the eastern border of the ancient civilized world. They came from the grasslands of Turkestan in Central Asia with their sheep and horses. They made their home on the high mountain-walled plateau between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
The newcomers called themselves Irani (Aryans) and their new homeland Irania (now Iran). They came to be called Persians because Greek geographers mistakenly named them after the province Parsa, or Persis, where their early kings had their capital. The Persians and their close relatives, the Medes, resembled the Semites, but they spoke a different language.
The Medes and Persians had many nature gods. In the 6th century BC the religious prophet Zoroaster, or Zarathustra, appeared in the northwest. According to his teachings, there was one supreme god, Ahura Mazda, and there was constant conflict between Mazda, the spirit of light and of good, and Ahriman, the spirit of darkness, or evil (see Zoroastrianism and Parsiism).
The Medes, by the 6th century BC, had built a large empire (see Medes). They ruled the Persians to the east and the Assyrians to the west. In 550 BC Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered the Medes, then pushed on to further conquests. His warriors, both Medes and Persians, were fine horsemen, skilled with bow and arrow. They relied upon speed and sharp attack. Before heavily armored enemy troops could come close, the Persians overwhelmed them with arrows.
By conquering the Medes, King Cyrus acquired Assyria, which the Median King Cyarxes had taken in about 612 BC. Next Cyrus conquered Lydia, ruled by King Croesus (see Croesus). This victory gave him possession of the Greek seaboard cities of Asia Minor. In 539 BC proud Babylon, capital of the Chaldean Empire, surrendered without a fight. With Babylon Cyrus acquired Palestine. He allowed the Jews to return from Babylonian exile and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. Turning eastward he spread his empire to the border of India. He was killed fighting against eastern nomads in 529 BC and was buried in a tomb he had prepared at his capital, Pasargadae. The ruins still remain. Cyrus’ son Cambyses II, who ruled from 529 to 522 BC, successfully crossed the hostile Sinai Peninsula on his way to conquering Egypt in a short campaign.
Darius, a relative of Cambyses, seized the crown in 522 BC after Cambyses died (see Darius I). Under Darius the empire flourished. His greatest work was perfecting the system of government begun by Cyrus. The empire was divided into 20 satrapies, or provinces, each ruled over by a satrap. Officials called the king’s eyes made regular visits to the satrapies and reported to the king. The satrapies furnished soldiers for the king’s armies. Phoenicia, Egypt, and the Greek colonies of Asia Minor also supplied ships and sailors. Each satrap paid a fixed yearly tribute to Darius the Great.
Enormous wealth flowed into the royal treasure houses of Susa, Persepolis, Pasargadae, and Ecbatana. When the king required money, he minted gold coins. To encourage commerce Darius standardized coins, weights, and measures; built imperial highways; and completed a canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea. He demanded strict enforcement of the severe “laws of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” Throughout his reign Darius was forced to suppress revolts in the empire. In 500 BC the Greek cities of Asia Minor rebelled. After putting down this rebellion, Darius turned on Athens to punish it for sending aid to the rebels. Beaten in the famous battle of Marathon, he prepared another expedition but died in 486 BC before it started. Xerxes, the son of Darius, ruled from 486 to 465 BC. He was a weak and tyrannical king who began his reign by quelling rebellions in Egypt and Babylon, then gathered a huge force to overwhelm Greece. It seemed as if the mighty empire must conquer the small, disunited Greek city-states. Yet Xerxes met disaster at Salamis and Plataea, and his great army was driven back into Asia (see Persian Wars). This defeat marked the first sign of decay in the Persian Empire. Persian history for the next 125 years was filled with conspiracies, assassinations, and the revolts of subject peoples ground down by ruinous taxation. The empire was briefly united under the bloodthirsty Artaxerxes III (originally Ochus), who ruled from about 359 to 338 BC. He killed many of his relatives and was then poisoned by his own physician. His son Arses, who succeeded him, was poisoned two years later and all his children slain. Darius III, a weakling, was on the throne when Alexander the Great of Macedon led his powerful army into Asia (see Alexander the Great). In the decisive battle of Issus (333 BC) Alexander captured the western half of the Persian Empire. Darius fled from the battlefield. He met Alexander again at Arbela (331 BC) and fled once more. Soon afterward one of Darius’ own followers murdered him. Thus the ancient line of Persian kings–the Achaemenian Dynasty–came to an end and with it the Persian Empire. Alexander marched on to Persepolis.
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After Alexander’s death in 323 BC one of his generals, Seleucus, seized Babylon and founded the Seleucid Dynasty. Parthia, a small kingdom in northern Persia, broke away, brought Persia under its rule, and built an empire that extended from the Bolan Pass to the Euphrates River. The Parthians were nomads noted for their splendid horses. In battle they adopted the ruse of pretending to flee, then wheeling and firing a hail of arrows on their pursuers–hence the phrase, “Parthian shot.” For 300 years they held off Rome.
Persia
Persia, Historic empire of ancient origins centered in modern Iran and at times extending well into southwest Asia. The modern successor state to this empire is Iran. Persia began its rise to prominence in about the 7th cent. BC and by the 6th cent. BC had become the dominant power of the ancient Near Eastern world. About this time Zoroastrianism arose in Persia and centuries later became the state religion of Persia (AD 3d cent.). After the 5th cent. BC, the power and fortunes of the empire rose and fell. Persia was conquered variously, notably by the Macedonian Greeks and the Muslims and its vast domains were greatly reduced. Persia nevertheless developed a distinctive culture which drew on Greek, Muslim, and other influences. After a long period of control by Arab Muslims and Turkic peoples, Persia again emerged in the 16th cent. as an independent empire. Modernization began in the early 20th cent., and in 1935 Persia was officially renamed Iran. (For subsequent history, see Iran.) Key dates in the history of Persia include:c1500 BC Medes and Persians migrated to the Iranian plateau.c700 BC Achaemenes founded Persian kingdom and the Achaemenid dynasty of Persian kings; kingdom was dominated by Media until 6th cent. BC.c628-c551 BC Zoroaster lived; founded Zoroastrianism, which became the religion of Persia in following centuries.c600-559 BC Cambyses I reigned; his son was Cyrus the Great.558-529 BC Cyrus (the Great) reigned; established Persian dominance over Media and Elam and greatly expanded Persian power and territory; borrowed freely from Assyrian and Babylonian cultures.546 BC Cyrus conquered Lydia in Asia Minor.539 BC Cyrus conquered Babylonia; Babylonian captivity of the Jews ended.529-522 BC Cambyses II reigned; murdered his brother Smerdis to secure his power and then pursued successful campaign to conquer Egypt; a false Smerdis seized throne (522) and Cambyses died on return from Egypt.522-486 BC Darius I (the Great) reigned after seizing power from the false Smerdis; put down revolts within the empire and reorganized domains into satrapies, or administrative districts; instituted effective communications system using horses; extended empire into northern India and ranged into Europe.499-479 BC Persian Wars; Darius and his successor Xerxes failed in their attempt to subjugate the Greeks, though Persia continued to influence affairs of Greek city-states in subsequent years.486-465 BC Xerxes I reigned; lost Persian Wars and fell into dissolute life at Susa; decline of empire began; Xerxes assassinated.464-425 BC Artaxerxes I reigned; put down revolt in Egypt (460-454 BC), permitted Jews to worship at Judaea, kept Persia out of the Peloponnesian War in Greece.405 BC Egypt successfully revolted against Persian rule.404-359 BC Artaxerxes II reigned, rule plagued by many revolts; royal palace at Susa rebuilt.401 BC
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great, d. 529 BC. Persian king (c550-529 BC), founder of the Persian Empire. He overthrew the Median king Astyages (c550 BC), conquered Lydia (c546 BC) and Babylonia (538 BC), and extended his empire into Asia. He freed the Jews in Babylonia, ending the Babylonian Captivity.
MEDES. Over the years various groups of people have dominated it in turn. One of these, the Medes, came into prominence in about 700 BC.
Unlike the Assyrians who preceded them, the Medes were not a Semitic people. They belonged to a group called Indo-Europeans, which includes the language family from whom most present-day inhabitants of Western Europe are descended.
Over several generations the Medes became increasingly powerful. By 612 BC their strength had grown to the point where under the leadership of King Cyaxares they launched a successful attack against the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.
In 550 BC the Medes were overthrown in turn by the forces of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Dynasty. The victorious Cyrus seized the throne of the Median king Astyages. The Persians, like the Medes, wereIn time the Medes merged with their Persian conquerors (see Persia).