THE PERSIAN EMPIRE: The Achaemenid Dynasty

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THE PERSIAN EMPIRE The Achaemenid Dynasty

• (550330 B.C.)

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• Empire
• a major political unit having a territory of
  great extent or a number of territories or
  peoples under a single sovereign authority
  especially one having an emperor as chief of
  state
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary

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Persian Empires

• Contemporary Iran
• Four major dynasties
• Achaemenids (558-330 BCE)
• Seleucids (323-283 BCE)
• Parthians (247 BCE-224 CE)
• Sasanids (224-651 CE)

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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

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The Persian Empire

• Homeland lay on the Iranian plateau
• Famous monarchs
• -Cyrus (reigned 557-530 BCE)
• -Darius (reigned 522-486 BCE)
• Persian conquests reached from Egypt to India
• A single state of some 35 million people
• Cultural diversity
• Centered on an elaborate cult of kingship

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• Effective administrative system
• Persian governors (satraps) were placed in each
  of the empires twenty-three provinces
• Lower-level officials drawn from local
  authorities
• System of imperial spies
• Respect for non-Persian cultural traditions
• -Cyrus allowed Jews who had been exiled in
  Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild
  their temple in Jerusalem in 539 BCE
• Model for future regimes with its administrators,
  tax collectors, record keepers, and translators

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• System of standardized coinage
• Predictable taxes levied on each province
• Newly dug canal linking the Nile with the Red Sea
• A royal road, some 1,700 miles long
• -Facilitating communication and commerce

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Persepolis
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Persepolis
Gate of Xerxes at Persepolis
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Persepolis
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Persepolis
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Ancient Persepolis
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Persepolis
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The People of Persepolis
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