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Persian Empire
At different times, under different ruling families, there were several different Persian Empires. Usually, the term refers to the Achaemenid dynasty empire founded by Cyrus the Great (559BC - 530BC) which was eventually conquered by Alexander the Great. To rule such a large empire, new groundbreaking systems were set up which influenced all who came after.
2,471 Questions
What are the comparison between the Achaemenids empire and the Mauryans empire?
the Persian empire was much bigger and a lot more powerful.
What did Alexander the Great think of the conquered Persians?
He thought of them as partners in the universal empire he was establishing. Some he appointed as provincial governors. He married all his senior leaders to Persian women to help create a uniform race.
Did Persia used to be called Iran?
Yes, until 1935 Iran was called Persia.
Persia was one of many countries where the exonym (the name other people call a country) and the endonym (the name the citizens of that country call it) were different. This came about mainly due to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran "Persis", meaning land of the Persians and this has continued long after the fall of Ancient Greece. A current example would be Germany. Germans have an endonym of Deutschland, but English speakers call it Germany, French speakers call it Allemagne, Polish speakers called it Niemcy, etc. The Persian endonym was Iran and in 1935, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran asked that all countries around the world use the term "Iran" in all future correspondence with the state (as opposed to the historic exonym Persia). It has stuck.
When did Persia change its name to Iraq?
Persia had existed under many different names over the millennia. It officially adopted the title Iraq in 1935, though people continued to use Persia for some time after that.
What area was never conquered by the Persians even at the height of their empire?
About 90 percent of the world - the Americas, eastern Asia, most of Africa, Europe, Oceania.
What ways would it be accurate to say that the Persians actually won over the Turks?
I'm not sure you can say it at all, both empires were not contemporary, and they weren't established in the same geographical area. The Ottoman Empire controled parts of Iran for a short time, but were eventually overthrown. As for "persians" ever winning over the Turks, I can't think of a single instance.
Did the Assyrian or Persian empire last the longest?
The problem here is that, in both cases, a great variety of periods are given the labels of Persian Empire and Assyrian Empire, when in fact there were periods of small area coverage or different rulers and influence by the basic ethnic peoples and the ruling classes, which were sometimes foreign. And this line of thought often entwines both peoples as if they were the same at some periods. 'Persian Empire' has been applied spasmodically to periods between 627 BCE to 1979 CE, while similarly Assyrian Empire' has been used to label periods from 25th Century BCE to 627 CE.
The main periods were Persia 549 to 330 BCE; Assyria 991 to 627 BCE. But there will be many people who will claim all sorts of periods outside that so where do you go?
What did the Persians allow conquered people to do as long as they paid taxes?
To live their own lifestyle peacefully under Persian protection.
What is the religion of most Persians?
Most Persians today are Muslim, but before the advent of Islam in Persia, most Persians were Zoroastrians.
What two armies worked together to defeat the Persians in 499 B. C.?
In 499 BCE the Greek city-states in Asia Minor revolted against Persian rule (Ionian Revolt) which the Persian provincial governor started to put down. It took him six years, but he won.
How is modern Persia like Iran?
Modern Persia IS Iran. The two names refer to the same country. Persia was an exonym (a word used by others to name the country) and Iran was an endonym (a word used by people of that country to refer to the country). In 1925, Reza Shah Pahlavi made the endonym Iran the official name of the country.
What is the period of Iranian history associated with the rule of Cyrus the Great known as?
The period of Iranian history associated with the rule of Cyrus the Great is known as the Achaemenid period.
What is the modern religion of the Persians?
No religion is called old or modern religion. God religions are revealed by God and remains as assigned and commanded by God. The main religion of Persians is Islam.
They had moved the aristocracy of Judea to Babylon and replaced them in Judea with one from Babylon. This was the way the Assyrians and the Chaldeans kept down conquered peoples - an imported foreign aristocracy would be unsympathetic to the people they ruled and would stop uprisings. So the Judean aristocracy was moved to Babylon to ule a different people there.
When Persian king Cyrus took over the Chaldean and Syrian empires, he allowed the Jewish aristocracy the choice of staying in Babylon or going back to Judaea to try to reclaim their old estates there. Half elected to stay in Babylon where they already controlled estates, the rest went beck to Judea where the lower classes of the Jews had remained; some were successful some weren't.
What began the Persians empire control?
Persia's absorption of Media gave it the strength to expand into an empire covering the Middle East, north Africa and central Asia.
How did Greek forces win the battle against the Persians at Marathon?
First, by a stratagem they were able to convince the Persian commander that the Greek fleet would try to flee through the back entrance to the Strait of Salamis, so the Persians diverted the 200-ship Egyptian contingent to cover that escape route. This evened up the fleets for the main battle.
Second, by positioning themselves inside the Island of Psytallia, this required the Persian fleet to split in two, and each to enter the strait on a narrow front, so that the Greek fleet was able to attack the Persian columns from the flanks. This, and the closeness of the shores minimised the manoeuvre space for the nominally larger and superior Persian triremes.
The Persians were not helped by the fact that they had been sitting at their oars outside the Strait all night to stop an expected Greek breakout, and were tired before they got into the battle the following morning, and a strong wind had raised the waves and pushed against their higher ship sides, making manoeuvre more difficult for them.
The Greeks had tried this at Artemesion opposite Thermopylae and come off second best. This time they picked the right location and overwhelmed the opposition.
What was the Persians religion called?
Zoroastrianism was Persia's official religion. The Avesta is the holy book of the adherents of Zarathustra, the Zoroastrians, the supreme god Ahuramazda.
King Darius says: Ahuramazda has granted unto me this empire. Ahuramazda brought me help,
until I gained this empire; by the grace of Ahuramazda do I hold this empire. The ancient Persian religion was called Zoroastrianism. The religion has adherents to this day.
Currently, the main Persian religion is Islam.
How did the Persians gain wealth and power before becoming an empire?
They were subsidiary to Media and took it over, then used this combined power to create their empire.
What other civilizations did the Persians interact with?
They interacted with the Egyptians, Greek, Gupta, Han Dynasty(China)
How did Themistocles get the Persians to attack their ships?
Themistocles sent the Persians misleading information, even pretending he was willing to switch sides. He told them the Greek fleet would try to escape through the rear passage from Salamis, causing the Persians to send a third of their fleet around to cover it. He also said that the fleet might try to get out through the eastern passage, so the Persians ships sat at their oars during the night waiting in the rough swell, and were exhausted when they attacked the following morning..
The Persians thought they had the Greeks trapped, and split their remaining fleet to go through the two passages towards Salamis, and going through the passages, went in line ahead. With the numbers of ships evened up, he waiting Greeks attacked the two strung-out lines from the flanks in the strait and defeated them.
Was Pakistan part of the Ancient Persian Achaemenian Empire?
Ancient Pakistan's history unravels itself with the Persians under Darius (522 B.C.- 486 B.C.) who made this region a province of Achaemenian Empire (or may be earlier under his grand-father Cyrus). Darius affirms this in his inscriptions at Persepolis and Naksh-e-Rustam mentioning Hapta Hindva (seven rivers) as a province of his Empire. The conquered provinces of the Punjab and Sindh were considered to be the richest and most populous satrapy of the Empire, to the revenues of which they were required to pay the enormous tribute of a million sterling. This 15th (20th) Satrapy of Darius' Empire extended up to Beas - almost the same area as now covered by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. A Pakistani contingent fought in Xerxes' army on his expedition to Ancient Greece. Herodotus mentions that the Indus satrapy supplied cavalry and chariots to the Persian army. He also mentions that the Indus people were clad in armaments made of cotton, carried bows and arrows of cane covered with iron. Herodotus states that in 517 B.C. Darius sent an expedition under Scylax to explore the Indus.
As part of the Persian Empire, Pakistan had a flourishing economy; inter-regional trade developed considerably and several caravan cities sprang up. Charsadda on the Peshawar road and Taxila near Rawalpindi were supposed to have been two of the many centres of trade and intellectual activity during the pax-Persica of the latter half of the 6th century B.C.
"The materials available to the scholar today indicate that the northwestern part of the sub-continent was an economically advanced province in the last centuries of the first millennium B.C. to the early first millennium of our era. Herodotus describes the Indians inhabiting the part of the sub-continent under the Achaemenids as the most numerous of all peoples known to him, a people who "paid (to the Achaemenids) a tribute which was great in Comparison to the others." (The Peoples of Pakistan). As such, as part of the Achaemenian Empire she became involved in Middle East politics. Since Darius had defeated the Greeks extending the western frontiers of his Empire up to River Danube, and since Pakistani troops had participated in this campaign and in another war against Greece under Xerxes (486-465 B.C.), when Alexander came out to take revenge for his country's previous defeats he made it a point to attack and annex Pakistan. The fact that Pakistan was part of the Persian Empire till Alexander's time is proved by the call which Darius III, the last of the Achaemenian dynasty was able to issue to troops of the satrapy when making his final stand at Arbela to resist the Greek invasion of Persia by Alexander. According to the historian, Arrian, some of the forces of Indus people were grouped with their neighbours, the Bactrians and the Sogdians, under the command of the satrap of Bactria at Arbela against Alexander.
An important point to be noted here is that even during the period Pakistan was under the Achaemenian Empire from the time of Darius, about 500 B.C. to the arrival of Alexander in 327 B.C., i.e., a span of almost two hundred years, it enjoyed complete autonomy. Its administration was under several local rulers (rajas) who merely acknowledged the suzerainty of the Persians. During the last days of the Achaemenians when the monarchy had become decadent autonomy was asserted to a still greater extent.
"Alexander's invasion of the Punjab (326 B.C.) is sometimes mentioned as marking the beginning of Greek influence upon the Indian continent. Though this statement is in a sense true, it is probably more accurate to say that because the Achaemenian Empire included the north-west and Alexander took it over in conquering that empire, it was natural that Hellenism, on developing in that Empire after Alexander's time, should enter the North-West. (Present-day Pakistan).
