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Cyrus the Great. The Indian Express, Indian Express, indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/iranians-mark-international-day-of-cyrus-the-great-in-pune-3729049/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.

Daniel, Elton L., and Ali Akbar Mahdi. Culture and Customs of Iran. 2006.

"Darius the Great." Iran Chamber Society, www.iranchamber.com/history/darius/darius.php. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
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-Due to the empire’s large area of land and need for trade and communication, Darius the Great developed the Royal Road, which stretched from Susa, the ancient capital of the empire, to the Aegean Sea.
-With the Royal Road in place, merchants could travel throughout the empire to trade goods.
-It also made communication much easier as it also allowed for the creation of a postal service linking the capital and all of the provinces (satrapies).
-Common goods traded within the empire included textiles, olive oil, and wheat. Ideas were also shared along the Royal Road.

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-Persian language during ancient times belonged to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages and consisted of two languages; Avestan, which contains the earliest religious texts of the Zoroastrians, and Old Persian.
-The cuneiform of the Achaemenids is the only written evidence of Old Persian, but there is evidence of heroic poetry from Zoroastrian religious literature and Greek historians.
-Middle Persian was the language that was spoken and written in during the Sassanid Period.
-Throughout the existence of the Persian empire, despite there being little from the Persians themselves and most of the information found on them being recorded by a Greek named Herodotus, there was a strong tradition of poetry and general literature of entertainment.

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-The main religion of the Persian Empire was Zoroastrianism, which was founded by a prophet named Zoroaster, whom preached the coming of a Kingdom of Goodness, Life, and Love.
-It was one of the first, if not the first, monotheistic religions in the world, and worshiped Ahura Mazda.
-The hymns of Zoroastrianism are found within the Gathas, which is similar to the Old Testament due to its lofty hymns, but, to contrast, it lacks vengeance and nationalism.
-Zoroastrianism also has an “Evil Spirit”, known as Ahriman. Ahura Mazda was the creator of life, light, and goodness, while Ahmiran was the lord of death, darkness, and evil.
-The Persians believed that every person’s thoughts, words, and deeds were recorded, and on the Day of Judgement, the person would be destined to go to Hell if they were more evil than good, or paradise if they were more good than evil.
-Zoroastrianism, however, was not the only religion practiced in the Persian Empire. Conquered peoples were allowed to retain their religions, so there were various religions found within the society.

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-At the top of the social hierarchy of the Persian Empire was the king. He symbolized both power and unity in the society.
-Following the king were the priests, the aristocracy, warriors, traders, craftsmen, peasants, and, finally, slaves, but they were rarely used.
-Conquered peoples were treated fairly, the only difference between them and the Persians being that they had to pay taxes. Each group were able to keep their culture, religion, and language since the Persians did not force their own beliefs and traditions onto them.

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-The Persian Empire was ruled by a king that had great power and rank.
-The empire was also a dynasty, meaning the government of the empire had a line of hereditary rulers. So, often times, the eldest son of the king during a specific period of time would inherit the throne when their father died.
-During times of conquest, which was usually one of the main focuses for the king, conquered peoples were expected to join the empire, follow the laws, and respect their new leader.
-Darius the Great reorganized the empire by dividing it into satrapies. Each satrapy, also known as a province, was appointed a political governor known as a satrap and a military commander.

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-The main source of wealth was agricultural and pastoral.
-It was not a slave society. Instead, there were different classes of workers depending on how skilled they were that were paid to build public works, which included women and children.
-Wealth was gained in the empire through taxation of conquered peoples. Persians were not required to participate in taxation due to the wealth from conquered civilizations being enough to support the empire.

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Art, Architecture, and Technology Advances

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Art, Architecture, and Technology Advances

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-The art and architecture of the Persian empire was a blend of the many civilizations of the ancient world, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, the Greek cities, and India.
-It differed from the art and architecture of many other Middle Eastern peoples, considering there included a roundness to figures presented in their art and architecture, as well as clothing on the figures being shown in relation to the contours of the body, making it more realistic.
-Additionally, Persian art and architecture didn’t include savagery or war. It was instead much more contemplative and focused more on spiritual conflicts.
-Architecture in the Achaemenid Period had the richest collection of architectural works in the pre-Islamic period and consisted of huge gray and slender stone palaces, mausoleums, and fire-temples, some of which have survived to this day. Columns, reliefs, terraces, stone towers and pedestals, and pediments were typical aspects to ancient Persian architecture.
-Two of the most known structures from the Persian empire that have come to represent pre-Islamic Persian architecture includes Persepolis, which was an impressive complex of palaces that was planned by Darius the Great to act as a seat for his government and to showcase imperial receptions and festivals, and the Pasargadae Palace that was built during the reign of Cyrus the Great. The Pasargadae Palace may have also had one of the first Persian gardens, which have appeared frequently in around the world in landscaping. The include a carved stone watercourse with trees and shrubs planted symmetrically in plots, developing a geometric pattern.
-When the Parthians took over the Persian empire from Greek rule, they moved away from the Greek designs that had been used in architecture and began using European ogee and cut stones. They also began using stucco for making walls and ceilings and developed ayvâns, audience halls leading to a domed chamber.
-When the Sassanids took over, architecture returned to the glory of the Achaemenid Period. Wall paintings and the use of colorful mosaics were also used.
-The Persians developed many technologies, such as qanāts, which are underground canals used for irrigation that were developed in the Achaemenid Period, as well as wind-powered water pumps. They are also believed to have developed the first batteries, known as the Baghdad Battery, in the Parthian Period.

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-The founder of Persia’s ruling house, or government, was Hakhāmanesh, also known as Achaemenes.
-Cyrus the Great was the first and one of the most significant leaders the Persians saw in the Achaemenid Period, named after Achaemenes, from 550 to 530 BCE. He was the one to expand Persia into an empire by overthrowing the Median king, Astyages, in modern-day northwestern Iran to create a Persian-Median empire in 549 BCE. To do this, he took over Iranian tribes in the east, defeated King Croesus of Lydia and annexed his kingdom in 547 BCE, took over the Greek city-state of Ionia, and occupied Babylon in 539 BCE.
-Cyrus the Great’s son, Cambyses ll, also expanded the empire by conquering Egypt when he ruled from 530 to 522 BCE.
-Another significant leader was Darius the Great, whom took over the empire by defeating an imposter pretending to be the slain Bardiya, the brother of Cambyses ll, who had just been killed. He ruled from 522 to 486 BCE, and during his rule, developed the Royal Road and postal system, created the empire’s communication system, linked the Nile and the Red Sea with a new canal, introduced coinage to the people of the society, and reorganized the army with the creation of an elite guard called the Immortals.
-The Achaemenid Period of Persia was destroyed in 330 BCE when Alexander the Great invaded and conquered the throne, causing a Greek period of rule under the Seleucids. The Persians weren’t able to take over again until 238 BCE when an eastern kingdom, known as Parthia, led by a king named Arsaces overthrew the Greeks and began the Parthian Period of the empire.
-In 224 CE, the Parthians were defeated when Ardashir, the leader of a priestly family in the province of Persia, overthrew and killed the governor of his province, and later the king, Artabanus V, in 228 CE, beginning the Sassanid Period. Ardashir successfully recreated the borders of the Achaemenid Period through military campaigns.
-The Sassanid Period reached its peak under Khosrow l from 531 to 579 CE and Khosrow ll from 591 to 628 CE. Koshrow l put down a major socioreligious uprising led by the Mazdakites, reorganized the administrative structure of the empire, promoted a cultural revival, and gave refuge to pagan Greek philosophers fleeing oppression by the Christian Byzantine rulers. Khosrow ll put down a major rebellion by a general from a Parthian family and engaged in a major war with the Byzantines, capturing Jerusalem in 614 CE and Egypt in 616 CE, reaching the Bosphorus Strait in 617 CE.

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Persian Civilization (Modern-Day Iran) by Maria Donahue-WHAP First Period

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Persian Civilization (Modern-Day Iran) by Maria Donahue-WHAP First Period

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Name of Civilization - Persia
Time Period - Lasted from 550 BCE to 651 CE with three periods of rule; the Achaemenid Period from 550 to 330 BCE, the Parthian Period from 238 BCE to 224 CE, and the Sassanid Period from 224to 651 CE.
Conrad-Demarest Model of Empires - Civilization does fit the requirements:
1. Preconditions for the Rise of an Empire
-Was divided into provinces (satarpies) that had its own government.
-No province was the most powerful since all provinces were ruled by the emperor.
-Built dams on the rivers and used qanāts, which is an underground irrigation system, to be able to depend on the water in the dry environment, allowing for high agricultural potential.
-Mutual antagonism was inevitable due to the large number of different peoples conquered.
2. Building the Empire with a Unifying Ideology
-Conquered peoples were forced to accept the king as their leader and respect him since he is above all, as well as pay taxation.
-In return, conquered peoples could continue to practice their religion and retain their language and culture.
3. Rewards of Empire
-Taxation allowed for immense wealth for the elites and relative stability of the society.
-Taxes also allowed for the construction of many public works that lower classes could use, such as roads.
4. Fall of Empires
- The Achaemenid Period fell and was taken over by the Greeks for a period of time due to failed leadership during war.
-The Parthian Period fell due to rebellion from within and failure to create a viable government or unified empire.
-The Sassanid Period and Persian Empire as a whole fell due inside rebellion that led to failed leadership of the society.