PERSIAN EMPIRE

PERSIAN EMPIRE
• The name “Persian” comes from the people’s original tribal
name Parsua.

• This was also the name they gave they live which was
bounded by Tigris River to the west and the Persian Gulf to
the East

• The Longest reigning Persian King is Artaxerxes II from 404

to 358 BC.He rule for 45 years. His reign was a time of
peace and prosperity in the empire.

• The capital of the Empire is Persepolis. This is greek for

Persian City.

• The Persian Empire started as a collection of semi-nomadic

tribes who raised sheep,goats and cattle on the Iranian
plateau.
It grew through military conquest to cover a huge region that roughly encompasses
today's
• Iran
• Iraq,
• Armenia
• Afghanistan
• Turkey
• Bulgaria
• many parts of Greece
• Egypt
• Syria,
• much of what is now Pakistan
• Jordan
• Israel
• the West Bank
• the Gaza Strip
• Lebanon
• Caucasia
• Central Asia
• Libya
• Northern parts of Arabia.
 PERSEPOLIS
◦ The ancient Persian capital city of Persepolis, situated in southern Iran, ranks among the
world’s greatest archeological sites. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

◦ The Achaemenian palaces of Persepolis were built upon massive terraces. They were
decorated with ornamental facades that included the long rock relief carvings for which the
ancient Persians were famous.
HISTORY
By Marinella Nicolle Cansilao
HISTORY OF THE PERSIAN
EMPIRE
Cyrus the Great
◦ the leader of one such tribe-began to defeat nearby kingdoms, including Media,
Lydia and Babylon, joining them in one rule.
◦ He founded the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire in 550
BC.
◦ The first Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great soon became the world’s first
superpower.
◦ It united under one government three important sites of early human civilization in
the ancient world:
Mesopotamia
Egypt’s River-Valley
India’s Indus Valley
◦The Cyrus Cylinder is a clay cylinder inscribed in 539 BC with
the story of how he conquered Babylon from King Nabonidus.
◦Darius the Great, the fourth king of the Achaemenid Empire, ruled over the
Persian Empire when it was at its largest, stretching from The Caucasus and
West Asia to what was then Macedonia (today’s Balkans), the Black Sea,
Central Asia, and even into Africa including parts of Libya and Egypt.
◦He unified the empire through introducing standard currency and weights and
measures; making Aramaic the official language and building roads.
The Behistun Inscription, a multilingual relief carved into Mount
Behistun in Western Iran, extolls his virtues and was a critical key to
deciphering cuneiform script. Its impact is compared that of the
Rosetta Stone, the tablet that enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian
hieroglyphics
GEOGRAPHY
• Persia is one of the world's most mountainous
countries.

• There are no major river systems in the country, and

historically transportation was by means of caravans
that followed routes traversing gaps and passes in
the mountains.
• The mountains also impeded easy access to the
Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
THE SOCIAL ASPECTS
OF
PERSIA
 KING
PRIESTS
MILITARY
TRADERS
FARMERS
SLAVES
KINGS AND PRIESTS
◦ The kings are their rulers and fought in wars
◦ The priests are authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion and are
allowed to interfere or question the decisions of the king
MILITARY AND TRADERS
◦ The Military are in high class because being part of the military was considered a
huge honor and the soldier and their families has special benefits
FARMERS AND SLAVES
◦ Peasants were the people who belonged to traditional class of farmers, either
laborers or owners of small farms
◦ Slave were the lowest in the social class and they had the least amount of
privileges and they didn’t have any rights
RULERS OF
PERSIA
By: Jorge Balicoco
Cyrus II (559-530 BCE), also known as Cyrus the Great.
 The first king of the Persian Empire.
 Cyrus the great led several military campaigns

- Battle of Hyrba
 Cyrus II conquered the Media (Medes) in 550 BCE
- Battle of Thymbra
 He conquered the Lydian Kingdom in 546 BCE
- Battle of Opis
 He conquered the capital of Neo-Babylonian Empire in
539 BCE which caused it’s fall
Cambyses, king of Persia (reigned 529–
522 BCE)
 He conquered Egypt in 525 BCE.
 He was the son of King Cyrus the Great.
- Battle of Pelusium
 Egypt, which he conquered after his victory
over the Egyptian pharaoh Psamtik III ( r . 526
– 525 BCE) at the battle of Pelusium in 525 BCE.
 Then the Fertile Crescent is controlled by the
Persian Empire
DARIUS THE GREAT (C. 522-486 BCE), ALSO KNOWN AS
DARIUS I

 His reign lasted 36 years, from c. 522 to 486 BCE; during this time the Persian Empire reached its peak.
 Darius led military campaigns in Europe, Greece, and even in the Indus valley, conquering lands and expanding
his empire.
 Darius also improved the legal and economic system and conducted impressive construction projects across
the Persian Empire.
 Darius built at least two large palace cities: Persepolis and Susa, which replaced Pasargadae as capital of the
Persian empire.
 Tachara
Palace in
Persepolis

Apadana
Palace in Susa
 DARIUS III
 His Original Name is Artashata

 He changed his name to Darius III after he came to

power.

 The Greek under Alexander the Great were preparing to

invade Persia and the Persian’s weren’t fully prepared to
deal with this situation because they were distracted by
the events that were taking place inside of the Persian
court.
 Darius loses three battles with Alexander and is finally
defeated in 331. He is murdered in 330 B.C. The
great Persian Empire is no more. The Persian
Empire began with conquest and ended with defeat, but it
will always be remembered as a powerful force that swept
through the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.

 Alexander ruled the largest empire of the ancient world. His

victory at the battle of Gaugamela on the Persian plains was a
decisive conquest that insured the defeat of his Persian rival
King Darius III.

 The Persian Empire now belonged to the Greeks

Persian
Religion
Many people think of Persia as synonymous
with Islam, though Islam only became the
dominant religion in the Persian Empire
after the Arab conquests of the seventh
century. The first Persian Empire was
shaped by a different religion:
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is named after the Persian
prophet Zoroaster (also known as
Zarathustra). It is arguably the world’s
first monotheistic religion, it is still
practiced today in some parts of Iran and
India.
Who is Zoroaster?

Zoroaster, who likely lived sometime

between 1500 and 500 B.C., taught
followers to worship one god instead of
the many deities worshipped by earlier
Indo-Iranian groups.
 The God praised by Darius the I is Ahura
Mazda
Ahura Mazda (also known as Ahuramazda, Harzoo,
Hormazd, Hourmazd, Hurmuz, Ohrmazd, 'Lord' or
'Spirit') is the spirit worshipped in Zoroastrianism,
the Persian religion which spread across Asia
predating Christianity. Ahura Mazda is the creator
of the universe and all the things in it, being at the
same time wise and good.
Ahura Mazda carries a long list of titles and
characteristics. He is the supreme being in
Garothman (heaven), the uncreated spirit. Beyond,
apart and without him, there is nothing in
existence. He is changeless, moving all while not
being moved by anyone. Has no equal and no one
can take the heavens from him. He favors the just
man, upholding the truth and proper behavior.
Ahura Mazda created the twin spirits, Angra
Mainyu, the destructive spirit, and Spenta Meynu,
the good spirit.
Inscriptions from the Persia sites of
Behistun, Naqsh-i-Rustam, Susa, and
Darius I’s capital of Persepolis –
written in the languages of Old
Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian in the
cuneiform script – all attest to his
allegiance to Ahuramazda.
An inscription from Persepolis is characteristic of
all Darius I’s texts from Persia: “Saith Darius the
King: May Ahuramazda bear me aid, with the
gods of the royal house; and may Ahuramazda
protect this country from a (hostile) army, from
famine, from the Lie! Upon this country may
there not come an army, nor famine, nor the Lie;
this I pray as a boon from Ahuramazda together
with the gods of the royal house. This boon may
Ahuramazda together with the gods of the royal
house give to me!”
Picture of Ahura Mazda
Thank you
TRADING
◦The first coins ever minted in Persia were
issued under the rule of Darius I.
◦The economy was based from the trade
system.
◦Network roads and the wide use of
standardized coins promoted trade. Trade
helped to hold together the empire.
◦Darius I reform strengthened the economy.
TRADING

► The institution of the first distinctively Persian coinage is

credited to Darius I (522-486 BC). He issued gold coins,
which became famous as “darics”. Their design depicted
the king in a running position holding a spear or bow.
 AGRICULTURE
◦Farming in the Persian empire was difficult. To deal
with the arid climate the Persians developed an
irrigation system. This largely resulted from the
increased use of the qanat, an underground water
channel which carried water from hills to plains and
which allowed large areas of land in arid landscapes to
be irrigated and turned over to productive cultivation.
◦The economic foundation of Persian society was
agriculture. Because of the vast size of the Persian
Empire crops from one region were introduced to
another.
 AGRICULTURE
◦The most commonly grown crops were barley
and wheat, but peas, lentils (a form of bean)
mustard, garlic, onions, cucumbers, dates,
apples, pomegranates, pears and apricots
also were cultivated.
 AGRICULTURE
◦Wine production also became one of Persia's
more common commodities.
ROADS/
ARCHITECTURE
◦Darius ordered the construction of new roads,
and the upgrading and maintenance of
existing ones. The backbone of the empire’s
road network was the “Royal Road”, which
connected Susa with Sardis.
ROADS/
ARCHITECTURE
ROADS/
ARCHITECTURE
◦The ability to concentrate wealth combined
with the expansion of the territory under
Achaemenid control allowed Darius to pay for
the construction of an impressive new
imperial capital, called Parsa, better known to
history as Persepolis, which in Greek means
city of the Persians.
ROADS/
ARCHITECTURE
GOVERNMENT
◦Persian government was a monarchy system in
which the kings had the final say so in how
things where supposed to be handled.
◦Persian rulers claimed the proud title of “King of
Kings” and demanded total obedience from
their subjects. Under King Darius, the empire
was divided into 20 provinces to try to stop any
single region from becoming too powerful. Each
province was ruled by a governor, called a
SATRAP.
GOVERNMENT
◦Satraps were local rulers
appointed by the king to
govern individual
provinces. Their job was to
enforce law and order, and
to collect taxes and
tributes. They worked with
Persia’s army commanders
to defend the empire’s
frontiers from enemy
attack.
GOVERNMENT
◦Persian kings did not trust the satraps. They
employed special spies, known as “the king’s
ears,” to make sure that the satraps were not
stealing taxes and tributes. But some satraps
did become powerful, and plotted against the
king. Some joined with enemies of the empire,
such as Alexander the Great, the Greek leader
who conquered the Persian Empire in 331 BC.
GOVERNMENT
◦Persian Soldiers: The
Persian empire was
the first attempt to
govern different
racial groups on the
principle of equal
responsibilities and
right for all peoples.
THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING!
PERSIAN EMPIRE
CONTRIBUTIONS
By Sophia Mina F. Hernandez
7-Archimedes
Human Rights (the Cyrus
cylinder)
• The Persians were the first to maintain a charter for
human rights. A cylindrical baked clay, more
prominently called the “Cyprus Cylinder” which was
issued by Cyrus the Great that dates back to 539 B.C.
when he took Babylon from Nabonidus, ending the
Neo-Babylonian empire. The contents on the cylinder
are in Akkadian cuneiform script and pertain to
equality of race, religion and language.
the Cyrus cylinder
Satrap
• As the head of the administration of they province,
the satrap collected taxes and was the supreme
judicial authority; they was responsible for internal
security and raised and maintained an army. To guard
against abuse of powers, Darius instituted a system
of controls over the satrap.
Satrap
Royal road
◦The Royal Road was an ancient highway reorganized
and rebuilt by the Persian king Darius the Great
(Darius I) of the first (Achaemenid) Persian Empire in
the 5th century BCE. Darius built the road to facilitate
rapid communication throughout his very large
empire. This road was huge and had the length of
1,700 miles and it spanned from Susa to Sardis.
Royal road
Postal Service
• The Royal Road made possible one of the world's first
postal systems. Along it lay some 80 stations, where
one horsebound mail carrier could pass the mail on to
another.

• Mail in the Persian Empire, however, was not just for

anyone: only the king and important leaders such as
the satraps could use the postal system. The idea of
ordinary people being able to mail letters did not take hold
until the 1600s in England.
Postal Service
Animation
• According to historical documents, ancient Iranians were the
first people to invent the art of animation. The first
discovered animation in the world is drawn on terracotta
discovered in Shahr-e Sukhteh (the remains of an ancient
city-state in southeastern Iran, dating back to the third
millennium BCE).
• It is an earthenware goblet discovered in the Burnt City in
the Sistan and Baluchestan province is believed to be 5,200
years old. The goblet depicts a series of drawings of a goat
jumping towards a tree and eating its leaves.
Animation
Taxation system
• A most important component of the Achaemenid state
administration. According to Herodotus (3.89), in the Persian
empire under Cyrus II and Cambyses subjects were obliged
to deliver only gifts, and regular taxes were first assessed
under Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE).
• However, in the Achaemenid empire state taxes existed
already during Cyrus’s time. But under Cyrus and
Cambyses there still was no firmly regulated system of
taxes, since people who did not pay taxes had to deliver
gifts, and vice versa.
Taxation system
Qanat (water supply system)
• A qanat is a gently sloping underground channel that
carries water from an aquifer or water well to houses
and fields.
• It is used for the irrigation of crops and for drinking
water. It is an old system of supplying water from deep
wells via a series of vertical access shafts.
• It is still a reliable means of supplying water to human
settlements and for irrigation in hot, arid and semi-arid
climates.
Qanat (water supply system)
Yakhchal (Refrigerator)
• The yakhchal is an ancient evaporation cooler which has a
two-fold meaning: yakh means “ice” and chal means “pit.”
• These ancient refrigerators were mainly built and used in
Persia.
• The Persians had mastered the technique of building and using
the yakhchal by 400 BC.
• The structure above the ground was dome-shaped and had a
subterranean storage space. Using thick, heat-resistant
construction materials, the subterranean storage space was
insulated year-round.
Yakhchal (Refrigerator)
Battery
• A ceramic pot, a metal tube, and a rod of a different
metal were used to create the Baghdad Battery or
Parthian Battery.
• The artifacts were found in Mahoze, or modern-day
Khujut Rabu.
• The battery was tested by Western scientists who
found that when the battery jar was filled with vinegar
(or another electrolyte), it generated a current of 1.5 to
2.0 volts.
Battery