ATS 5 - Assyria & Persia

Question 1

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

Who was Cyaxeres?

(Umakištar)

Answer 1

Median king (?) c. 620-585 BCE

_{ATS 7aa}

Question 2

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

Who was Astyages?

(Iš-tu-me-gu)

Answer 2

Median king c. 585-550 BCE

_{ATS 7ab}

Question 3

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Cyrus rule?

Answer 3

559-530 BCE

_{ATS 7ac}

Question 4

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Cambyses II rule?

Answer 4

529-522 BCE

_{ATS 7ad}

Question 5

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Darius I rule?

Answer 5

521-486 BCE

_{ATS 7ae}

Question 6

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Xerxes rule?

Answer 6

485-465 BCE

_{ATS 7af}

Question 7

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Artaxerxes rule?

Answer 7

465-424 BCE

_{ATS 7ag}

Question 8

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Darius II rule?

Answer 8

423-404 BCE

_{ATS 7ah}

Question 9

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Artaxerxes II rule?

Answer 9

404-358 BCE

_{ATS 7ai}

Question 10

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Artaxerxes III rule?

Answer 10

358-338 BCE

_{ATS 7aj}

Question 11

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did Darius III rule?

Answer 11

336-330 BCE

_{ATS 7ak}

Question 12

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule.

When did the Achaemenid Persion Empire End?

Answer 12

Alexander burns Persepolis ending the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 330 BCE

_{ATS 7al}

Question 13

According to Herodotus, where did Cambyses takes Egypt?

(and what happened in response)

4 points.

Answer 13

Cambyses took Egypt at the battle of Pelusiumin - Egyptian Delta

• 26 BCE Cyrus son Cambyses takes Egypt
• Spring 522 Cambyses leaves Egypt to respond to revolt of Gaumata (impersonating Smerdis - Cambyses brother)
• Cambyses dies enroute “by his own hand”
• Autumn 522 BCE Darius “foils” Gaumata’splot and becomes King of Persia

_{ATS 7am}

Question 14

What is the Bisotun inscription?

3 points.

Answer 14

Bisotun inscription in Old Persian, Babylonian, and ElamiteAhuraMazda in winged disc

• Recounts victory of Darius over “imposter” Gaumata
• Copies of the inscription disseminated across the empire
• Herodotus may have based his history (with many embellishments) on the actual inscription

_{ATS 7an}

Question 15

Who first excavated Pasargadae?

Answer 15

Ernst Herzfeld excavated Pasargadae in 1928 but no detailed publication

_{ATS 7ao}

Question 16

Who excavated Pasargadae for the British Institute?

Answer 16

David Stronach excavated Pasargadae 1961-1963

_{ATS 7ap}

Question 17

Who is currently excavating Pasargadae?

Answer 17

Landscape archaeology by the Joint Iran-French-Australian (Monash) Project

Pasargadae has now been named a UNESCO World Heritage site

2015-2018

_{ATS 7aq}

Question 18

How were Achaemenid satrapies (provinces) and royal road described by Herodotus?

5 points.

Answer 18

• The word satrapy is a Greek adaptation of probably a Median word
• Not clear if the geographic interpretation of the word (equivalent to a province) was used by the Persians
• They refer to satraps as governors or administrators but not to satrapies
• Satraps had controlling power over a region although they could be countermanded by king
• Royally appointed judges also held regional power

_{ATS 7ar}

Question 19

What do the Persepolis Fortification Tablets show us?

8 points.

Answer 19

• Main primary source for Achaemenidadministration system
• Found in a bastion in the fortification wall of the terrace
• 15,000+ Elamite cuneiform tablets
• 500+ texts in Aramaic (ink on tablets or ceramic sherds)
• Records produced by the operations of a single administrative organization in the years around 500 BC
• Mostly records of ration (or in kind payment) distribution
• Show that temples (gods) from different religious traditions (Elamite, Babylonian, unknown gods) were provided for
• Show traffic along the main road systems (messengers receiving rations)

_{ATS 7as}

Question 20

Describe Statue of Darius I from Susa

3 points.

Answer 20

Evidence for multi-culturalism of Persian imperial ideology

• Made in Egypt of Egyptian stone (greywacke from the quarries of the Wadi Hammamat)
• Egyptian style of striding figure statue, Persian dress
• Egyptian hieroglyphics on base depicting subject nations

_{ATS 7at}

Question 21

The evidence - Historians

Who was Herodotus Greek Historian

5 points.

Answer 21

(c. 485-425 BCE)

• Single work survives as a history/geography/anthropology of the ancient world we call the Histories
• Written between 450 and 430 BCE
• Herodotus is the main (virtually the only) source for Greco-Persian wars
• Until relatively recently almost all of Achaemenid Persian history writing in the west was derived from Herodotus
• The stated intention of the Histories was to record the conflict between Greece and Persia

_{ATS 7au}

Question 22

What is Orientalism?

Answer 22

Term coined by Edward Said to describe the mix of romanticism and derogation with which Western art, literature and academics describe Eastern cultures

_{ATS 7av}

Question 23

What is an example of the orientalist worldview lumping together all visions of “eastern” culture

Answer 23

Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja Statue at Raigad Fort, India 1674~1680 CE is clearly the model for Xerxes throne in 300

_{ATS 7aw}

Question 24

Chronology of Median and Persian Rule

What happened to Nineveh

Answer 24

In 612 BC Medes and Babylonians sack Nineveh

_{ATS 7ax}

Question 25

Characteristics of empire

How was direct political control of conquered territories managed in Assyria?

Answer 25

Appointment of Assyrian governors over conquered territories

Direct political control of conquered territories
In Assyria: Appointment of Assyrian governors over conquered territories
In Persia: Consolidation of satrapalsystem of government where satraps were responsible for foreign territories but controlled by an army governed by the centre
Control of diverse ethnic/political/religious groups
In Assyria: Massive population exchanges via deportation
In Persia: Incorporation of foreign gods into tributary system and king’s titulary
Ideology of territorial expansion
In Assyria: Military annals and narrative reliefs
In Persia: Visual and Textual incorporation of foreign elements into ideal of Persian kingship

_{ATS 7ay}

Question 26

Characteristics of empire

How was Direct political control of conquered territories managed in Persia?

Answer 26

Consolidation of satrapal system of government where satraps were responsible for foreign territories but controlled by an army governed by the centre

_{ATS 7az}

Question 27

Characteristics of empire

How was Control of diverse ethnic/political/religious groups managed in Assyria?

Answer 27

Massive population exchanges via deportation

_{ATS 7ba}

Question 28

Characteristics of empire

How was Control of diverse ethnic/political/religious groups managed in Persia?

Answer 28

Incorporation of foreign gods into tributary system and king’s titulary

_{ATS 7bb}

Question 29

Characteristics of empire

How was Ideology of territorial expansion managed in Assyria?

Answer 29

Military annals and narrative reliefs

_{ATS 7bc}

Question 30

Characteristics of empire

How was Ideology of territorial expansion managed in Persia?

Answer 30

Visual and Textual incorporation of foreign elements into ideal of Persian kingship

_{ATS 7bd}