Book 1 Shorter, Chapter 3, Set 1

Question 1

Describe the events leading up to the founding of the Persian Empire. (page 92)

Answer 1

The Neo-Assyrians had ruled lands between the Zagros Mountains of Iran and the Mediterranean. Their empire fell when the Babylonians sacked their capital of Ashur in 621 BCE. The bulk of their lands were take over by a dynasty ruling from the capital of Babylon. However, this Neo-Babylonian empire would fall to the first Persian king, Cyrus, less than one hundred years later.

Question 2

Describe the origins of the Persian Empire. (page 92)

Answer 2

The Persians and Medes were among a group of small states and peoples residing at the edge of the Meopotamian states of Assyria and Babylonia. Cyrus was a Persian king who conquered lands surrounding Mesopotamia in the mid-6th century BCE before moving on to the heartland itself. Through the military conquests of Cyrus and his son Cambyses (who invaded Egypt in 524 BCE), the Persians went from being a small tribal elite from the Iranian plateau to being a world empire.

Question 3

Describe the succession struggle in the Persian Empire after the death of Cambyses. (page 92 & 93)

Answer 3

Cambyses was the son of the first Persian king Cyrus. When he died, his extensive empire fell to his brother Bardiya. However, Cambyses’ son Darius I accused Bardiya of being a usurper and took over the throne.

Question 4

Describe the fall of the Persian Empire. (page 93)

Answer 4

The last of the Achaemenid dynasty begun by Cyrus was Darius III, who lost half of his empire to Alexander the Great. Darius III was apparently imprisoned and killed by his own entourage after battles with Alexander in 330 BCE.

Question 5

Describe the interaction between the ancient Greek city-states and the Persian Empire. (page 93)

Answer 5

It was mostly an adversarial relationship. When Greek city-states on the Ionian coast revolted against Persia in the 490s BCE, Athens and Eretria sent support from the Greek mainland. The Persians regarded this as a rebellion, and sent a punitive expedition in 490 BCE, and another led by Darius’ son Xerxes in 480 BCE. Some of the Greek cities returned to Persian rule immediately, but others remained defiant. Persia would eventually withdraw from Greece.

Question 6

Describe the origins of the Greek city-states. (page 94)

Answer 6

The Mycenaean culture flourished before the rise of the city-states in Mycenae, Greece. Afterward, there was a “dark age” about which little is known between 1100 to 750 BCE. At the start of the Archaic period, (c. 750 - 480 BCE) increasing Mediterranean populations fueled the rise of city states like Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth. By the 7th century BCE, Athens was emerging as a leading city-state. Central to its identity was its legal system. Around 621 BCE, the Athenian magistrate Draco enacted a series of strict laws – probably the city’s first legal code. Later, the Athenian statesman Solon (c. 630 - 560 BCE) brought in laws to help protect the rights of “ordinary” people.

Question 7

Who was Cleisthenes? (page 94)

Answer 7

An Athenian magistrate (c. 570 - 508 BCE) who instituted major reforms in the system of rule. He changed the Athenian tribal system and permanently altered Athen’s political structure. He divided the citizens into ten “tribes”, each named after an Athenian hero. These areas were further divided into “demes”, the smallest voting districts.

Question 8

Who was Pericles? (page 94)

Answer 8

An Athenian 5th-century statesman (c. 495 - 429 BCE) who moved Athens further towards democracy. He set up juried courts, moving judicial power from the city council to the citizens. Its assembly became a democratic council where all male citizens, regardless of background or wealth, had an equal vote.

Question 9

What were some of the accomplishments of 5th and 4th century BCE Athens? (page 95)

Answer 9

There was a flourishing of intellectual and artistic life. Playwrights like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides explored philosophical themes that were later explored by Plato and Aristotle, and a thriving Athens would rebuild its Acropolis and complete the great Parthenon after victory over the Persians in the 4th century BCE.

Question 10

Who was Aristotle? (page 95)

Answer 10

An ancient Greek who became one of history’s greatest philosophers and scientists. He wrote on a wide variety of subjects. His work “Politics” explored the various forms of government among the Greek city-states in search of what might be the best form of government.

Question 11

Explain how the emergence of citizen soldiers helped form the Greek city-states. (page 95)

Answer 11

The development of hoplite warfare in the 7th century BCE made the phalanx formation widespread. In return for military service, citizen soldiers expected some political power in return.

Question 12

What did Philip II pass on to Alexander the Great that aided Alexander in his military conquests? (page 96)

Answer 12

Philip pioneered the use of heavy cavalry combined with pike-wielding infantrymen. These tactics would be inherited by Alexander. Also, Philip paved the way for Alexander’s later conquests by first conquering the Greek mainland.

Question 13

When did Alexander cross the Hellespont and begin his campaign in Asia? (page 97)

Answer 13

334 BCE.

Question 14

When had Alexander conquered the Persian Empire? (page 97)

Answer 14

By 330 BCE.

Question 15

When did Alexander the Great die? (page 97)

Answer 15

June 11, 323 BCE.

Question 16

When were the succession wars after the death of Alexander? (page 99)

Answer 16

323 to 279 BCE.

Question 17

What were the three Hellenistic kingdoms that ruled over Alexander’s Empire after his death? (page 99)

Answer 17

The Antigonid kingdom, Ptolemaic kingdom, and Seleucid Empire.

Question 18

What was the Antigonid kingdom? (page 99)

Answer 18

A kingdom that ruled over Greece and Macedonia after the death of Alexander. The smallest of the three successor states following the death of Alexander, the Antigonid kingdom was constantly fighting with Greek city-states. It would finally fall to Rome in 168 BCE.

Question 19

What was the Ptolemaic kingdom? (page 99)

Answer 19

One of the three Hellenistic successor states that ruled over Egypt and Palestine after the death of Alexander the Great. The most secure and prosperous of the three states, it lasted until 30 BCE, when in the reign of Cleopatra VII, it was annexed by Rome.

Question 20

What was the Seleucid Empire? (page 99)

Answer 20

One of three Hellenistic successor states that rose after the death of Alexander the Great. Founded in 312 BCE, it rose when Seleucus I Nicator captured Babylon and thus also control of Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and much of Anatolia. Seleucus I founded a new capital for his Empire at Seleucia built on the Tigris near Babylon.

Question 21

Describe the fall of the Seleucid Empire. (page 99)

Answer 21

The Seleucids were driven from Persia and Mesopotamia by the Parthians. By 100 BCE, the empire had been reduced to Antioch and a few other Syrian cities. It continued to exist due to not being perceived a threat until 64 BCE, when the Roman general Pompey annexed Syria as a Roman province and thus ended the last of the Seleucid Empire.

Question 22

Describe how Greek culture was spread by the Hellenistic successor states that rose after the fall of Alexander. (page 99)

Answer 22

The three states spread Greek ideas and culture across their lands, including Greek political institutions, town planning, and architecture.

Question 23

Describe the states that broke free of Seleucid rule but still kept Greek traditions. (page 99)

Answer 23

During the 3rd century BCE, the Seleucids had to abandon their control of the eastern provinces of Bactria and Parthia, but the Bactrian kingdom retained Greek coinage and Greek models of temples and other public buildings with Corinthian columns. In present-day Turkey, a state called Pergamum emerged under the self-styled king named Attalus I Soter (ruled 241 - 197 BCE). He made his capital into a center for literature, philosophy, and the arts, and gave the city an acropolis, magnificent temples, a theater for over 10,000 people, and a vast library. Another rising state was Commagene in the southeast of Turkey, which broke from the Seleucids in 162 BCE. It absorbed Persian influences from the East and Greek influences from the West.

Question 24

Describe the Parthian state and how it fell. (page 99)

Answer 24

When the Seleucid Empire ended, the Romans and Parthians were left to fight over the Middle East. When Rome tried to invade Mesopotamia in 53 BCE, the Parthians defeated them at Carrhae, but Rome won later battles, sacking the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon three times in the 2nd century CE. The Parthians retained the administrative structure of the Seleucids. Eventually, the Parthians were finally ousted by the Sassanids in 236 BCE.

Question 25

Describe the rise and feats of Solon. (page 100)

Answer 25

Solon was an Athenian who was appointed supreme “archon” (magistrate) after military defeat by the city of Megara and rising social tensions. Since rural impoverishment had caused an agrarian and military crisis in Athens, Solon’s solution was to abolish slavery brought about by debt, free the peasantry from feudal servitude, and make wealth rather than birth the prerequisite for political office, thereby weakening the aristorcracy. Solon also ensured good governance (“eunomia”) by creating a council (“boule”) to prepare the weekly business of the citizen’s assembly (“ecclesia”), and a popular court of appeal (“heliaia”) for legal redress against abuses of power. Citizens were divided into four classes: aristocrat, “horseman”, hoplite, and the poor (“thetes”), each of which elected 100 members to the council.

Question 26

Who was Peisistratus? (page 100)

Answer 26

In 560 BCE, the aristocrat Peisistratus took advantage of incessant internal feuding to stage a popular coup, initiating land reforms for the poor.

Question 27

Who was Cleisthenes and what were his new laws passed for the city of Athens? (page 100)

Answer 27

Peisistratus’ reign became increasingly harsh, but his son, Cleisthenes, overthrew this tyranny in 507 BCE, introducing the revolutionary reforms that transformed Athens into Greece’s first democracy. He promised “isonomia” (equality) instead of Solon’s “eunomia” (good governance). He tore down the old system of regional loyalties, redividing Athens into 139 voting districts (demes) arranged into 10 tribes (phylae) made up of citizens from each of the three major areas – coast, interior, and city. Annual membership of an expanded council of 500 was chosen by lot from each of the 10 tribes, which suppplied the smaller 50-member group of council leaders (“Prytaneis”) to administer the daily affairs of government. Its composition was changed on a regular basis. Jury members for the courts were also chosen randomly to avoid corruption. The 6,000-member “ecclesia” would meet on the Pnyx, a site near the Acropolis, to vote on matters presented by the Prytaneis and elect the 10 generals (“strategoi”). These military leaders could be reelected. All of these democratic reforms reduced the power of the aristocracy while also creating a body loyal to Athens.

Question 28

When was the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon? (page 100)

Answer 28

480 BCE.

Question 29

When was the creation of the Delian League and what was it? (page 100)

Answer 29

The Delian League was an alliance of Greek city-states against any Persian aggression.

Question 30

Describe the rise of Athenian imperial power and prosperity in the 5th century BCE. (page 100)

Answer 30

First, Athens built a strong navy that controlled the nearby trade routes. Increasing colonization also brought prosperity to Athens, along with the discovery of silver and the creation of the Delian League. The Athenians also defeated invading Persians twice in this period.