Greeks and Persians

Question 1

How did the Persian Empire influence most every other Empire? Which empire did they not influence?

Answer 1

The Persian empire was the model for all other land empires except the Mongols.

Question 2

What was the Persian Achaemenid Dynasty?

Answer 2

The First Persian Empire

Question 3

Who founded the Persian Achaemenid Dynasty?

Answer 3

King Cyrus the Great

Question 4

Who wrote about the Persians?

Answer 4

Herodotus, a Greek, wrote about them in his book, The Persian Wars

Question 5

What did King Cyrus the Great do with his nomadic warriors?

Answer 5

Conquered Mesopotamia, including Babylonia

Question 6

Who was Cyrus’s Son-in-Law?

Answer 6

Darius the First

Question 7

What three places did Darius the First conquer?

Answer 7

The Indus River Valley in the West, Egypt in the East, and Anatolia in the North

Question 8

How was Persian Rule?

Answer 8

Overall good:

1. Kings of Cities kept their power as long as they pledged their allegiance to the Persian King (the King of kings) and Payed Taxes
2. The taxes weren’t too high
3. The Persians helped improve infrastructure in the cities
4. Had a “pony express-like” mail service
5. Allowed freedom of religion
6. Zoroastrianism forbid slavery so there were little slaves

Question 9

What was the Persian religion? How has it influenced religion today?

Answer 9

The Persians were Zoroastrian - Zoroastrianism was the first religion with dualism that we see today (good and evil)

Question 10

What was the time period of the Persian Empire

Answer 10

5th Century BCE - 3rd Century BCE

Question 11

When and where was the high point in Greek Culture?

Answer 11

490-480 BCE - After the Persian Wars

Question 12

What was specific to Greek cities?

Answer 12

1. City-States
2. All had slavery
3. Individual forms of government per city-state
4. People didn’t call themselves citizens of Greece until the Persian Wars. Instead they called themselves citizens of their City-State

Question 13

When did the Persians make war on the Greek city-states?

Answer 13

Between 490-480 BCE

Question 14

What were some of these wars?

Answer 14

Thermopylae (300 spartans v. 5 mil. Persians if you believe Herodotus) and Marathon

Question 15

Why’d the wars start?

Answer 15

Greeks in Anatolia, called Ionian Greeks, revolted against Persia and Athens supported them. This made the Persian King, Xerxes, mad, so he launched 2 major campaigns against Athens.

Question 16

How did the Athenians respond to the campaigns?

Answer 16

Enlisted the help of other Greek City-States and won the Persian Wars. This made Greeks start to see themselves as Greeks and not just Athenians, Spartans, etc. Then, Athens became the de facto capital of Greece and the Golden Age started.

Question 17

What happened during the Golden Age in Athens?

Answer 17

1. The Parthenon; A temple that became a church that became a Mosque that became an armory.
2. Statesmen like Pericles who promoted the “Golden Democracy of Athens”
3. Art
4. Philosophy

Question 18

What was the Peloponnesian War?

Answer 18

A 30 year conflict between Spartans and Athenians.

Question 19

What form of government did the Spartans believe in?

Answer 19

A kingship that functioned because of a huge class of mistreated slaves.

Question 20

What was the war about?

Answer 20

Resources and Power

Question 21

Explain the story of the Athenians and the Island of Milos during the Peloponnesian war

Answer 21

1. Island of Milos was a Spartan colony
2. Athenians asked them to submit to Athenian rule
3. Milians never actually fought with Spartans - wanted peace and to not be involved in the war
4. The Athenians killed all of the Milian men and enslaved the women and children

Question 22

Explain Realism in international relations

Answer 22

1. For realists, relations with other countries/cultures is all about who has the power
2. Whoever has it can compel whoever doesn’t have it to do pretty much anything

Question 23

Who won the Peloponnesian war?

Answer 23

The Spartans

Question 24

What are the pros and cons of the Athenians winning the Persian War? What about the Persians if they had won?

Answer 24

Pros of Athenian Victory:

1. Set off cultural flourishing that gave us the classical age
2. Gave us Democracy

Cons of Athenian Victory:

1. Life under Athenians sucked - esp. if you’re a woman or slave
2. Government was notoriously corrupt
3. Athenians derived their power not from their citizens but from the idea that “might makes right”
4. Since the Peloponnesian War crippled the Greek City States so much that they’d soon fall to Alexander the Great’s dad and then there would be a series of bloody wars in the future with the Persians, and Greece wouldn’t glimpse democracy again for 2 millennia. This might’ve been avoided if the Persians won the Persian Wars.

Pros of Persian Victory:

1. Life under the Persians wasn’t bad - pretty good
2. Empirically, you will find a lot more successful and stable empires than you will democracies

Cons of Persian Victory:
1. If the Persians had won, they might’ve strangled democracy and gave us more one-man rule