W2L2 - Thinking Historically Flashcards
1
Q
Persian/Achaemenid Empire dates
A
559 - 330 BCE
2
Q
Persian/Achaemenid Empire Significance
A
- Size (asia and europe)
- Level of Sophistication
- Clashes with Greeks (Athens and Sparta)
- Did not write history (probably relied on oral poetry)
3
Q
Image of the Persian Empire
A
Associated with despotism, decadence, barbarism and slavery
4
Q
Significant battles between persians and the greeks
A
Battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea
5
Q
New view of the Persian Empire
A
- Detective work of archaeologists
- Illustration of which Five Cs
- Difficulty in terms of the Persian sources (several, cuneiform)
6
Q
Persian sources
A
- Cuneiform Writing discovered as
early as 1600s, containing three scripts - in 1800s Oluf Gerhard Tychse looked for patterns in the cuneiform writings and then plugged in Avestan spellings of the king’s names. The names of Darius and Xerxes appeared.
7
Q
Three scripts of persian Cuneiform writing
A
- Elamite
- Babylonian
- Old Persian.
8
Q
Richard Treadwell Hallock of the Oriental University of Chicago
A
- Persepolis fortification tablets
- Took 30 years to publish 200
- Some in greek, elamite, aramaic
9
Q
Persian sources 5Cs
A
- Context
- Contingency
- Complexity
10
Q
Historical traditions behind the persian empire
A
- Cultural legacy of Mesopotamia
- Military prowess of the Assyrians
- Diplomacy and Administration of
the Babylonians - Brought together great civilizations of the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Jews and other.
11
Q
Why was the persian empire stable over many centuries
A
- Politics of difference
- Imperial intermediaries
- Imperial intersections
- Imperial imaginaries
- Repertories of power
