Assyrians and Persians

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Assyrians and Persians

• Mrs. Saunders

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New Empire Semitic-speaking people who
exploited the use of iron weapons to build a
large S.W. Asian empire by 700 B.C., including
Mesopotamia, some of the Iranian Plateau, Asia
Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.
Geography Flat unprotected plains of northern
Mesopotamia, which was open to invasion.
Assyrians developed strong military for
protection.
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Eventually Fell Eventually, the Assyrian Empire
fell to several groups including the Chaldeans
(Neo-Babylonians) and the Medes.
Assyrian Rulers Assyrian kings ruled with
absolute power. Kingdoms were well organized and
efficient. Kept direct contact with the people
who helped administer their empire
Transportation/Courier system They est. a system
where they could relay messages by horseback back
and forth in a weeks time.
Ashurbanipal Considered the greatest Assyrian
King. He collected the writings of Mesopotamia
and est. the great library of Nineveh
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Military Strength
The Assyrian military was one of the strongest in
the ancient world. They used fierce iron weapons
and psychological warfare. The Assyrians would
often attempt to get an area to surrender before
attack. They used siege warfare (surrounding a
city in an attempt to conquer/starve the people
of the city). If people refused and were defeated
they were treated harshly. Conquered were killed,
enslaved, beheaded, or exiled (Jews). The purpose
of the treatment was to scare the enemy with
their reputation and prevent rebellion. They
wore leather and metal armor, copper or iron
helmets and used large metal shields. The
military technology used included bridging, bow
and arrows, chariots, battering ram, and calvary.
King Ashurnasirpal once stated 3,000 of their
combat troops I felled with weapons . . . Many I
took alive from some of these I cut off their
hands to the writs, from others I cut off their
noses, ears and fingers I put out the eyes of
many of the soldiers. . . . I burned their young
men and women to death.
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Assyrian Rule
The Assyrians divided empire into provinces
(dependant territories). The rulers for each
province or Governors were chosen by the king.
Each Province paid taxes to the King. If people
refused to pay taxes, cities were destroyed and
the people exiled or deported. Assyrian capitol
was Nineveh, which was a great walled city and
the cite of Ashurbanipals library containing
25,000 clay tablets. The library had dictionary
tablets which contained several languages
allowing for the better understanding of writing.
Nineveh is completely destroyed by the Medes and
Chaldeans. Empire will decline because army is
to small to cover territory and the harsh rule
caused enemies and revolts.
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Nineveh
The topics of Assyrian art included military
campaigns and lion hunts.
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Assyria succumbs to coalition of Medes and
Chaldeans under King Nebuchadnezzar II (605
562 B.C.) who made Babylon the center of his
empire By 539 B.C., the Chaldeans fell prey to
the Persians, an Achaemenid dynasty under Cyrus
(559 530 B.C.)
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Persian Homeland Indo-Europeans migrated to area
east of the fertile crescent from the Caspian Sea
to the Persian Gulf. The Persians had good
farmland and mineral resources of copper, lead,
gold and silver.
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Expansion of Empire
Cyrus the Great Persian King who defeated Babylon
and ended the Jews captivity. Cyrus ruled from
559 to 530 B.C. and was a great leader, hence the
name Cyrus the Great.
Ruling Style He was very respectful of other
cultures. Not only did he free the Jews, but he
also treated conquered peoples fairly. He
allowed them to keep their own religions and
customs. He forbid looting or burning of
conquered cities. This respect made the people
who lived under him respectful of his rule and
less likely to revolt.
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Expansion of Empire

• While Cyrus (a.k.a. Cyrus the Great) demonstrated
  a genuine respect for ancient civilizations and
  other peoples his immediate successors, Cambyses
  (530 522 B.C.E.) and Darius (521 486 B.C.E.)
  did not.
• Cambyses successfully invaded Egypt while Darius
  extend Persian control into western India beyond
  the Indus River and into Europe proper by
  conquering Thrace and making Macedonia a vassal
  state.
• Cambyses scorned Egypts religion which led to a
  revolt at his death.
• Darius established organized government after
  revolt in Egypt. Darius ruled from 521-486 B.C.
  and added western India to the Persian Empire.

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Expansion of Empire
Darius then added Thrace in Europe and expanded
the Empire to its greatest size (the largest
empire in the world at this time). He also
brought the Persian Empire into conflict with the
Greeks. Darius was never able to conquer Greece.
Darius divided his empire into twenty provinces
to make it more manageable. The people practiced
their own religion and kept language and laws.
Each province was ruled by a governor called a
Satrap. They collected taxes, provided justice
and security, and got soldiers for the army,
which created a bureaucracy, an organization of
people who control the day to day workings of
government. The King also had inspectors who
spied on the Satraps - eyes and ears of the
king .
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The Royal Road The Royal road stretched from
Persia to the Anatolia peninsula. It used a
system of couriers similar to the Assyrians. The
system had relay stations every 15 miles and
shortened the trip to 7 days. This allowed for
efficient communication in the empire, which
helped to hold the empire together and improved
trade.
Money Economy The Persians created standardized
coin money, which united empire and also improved
trade. Persian Military The Persians had an
elite military. It contained people from all
over the Persian Empire. The Immortals were Elite
fighters of the Persian Empire. They were so
called because in battle their numbers were never
allowed to fall below 10,000 men. They were
constantly replaced from behind so they appeared
to never die.
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• Zoroastrianism
• Original Religion of the Persian Empire
• Zoroaster
• Founder and Prophet of the Religion.
• Ahura Mazda
• The god of truth and light
• Ahriman
• The god of evil and darkness.
• It is believed by many that Zoroastrianism
  influenced Judaism, and later, Christianity.
• An ultimate battle between two spiritual armies,
  one good and one evil.
• The idea that all souls are judged at the end of
  time.

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Legacy of Persian Empire

• Cultural diffusion which preserved Mesopotamian
  culture.
• Persians developed system of government
  (bureaucracy) based on standard coinage and road
  building.
• Persian control based on tolerance and diplomacy
  supported by a strong military.
• Jews allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild
  city and temple.

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Persian kings became greedy and so the empire
became weak.
Family spats and assassinations became the rule
of the day. The Empire was defeated by Alexander
the Great during the 330s B.C.
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