Classical Civilizations of the Middle East and Mediterranean

1
Classical Civilizations of the Middle East and
Mediterranean

• Persia, Greece, and Rome

2
Persia

• Ancient Persia arose in the area that is now
  Iran, mostly a high, dry plateau surrounded by
  mountains to the north, east, and west, and by
  the Indian Ocean to the south.
• The Persians were an Indo-European people (Aryan)
  who lived on the margins of the earlier
  Mesopotamian civilization.
• Iran means Land of the Aryans.

3
Persia
4
Persia

• Around 560 BCE, the Middle East was divided into
  four great powers Egypt and the kingdoms of
  Lydia, Babylon, and Media (northern Iran).
• These four thought they could live in peace and
  prosperity, but their fragile balance of power
  collapsed before a new, massive force, Persia.
• Persias rise to prominence demonstrates the
  instability of the balance-of-power concept.

5
Persia

• Persia would be the greatest empire that the
  ancient world had yet seen.
• At one time, Assyria had controlled the northern
  portion of the Middle East, but they were
  conquered by the Medes (Media).

6
Persia

• The Medes were famous warriors, feared by all
  Greeks. But their king was a tyrant and the
  Persians would eventually conquer Media.
• Here is the story as related by the ancient Greek
  historian Herodotus many centuries later

7
Persia

• Around the year 580 BCE, the tyrannical king of
  Media, Astyages, had a dream that his daughter
  would give birth to a son that would destroy his
  empire.

8
Persia

• Astyages ordered his general (his second in
  command) Harpagusto have the child killedbut
  Harpagus, morally unable to do the deed, had the
  boy raised by a shepherd instead.

9
Persia

• The child grew up thinking he was the son of a
  shepherd.
• But by the time the boy was 10, it is said that
  he behaved like the son of a noble, not a
  shepherd.
• So he was brought before the king. The king
  realized the boy looked like himself and
  questioned Harpagus, who admitted he hadnt
  killed the lad.

10
Persia

• The king asked Harpagus to bring his own little
  son to the palace to celebrate a great feast in
  honor of the return of his grandson.

11
Persia

• When the little boy arrived, he was killed
  without his father Harpagus knowing.
• The little boy was cut into pieces, and put into
  a stew which was fed to his father (Harpagus had
  no idea).
• Then his head, hands, and feet were brought in on
  a covered silver dish (as dessert) that Harpagus
  was ordered to uncover.

12
Persia

• The kings grandson, Cyrus, was spared then sent
  back to live with his real parents.
• According to the Greek historian Herodotus,
  Harpagus was looking for an opportunity to avenge
  himself and his son.
• When Cyrus had come of age, Harpagus managed to
  convince the young Cyrus that the Medes were
  ready to revolt against their king, who had
  become an evil despot.

13
Persia

• Cyrus organized a federation of ten Persian
  tribes and revolted, and Astyages 'armed all the
  Medes, and blinded by divine providence he
  appointed Harpagus to be the leader of the army'.
  
• Harpagus switched sides and the Persians under
  Cyrus captured Astyages.

14
Persia

• Ultimately he would overthrow his grandfathers
  kingdom, unite the Persians, and establish the
  Persian Empire.
• This story of Herodotus illustrates the Greeks
  view of the history of the Middle East,
  highlighting the difference between the Greek
  love of freedom and the Middle Eastern
  willingness to accept absolute rule.

15
Persia

• In the ancient Middle East, the king was a
  absolute ruler.
• Individuals had no rights, except those allowed
  by the king.
• The king was not only the law itself, but as the
  story of Harpagus showed, he was bound by no
  moral scruples, although there were limits to his
  power.
• Like the Mandate of Heaven, rulers ruled at the
  discretion of the gods and must rule justly.

16
Persia

• But as Herodotus showed, even those in positions
  of command and powerlike Harpagushad no rights
  and no protection from abuses.
• In the Persian Empire, everyone from the highest
  vizier to the lowliest peasant was regarded as
  the kings slave.

17
Persia

• Its location was in between the population
  centers of the Indian subcontinent and southwest
  Asia, so traders had crossed the area for many
  centuries before its people were organized under
  the first Persian warrior-king, Cyrus the Great
  (r 557-530 BCE).

18
Persia

• As the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, Cyrus
  forged a unified Persia by uniting the two
  original Iranian tribes the Medes and the
  Persians.
• He created an imperial system based on
  Mesopotamian examples, like the Babylonians and
  the Assyrians, but surpassed them all in size and
  splendor.

19
Persia

• Cyrus was able to overcome other rulers, like the
  king of Medes (his grandfather Astyages), to
  extend his territory from the edge of India to
  Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
• When he conquered territory, he presented himself
  not as a conqueror but as a liberator and
  legitimate successor.

20
Persia
21
Persia

• The Cyrus the Great Cylinder is considered by
  many to be the worlds first declaration of human
  rights.

22
Persia

• There were three main premises in the decrees of
  the Cyrus Cylinder
• 1. racial, linguistic, and religious equality
• 2. slaves and all deported peoples were to be
  allowed to return to home
• 3. and all destroyed temples were to be
  restored.

23
Persia

• In 1971, the Cyrus Cylinder was described as the
  worlds first charter of human rights and it was
  translated into all six official U.N. languages.
• A replica of the cylinder is kept at the United
  Nations Headquarters in New York in the second
  floor hallway, between the Security Council and
  the Economic and Social Council chambers.

24
Persia

• Cyrus owed a lot of the success of his empire to
  the rich mineral resources of his kingdom,
  especially iron.
• Persian iron was considered the best in the
  world.

25
Persia

• At its height, Persia contained about 35 million
  people.
• It was extremely diverse, with dozens of
  ethnicities, languages, and cultural traditions.

26
Persia
The ancient Persian capital of Pasargardae.
27
Persia

• Starting with Cyrus, the empire centered on an
  elaborate cult of kingship in which the monarch,
  secluded in royal magnificence, could be
  approached only through an elaborate ritual (you
  had to crawl on your belly then kiss the feet of
  the king).
• Ruling by the will of Ahura Mazda, kings were
  absolute monarchs, more than willing to crush
  rebellious regions or officials.

28
Persia
29
Persia

• In the eyes of many, Persian kings deserved their
  many titlesKing of kings, Great king, King in
  Persia, King of all countries, King in this great
  earth far and wide.
• Cyrus conquered not only Media but Lydia (today,
  western Turkey) as well.

30
Persia

• He captured the legendary Croesus (the king of
  Lydia and his great-uncle r.560-546 BCE) and
  subjected him to a humiliating imprisonment and
  almost death.

31
Persia

• Croesus had conquered most of the cities of Asia
  Minor including the Greek cities.
• He was on fairly good terms with the Greeks,
  mainly because he left them alone.
• They were free to pursue their internal disputes,
  so long as they paid tribute money.
• The Greeks were okay with this because trade was
  flourishing, thanks to Croesus' wise rule.

32
Persia

• Cyrus was now the ruler of the Ionian Greeks,
  having more or less inherited them by conquering
  Lydia.
• The Greeks did not like their new Persian
  overlords, for the Persians drafted Greeks into
  their armies, levied heavy tribute (taxes),
  garrisoned Persian troops in the Greek cities,
  and interfered with the local governments.

33
Persia

• Soon the Greeks were complaining about Persian
  oppression thwarting Greek liberty.
• The Greeks began walling their towns and calling
  war councils.
• Cyrus responded to this by conquering the Greek
  cities directly.
• This would set the stage for later Greek/Persian
  issues.

34
Persia

• The success of the empire under Cyrus was due to
  superior military leadership and organization.
• Cyrus also left in place native political systems
  (if they submitted to his rule).
• He allowed his subjects to retain their own
  customs and laws, under the supervision of his
  Persian representatives, the satraps.

35
Persia

• It was more than conquest and royal decree that
  held the empire together.
• The satraps were an effective bureaucratic system
  of governors placed in each of the empires
  twenty-three provinces.
• Lower-level officials were drawn from local
  authorities.

36
Persia

• Satraps were responsible for collecting tribute
  (mostly gold), providing soldiers, and keeping
  order.
• The satraps had miniature courts that mimicked
  that of the Persian king in Persepolis and their
  positions became hereditary.

37
Persia

• A system of imperial spies, known as the eyes
  and ears of the King, represented another
  imperial presence in the far reaches of the
  empire.
• Yet under Cyrus there was a general policy of
  respect for the empires many non-Persian
  cultural traditions which also cemented the
  states authority.

38
Persia

• Under Cyrus, large areas of his empire enjoyed
  peace and prosperity longer than in any previous
  period.
• Herodotus talked of how beautiful the Persian
  Empire was and even how the Persians valued
  flower gardens (tulip cultivation became an art
  under Cyrus).

39
Persia

• Cyrus famously won the gratitude of the Hebrews
  when in 539 BCE he allowed those exiled in
  Babylon (which had started in 597 BCE) to return
  to their homeland and rebuild their temple in
  Jerusalem.
• Even though many Jews decided to stay in Babylon,
  this is an important and pivotal point in Jewish
  history.

40
Persia

• The prophet Isaiah saw in Cyrus victories the
  hand of God, named him the Lords anointed, and
  gloated over the fate of the old enemy Babylon
• Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the
  monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee
  from these things that shall come upon thee.
  Isaiah x1v, x1vii, 1-13

41
Persia

• But Cyrus wanted to expand his empire to the
  east, into what was called Scythia (todays
  Turkmenistan and Afghanistan).
• For Herodotus and the Greeks, this action of
  Cyrus showed outrageous arrogance, what they
  called hubris.

42
Persia

• Cyrus, we are told, met his death trying to take
  over the land of the Scythians in an unnecessary
  preemptive war that he did not need to fight.
• It is said the Scythian ruler had Cyrus face
  buried in a bucket of his own blood.
• When news that the king had died reached Persia,
  sacred fires all across the land were
  extinguished.

43
Persia

• This is the tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae (Cyrus
  capital in Southern Iran).
• Inside the tomb were found a golden coffin, a
  table set with drinking vessels, and jewel
  studded ornaments.

44
Persia

• An inscription inside the tomb read O man,
  whoever thou art, from wheresoever thou cometh,
  for I know you shall come, I am Cyrus, who
  founded the empire of the Persians. Grudge me
  not, therefore, this little earth that covers my
  body.
• Persians were expected to shave their hair in
  mourning, and the manes of horses were cut short.
• Cyrus son Cambyses II took over the Empire,
  eventually uniting it with Egypt.

45
Persia

• The Empire continued to expand and reached its
  maximum extent under Darius I, extending beyond
  Egypt into Libya, and into an area north of
  Greece called Macedonia (where Alexander the
  Great came from).

46
Persia

• In Egypt and Babylon, Persian kings took care to
  uphold the local religious cults in an effort to
  gain the support of their followers and
  officials.
• The Greek historian Herodotus commented that
  there is no nation which so readily adopts
  foreign customs. They have taken the dress of
  the Medes and in war they wear the Egyptian
  breastplate. As soon as they hear of any luxury,
  they instantly make it their own.

47
Persia

• Cyrus grandson, Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE), was
  an extremely competent ruler, but a strongly
  authoritarian one.
• He had the misfortune of trying to rule the
  Greeks.

48
Persia

• The Persian king Darius worshipping Ahura Mazda.

49
Persia

• Darius knew the Ionian Greeks were a problem and
  he realized that they could get help and
  encouragement from the Greek mainland.

50
Persia

• He was determined to conquer Greece proper in
  order to secure his western frontier.
• But the Greek city-states rebelled (the Ionian
  Revolt), killing or driving out the Persian
  garrisons and declaring liberty.

51
Persia

• The local satrap could not control the rebellion,
  and the revolt spread.
• By 499, most of the cities on the Ionian coast
  were once again independent, a situation Darius
  would not tolerate.
• The revolt had succeeded, but only temporarily.
• The Ionian city-states appealed to the Greeks on
  the mainland for help.

52
Persia

• Sparta refused, arguing that events in Asia were
  none of its concern.
• Athens, on the other hand, sent an entire army
  plus a navy to defend her fellow Greeks from the
  Persians.
• The expedition burned Sardis, capital of that
  part of the Empire, in 496 and the Persians were
  driven completely out of Asia Minor (Western
  Turkey).

53
Persia

• Ruins of the Lydian capital, Sardis.

54
Persia

• When the Persians arrived in force, the rebellion
  ended quickly. By 493 BCE, the Ionian rebellion
  had been crushed by the Persians (it started in
  499 BCE).
• Darius was surprisingly lenient, at least with
  those cities that agreed to submit to Persian
  rule once more.
• He did re-institute the garrisons and the taxes.
• This was the first salvo in the Greco-Persian
  conflicts that would last for decades.

55
Persia

• Since Athens had been the principle ally of the
  Ionians, they fully expected to feel the wrath of
  Darius.
• The Athenians were so worried, in 493 they fined
  the playwright Phrynichus 1,000 drachmas for his
  play The Capture of Miletus, because it recounted
  the events of the Ionian Revolt and reminded them
  of the reasons for their current fears.

56
Persia

• In order to punish the Greeks for their
  impudence, Darius did send his army to the Greek
  mainland (since Athens supported their Ionian
  cousins).
• In 492 BCE, Darius gave his satrap in Thrace
  (Northern Greece) command of 600 ships, sent to
  bring Athens to its knees.

57
Persia

• But a freak storm (a gift from the gods)
  destroyed the fleet and Herodotus says 20,000
  Persians were lost.

58
Persia

• Two years later, Darius sent another armada of
  600 ships that unloaded over 20,000 infantry and
  cavalry (compared to about 10,000 Athenian
  defenders).

59
Persia

• The Athenians' feelings are best expressed by
  Aeschylus, who fought in the Persian wars, in his
  tragic play The Persians
• "On, sons of the Hellenes! Fight for the freedom
  of your country! Fight for the freedom of your
  children and of your wives, for the gods of your
  fathers and for the sepulchers of your ancestors!
  All are now staked upon the strife!"

60
Persia

• The two sides met on the Plains of Marathon,
  about 26 miles north of Athens.
• Against great odds, the Athenian hoplite warriors
  killed over 6400 Persians (while losing about
  192).

61
Persia

• Pheilippides then famously ran the 26 miles from
  the battlefield to tell the people of Athens of
  Persias defeat then collapsed and died (he ran
  150 miles to Sparta and back two days before the
  battle to enlist Spartas help).

62
Persia

• The Persians retreated to their ships, sailed to
  what they thought was an undefended Athens, and
  were surprised to find the Athenian army had
  marched back in time to thwart their efforts
  (Sparta arrived after the battle and couldnt
  believe Athens won).
• http//www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?acti
  on1t1islistfalseid129652464m129653903

63
Persia

• A second series of battles began under Darius
  successor, his eldest son Xerxes (520-465 BCE).
• The Persians under Xerxes were defeated even more
  decisively at the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE)
  (The famous Spartan 300) and again at Plataea
  (479 BCE).

64
Persia

• Leonidas at Thermopylae by David

65
Persia

• After Plataea, the disorganized Persian army was
  no longer much of a threat to the Greeks.
• 40 years after the Persian wars, Herodotus wrote
  his Historai (Histories) meaning researches.

66
Persia

• He tried to answer the question of why nations
  rise and fallwhy great nations were once small
  and why weak nations were once great.

67
Persia

• Herodotus wanted to understand if invariable laws
  of history explained these changes.
• His book was also the first attempt to explain
  why the Middle East was different from the West.
• He noted conflict from the two regions from the
  very start, including the Trojan War. The
  Persian Wars were one more struggle in a series
  he believed would continue as long as humanity.

68
Persia

• Herodotus intended his history as a lesson to the
  people of Athens as they embarked on their
  empire.
• Because he understood that people frequently
  learned from the mistakes of others, he pointed
  to the mistakes of the once-mighty Persians.
• Darius wanted to conquer Athens, but his much
  larger army was defeatedthis should have taught
  the Persians that their army wasnt invincible.

69
Persia

• The Persians should have learned, according to
  Herodotus, that a small army of free menin this
  case the Greeksfighting against an invasion of
  their country will defeat a much larger
  professional army fighting as the slaves of a
  despot.

70
Persia

• In 480 BCE Xerxes returned to Greece with an even
  larger army of over 1 million men and over 1000
  warships.
• Xerxes himself rode in the battle chariot of the
  god Ahura Mazda.

71
Persia

• Xerxes force rolled over every nation in their
  path.
• Only 31 out of the hundreds of Greek cities, led
  by Athens and Sparta, fought against the
  Persians.
• Many others, including Thebes, supported the
  Persians.
• It seemed as if Xerxes would prevail.
• At the pass of Thermopylae, the Spartan 300
  defeated 20,000 Persians.

72
Persia

• Xerxes found Athens empty and burned it in
  retaliation of the Greeks burning of Sardis
  (Lydia), but against his counselors advice, he
  fought a naval battle in the Bay of Salamis off
  the coast of Athens, and the Persian fleet was
  destroyed.

73
Persia

• The Persian Empire began to decline, and the
  empire of Athens began to rise.
• Herodotus found an explanation in the concept of
  hybris, arrogance that leads to the abuse of
  power and self-destruction.
• Xerxes made the choice to invade when he did not
  have to.
• Xerxes found that free men defending their
  country could not be conquered.

74
Persia

• Some historians see the clash between Athens and
  Persia as the trigger event that set the West
  (Greece) against the East (Persia) as a
  defining concept for modern day international
  politics.
• Following this line of thinking, todays events
  in the Middle East are framed in the mind set
  that West and East have been natural enemies
  since these ancient days.

75
Persia

• The Persian Wars were significant for two primary
  reasons 1). they signaled the decline of Persia,
  and 2). they showed Athens to be the premier
  city-state in Greece.

76
Persia

• For the next 1,000 years, the Persian imperial
  bureaucracy and court life, with its
  administrators, tax collectors, record keepers,
  and translators provided the model for later
  governments in the region, including those of the
  Islamic world.

77
Persia

• The Persian infrastructure included a system of
  standardized coinage, predictable taxes levied on
  each province, and a newly dug canal linking the
  Nile with the Red Sea, which greatly increased
  commerce and enriched Egypt.
• A royal road some 1700 miles long facilitated
  commerce and communications across the vast
  empire.

78
Persia

• The royal road.

79
Persia

• Caravans of merchants could traverse this highway
  in 90 days, but imperial couriers, with a fresh
  supply of horses every 25-30 miles, could carry a
  message from one end of the road to another in
  less than two weeks.

80
Persia

• Herodotus was impressed, for Neither snow, nor
  rain, nor heat, nor darkness of nightprevents
  them from accomplishing the task proposed to them
  with utmost speed.
• This description was later made the motto of the
  United States Postal Service.

81
Persia

• Before the cult of Zoroaster, Persian religions
  centered on sacrifice and fire.
• Zoroaster (c.630 c. 550 BCE), also called
  Zarathustra, was an ancient Persian prophet who
  founded the monotheistic religion Zoroastrianism.

82
Persia

• According to the 'Zend Avesta', the sacred book
  of Zoroastrianism, he is said to have received a
  vision from Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord (God), who
  appointed him to preach the truth.

83
Persia

• According to Zoroaster, man had been given the
  power to choose between good and evil (the idea
  of Free Will)...between the God of Light and the
  principle of evil.
• He believed in a messianic deliverance, the
  resurrection of the dead, and a life everlasting
  after judgment.
• His religion was based upon good thoughts, good
  words, and good deeds.

84
Persia

• The end of the world would come when the forces
  of light would triumph and the saved souls
  rejoiced in its victory by living on in a heaven
  while condemned souls would spend eternity in
  pain (Hell).

85
Persia

• Zoroastrianism influenced Judaism and by default,
  Christianity and Islam.
• The angels of the Judeo/Christian/Islamic
  tradition and the notion of God/Satan and
  heaven/hellfire which awaited the good/wicked
  both came from Zoroaster.