<Slide 1>

Lecture 16 Achaemenid Persia and Late

Period Egypt
<Slide 19>
I Third Intermediate Period (1070-664 BCE) and Late Period
- decline of central organisation and rise of local power centres
- Significant influx of Libyans and Nubians forever changed the profile
of the population
- Much more than a temporary lapse of traditional pharonic centralised
power more like a permanent change
The traditional pattern of Royal patronage of art and the patterns of
Egyptian art undergo considerable growth and transformation at this time.
22nd Dynasty Libyan descent Chiefs of the Meshwesh
Rule passes to Sheshonq
<Slide 22>
III. High point of the Third Intermediate Period
Sheshonq (945 924 BCE) (22nd Dynasty Bubastite Dyn.)
(belonged to a family settled at Bubastis, family members gradually
grown in importance in the delta through marriage, priests of Ptah
etc.)
Bubastite Portal at Karnak some of the Last Egyptian
Building at Karnak afterward it would be the foriegners who
added things
Shoshenq I entrance
Relief from this
- new pylon entrance in front of that built by Horemhab,
encorporating the temple built by Rameses III
- on the south side, Shoshenq built a gateway outside, shows largescale scene of king smiting enemies
- commemorates the kings successful trip into Palestine plundering
the Temple of Solomon.
- Shoshenq died before decoration could be finished added to by
some of his successors, but not entirely completed.
- Invasions in the Levant - capture of Jersusalem
- suggestion that it could have been taken back to Tanis yes, but
remember that Jersulaem would also be sacked by the Babylonians
(586 BCE)
ARK OF THE COVENANT?
Karomama Statue
Successor of Sheshonq was Osorkan I.
- granddaughter of King Osorkan I (22nd Dyn, r. c. 985-978 BCE)

Divine consort of Amun Gods Wife of Amun

- Sistra rattles that she will have held mark of a priestess
- Cast in bronze the sheathed in bronze, ingraved with inlaid gold, silver and
electrum
- Slender limbs, ample hips and prominent breasts contrast with earlier
slender females of New Kingdom
<Slide 14>
Stela of Deniunenkhons
- Temple sites increasingly used as cemetaries
- Ramesseum for instance
- Associated with these and other burials of this period, brightly painted
stelae.
- traditional scene of deceased seated before offerings disappeared, only a
single scene of deceased adoring a deity sometimes Osiris, more
frequently Ra-Horakhty.
- Brief text
- belonging to women as well as men.
- Book of the dead often inside a wooden statue of Osiris, box at the bottom
- Litany of Ra or mixture of Amduat etc, between legs
- Late Period Egypt and the End of Independence
IV. Nubian Conquest (Dynasty 25)
- Decline After Sheshonq
The Kingdom of Kush
- 200 years after the loss of Nubia by the NK rulers, it emerged as an
independent kingdom known as Kush
- Piy(e) Nubian King invades and conquers Egypt, but leaves again
- before he invades he convinces the Gods wife of Amun to adopt his
daughter
Karnak Building (pg 214)
Relief at Kanak Taharqa (successors of Piye)
- additional colonnade at the front of the temple papyriform columns
but connected by a screen
- scenes of a Royal visit part of the corpus since the 18 th Dyn
Neo Assyrian Conquest
- Ashurbanipal (668-c.667 BCE) conquest of Egypt, sets up Necho (Nekau)
from Sais in charge
Persians and then Greeks.
Rosetta Stone

<Slide 6>

Rise of Achaemenid Persia (Starts with Lydia)

- 6th c. BCE the Neo-Babylonian and Median Empires fell to the
Persians who created the first Empire to rule the entire Near East,
from the Aegean to the Indus Valley, for some time, including Balkans
and Northern Greece!
- developed a kind of federal govt - blending many of the cultural
elements of the previous empires
- Several tenents of Persian religion were eventually adopted by
Judaism - passing thence to Christianity and Islam.
<Slide 9>
Achaemenid Persians
Rise of Persia
- after 1000BCE the Iranian speaking peoples originally from
Central Asia emerged as dominant force on western Iranian plateau
south of the Caspian sea and moved W and S through the Zagros
mountains
- Medes benefitted from the collapse of the Assyrian power in 7 th c.
BCE
brief empire reputedly stretched from Anatolia to Afghanistan,
capital at Ecbatana (Hamadan)
- spoke an Indo-European language, closely related to the Medes
- first mention in inscription of Shalmaneser II (840s) they live in NW
Iran
- Ashurbanipal mentions a king of Parsua named Cyrus (Kurush in
Persian, Kurash in Akkadian)
- so, they must have migrated south after about 800 BCE to SW Iran
sometime between 692-640 BCE
- Today the area is called Fars
- kings traced their ancestry to an ancestor named Hakhamanish
(known better from Greek Achaemenes, hence the Achaemenid Line
- most of our information on Persian rise comes from external/poss.
hostile sources!
- Cyruss successors added Egypt and Northern Thrace; only the
Greeks turned them back!
conquered terrritory from Near East to Aegean Sea to Central Asia,
from Indus Valley to Egypt
Persians united their conquests on an unprecedented scale shrewd
and flexible system of government.
- allowed room for local custom and religious tolerance within a
structured, centralized government.
- the Empire they created lasted 2 centuries until fell finally in 330
BCE to Alexander the Great
Pasargade was the newly created capital of Cyrus the Great
Herodotus tells us Persians were vassals of the Medes, until reign of
Cyrus II (559-530 BCE)

- his origins and rise to power, treated sometimes as royal castoff

raised by shepards, others as commoner risen to power
- supposedly also related to the Lydian line - through marriage of
Lydian princess to Median King
Cyrus the Great
- Cyrus II (the Great) (559-530 BCE) was from modern Fars (or
Shiraz) SW Iranian province, which gave its name to the whole state
(Farsia)
- Cyrus father the king of Fars married a Median Princess
- in 550 BC, Cyrus defeated Astyages Median king and his
grandfather
<Slide 10>
-- then conquered wealthy Anatolian kingdom of Lydia and Greek
cities of Asia Minor and then turned upon Babylon.
- Babylon Conquered by Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE
Cyrus may have copied army organisation from the Medes, famous
Persian cavalry, fighting from horseback in the Assyrian and Median
manner
- Astyages - troops mutinied.
- Medes were integrated - not treated as slaves, and hence became
their valid king
- decided to govern through appointed governors rather than vassal
kings, official were natives of the areas taken over
- After conquest of Babylon, Persian kings made inscriptions in
Akkadian, using Aramaic for correspondence
<Slide 11>
New Capital at Pasargadae (now Murgab)
- Susa (old Elamite capital) continued to be used
- Tomb nearby
Tombs and Palaces
Shiraz region of Iran contains many visible reminders of the
Achaemenids power
- Pasargadae original capital
- Tomb remains of Cyrus the Great simple stone crypt on stepped
plinth
- survived ravages of war by Alexander the Great (deliberately left)
- Is it still there??

<Slide 12>
Fell in battle in 530 BCE - leaving his son Cambyses (Kambujiya in Persian)
as King
- Cambyses II (530-522 BCE)
- conquest of Egypt!
- Herotodus portrayal of a tyrannical Cambyses is clearly wrong - he
becomes Pharaoh

- 522 BCE - he died - possibly accidental leg wound, on way back to

Persia
The First Persian Period in Egypt
- conflicts with Persia came to a head with the first invasion by
Cambyses (525-522)
- The Nature of Persian Rule
Pattern of foreign rule established
Legitmized king via presentation as the Pharaoh on the same terms as
a native Egyptian ruler.
- Continued pattern of massaging Egyptian sensibilities, religious
rebuilding etc.
Not all rulers followed this as kindly howerver.
Xerxes (486-465 BCE) received very bad press for impious
disregard of temple priviledges
- realised that the Egyptian system for administration of the country
was the best that could be devised and left it in place., simply added a
satrap at the top.
- Problems with foreign mercenaries and local populations, religious
tensions, Jewish mercenaries and the destruction of the temple of
Iao (Yahweh). at Elephantine.
<Slide 13>
Uruper on the Throne?
Darius (high ranking miltary officer who claimed to be related to
Cambyses
(Darius I, 522-486 BCE, Persian Darayawush)
- At death of Cambyses II - revolts in Media, Babylonia, Elam, Persia
- but Darius was successful - commemorated this with inscription on
cliff at place called Behistun
(road from Ecbatana to Babylon)
- added Persian script/to Akkadian
- smoothed cliff so that it could not be reached and defaced!
Site at Behistun Trilingual Inscription Key in Decipherment
of Cuneiform
- sacred spot in Zagros mountains relief shows him receiving
defeated enemies after a civil war
- trilingual inscription Old Persian, Akkadian, and Elamite
- played a key role in decipherment of cuneiform writing
Darius I (r.522-386 BCE) would create a ceremonial centre at
Persepolis and admin. capital at old Elamite city of Susa
(Mesopotamian lowlands)
Built a palace and ceremonial centre at Parsa - called Persepolis by
the Greeks
- he was buried in the cliffs nearby

- divided the empire into provinces, with Persian nobles as governors

(satraps)
- Taxation: minted gold and silver coins a practice taken over from
Lydians
- elaborate network of roads, roadhouses and checkpoints for
communication
Royal Road only a week for message to travel between Susa to
Sardis (1,600 mi/2,575km)
- governers - called Satraps, for sections of empire called
Satrapies
- Darius seems to have systematised tribute etc.
<Slide 14>
Persepolis
- Royal residence and ceremonial centre constructed by Darius I (r.
521-486 BCE)
- major centre until sacked and burned by Alexander
- Lower town has not been identified normal people unknown.
- Citadel centre for government and ceremony / Palace divided into
public and private centres divided by courtyards
- constructed on an immense stone platform and surrounded by
massive mudbrick walls
- colonnaded halls and pavillions, ceremonial gates and stairways,
storerooms and stables
- Achaemenids imported building materials, precious stones, gold,
silver, ivory and multinational force of labourers to build from all over
empire
- brick layers from Babylonia, stonecarvers from Ionia and Lydia,
wood and metalworkers from Egypt
Surrounding rulers often copied them
- entrance was once through a gatehouse all countries built by
Xerxes (485-465 BCE)
- GREAT ROYAL HIGHWAY
- most famous of Perisan roads - ran over mountains, across rivers,
and through valleys from Sardis to Susa.
<Slide 15-16>
Apadana (multi-columned Great Audience Hall) on its own
platform, framed by three colonnaded porches
- soaring open interior supported by widely spaced colums - particular
Persian invention
- bas relief of Immortals, lions attacking bulls, and tribute bearers
capitals - shape of the joined foreparts of two bulls, or bull-lions
- Stone capitals of lions, bulls, or human-headed bulls
- Columns suggest Greek or Lydian workmanship
- animal capitals suggest Persian architecture

- carved reliefs owed much to Assyrian imperial traditions but

subjects different
- On East giant pillared Hall the Throne Room of Xerxes Hall of
100 columns
- reliefs bear images of of tribute being brought from far-flung areas
of the empire
<Slide 17>
Relief of Darius from Treasury
- King himself on relief from the Treasury, seated on his throne
- Relief idea might come from the Assyrians but what is depicted is
very different not violent hunts and battles but peaceful tribute.
- Also, no god is present to affirm divine support.
- Greek sculptors from Ionia participated in the carving
- Hierarchic Scale
<Slide 18>
Tomb of Darius - Cliff face tombs
- entrances with carved columned facades
- reliefs and inscriptions
- Darius is shown worshipping at a fire-altar
- he is standing on a dais supported by figures representing different
peoples of the empire
- Persians were Zoroastrians worshipping Ahuramazda,
represented as a winged sun disk
ceremonies at open-air fire altars
- Reliefs showing Fire Altars from four royal tombs in cliffs of Naqsh-i
Rustam 6km NW of Persepolis
<Slide 19>
IV. Egyptian Independence (404-343 BCE)
- Revolts come to nothing until the younger Amyrtaois successfully
raises the flag of independence to give the last period of native
Egyptian rule.
- 29th and 30th Dynasties murky but clear of such inter-familial
strife that may have existed for previous periods as well.
V. Second Persian Occupation and the Conquest of Alexander
- Accomplished no later than 341 BCE
- attended by plundering of temples and policy of consolidation which
took the form of demolishing defenses of major cities
- Rebellion of Khababash (poss. 339/8 BCE) gave him temporary
control
- In 332 BCE when Alexander the Great arrived, he had no
problems in terminating the hated Persian rule.
Judah During the Persian Period

- Cyrus gives permission for Judean exiles to return to homeland in

538 BCE
- Jerusalem was in ruins (Sheshbazzar in charge of return)
- 2nd wave - under Zerubbabel and Jeshua (Joshua) - the High Priest rebuilt Temples foundations
- restored Temple by 516-515 BCE
- possibly the last of House of David to govern Judah
Ezra and Nehemiah (during reign of Artaxerxes I) (465-424 BCE)
- establishment of end of intermarraige Jews and non-Jews (seems
from fear of religious syncretism)
- only those from exile were true Jews
- can be said the beginning of Judaism out of earlier Israelite/Judean
religion
- end of Prophets