Classical Civilizations of

the Middle East and

Mediterranean
Persia, Greece, and
Rome

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.

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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.

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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).

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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).

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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.

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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.

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The Cyrus the Great Cylinder is

considered by many to be the
worlds first declaration of human
rights.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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At its height,
Persia contained
about 40 million
people.
It was extremely
diverse, with
dozens of
ethnicities,
languages, and
cultural
traditions.

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The ancient Persian capital of
Pasargadae.

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The Imperial complex:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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
could be rotatedeventually they
became hereditary.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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

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.

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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.

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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.

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An inscription inside the tomb read:

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, and inherited Cyrus project of
conquering Egypt.

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.

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The Persian army

easily crossed the
Sinai, and attacked
the Nile Valley.
The Persians were
aided by the
Phoenician fleet.
Cambyses capturing
the Egyptian pharaoh.

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In Egypt, resistance to the Persians was

particularly difficult; the Egyptians fought
with great determination and the
conquest was notoriously hard.
Cambyses violated tombs and destroyed
the mummies of pharaohs, all in an effort
to break the will of Egypt.
He died in Egypt in 522 BCE under
mysterious circumstances.

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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).

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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.

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Below a Persian administration, the

Persians very cleverly worked through
local elites. This was part of their genius.
They won over the Hebrews by rebuilding
the Temple in Jerusalem and putting the
priestly elites in charge.
In Lydia, they put the ancient Lydian
aristocracy in charge. Same in Babylon.
Egypt will be an exception.

Persia

Cyrus grandson, Darius

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

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The Persian king Darius worshipping

Ahura Mazda.

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Darius knew the Ionian Greeks were a

problem and he realized that they
could get help and encouragement
from the Greek mainland.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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Ruins of the Lydian capital, Sardis.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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But a freak storm (a gift from the

gods) destroyed the fleet and
Herodotus says 20,000 Persians
were lost.

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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).

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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!"

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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).

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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).

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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/medi
aPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=

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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).

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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.

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Leonidas at Thermopylae by David

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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.

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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.

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A year later, the army of Xerxes was

defeated at Plataea (479 BCE), and
the disorganized Persian army was
no longer much of a threat to the
Greeks.

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40 years after the Persian wars,

Herodotus wrote his Historai (Histories)
meaning researches.
He tried to answer the question of why
nations rise and fallwhy great nations
were once small and why weak nations
were once great.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 selfdestruction.
Xerxes made the choice to invade when
he did not have to.
Xerxes found that free men defending
their country could not be conquered.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The royal road.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.