Transcript Classical Civilizations of the Middle East and Mediterranean

Classical Civilizations of the
Middle East and Mediterranean
Persia, Greece, and Rome
Persia
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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.
Persia’s 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)
Harpagus—to have
the child killed…but
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 hadn’t 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 king’s 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
grandfather’s kingdom, unite the
Persians, and establish the Persian
Empire.
This story of Herodotus illustrates the
Greek’s 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 power—
like Harpagus—had no rights and no
protection from abuses.
In the Persian Empire, everyone from
the highest vizier to the lowliest
peasant was regarded as the king’s
slave.
Persia
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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 world’s
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 world’s 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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Persia
In the eyes of many, Persian kings
deserved their many titles…”King 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 empire’s twentythree 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
rotated…eventually 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 empire’s many
non-Persian cultural traditions which
also cemented the state’s 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 “Lord’s 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
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But Cyrus wanted to expand his empire to
the east, into what was called Scythia
(today’s 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:
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, and inherited Cyrus’ project of
conquering Egypt.
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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.
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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 Persia’s defeat then collapsed
and died (he ran 150 miles to Sparta and
back two days before the battle to enlist
Sparta’s 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 couldn’t
believe Athens won).
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer
.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=1296
52464&m=129653903
Persia
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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 counselor’s
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 fall—why 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 defeated…this should
have taught the Persians that their army
wasn’t invincible.
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The Persians should have learned, according
to Herodotus, that a small army of free
men—in this case the Greeks—fighting
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 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.
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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, today’s
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 citystate 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 night…prevents 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.