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Iran
Index
Figure 2. Persian Empire, ca. 500 B.C.
By 546 B.C., Cyrus had defeated Croesus, the Lydian king of
fabled wealth, and had secured control of the Aegean coast of Asia
Minor, Armenia, and the Greek colonies along the Levant
(see
fig. 2). Moving east, he took Parthia (land of the Arsacids, not to be
confused with Parsa, which was to the southwest), Chorasmis, and
Bactria. He besieged and captured Babylon in 539 and released the
Jews who had been held captive there, thus earning his
immortalization in the Book of Isaiah. When he died in 529, Cyrus's
kingdom extended as far east as the Hindu Kush in present-day
Afghanistan.
His successors were less successful. Cyrus's unstable son,
Cambyses II, conquered Egypt but later committed suicide during a
revolt led by a priest, Gaumata, who usurped the throne until
overthrown in 522 by a member of a lateral branch of the Achaemenid
family, Darius I (also known as Darayarahush or Darius the Great).
Darius attacked the Greek mainland, which had supported rebellious
Greek colonies under his aegis, but as a result of his defeat at
the Battle of Marathon in 490 was forced to retract the limits of
the empire to Asia Minor.
The Achaemenids thereafter consolidated areas firmly under
their control. It was Cyrus and Darius who, by sound and farsighted
administrative planning, brilliant military maneuvering, and a
humanistic worldview, established the greatness of the Achaemenids
and in less than thirty years raised them from an obscure tribe to
a world power.
The quality of the Achaemenids as rulers began to disintegrate,
however, after the death of Darius in 486. His son and successor,
Xerxes, was chiefly occupied with suppressing revolts in Egypt and
Babylonia. He also attempted to conquer the Greek Peloponnesus, but
encouraged by a victory at Thermopylae, he overextended his forces
and suffered overwhelming defeats at Salamis and Plataea. By the
time his successor, Artaxerxes I, died in 424, the imperial court
was beset by factionalism among the lateral family branches, a
condition that persisted until the death in 330 of the last of the
Achaemenids, Darius III, at the hands of his own subjects.
The Achaemenids were enlightened despots who allowed a certain
amount of regional autonomy in the form of the satrapy system. A
satrapy was an administrative unit, usually organized on a
geographical basis. A satrap (governor) administered the region, a
general supervised military recruitment and ensured order, and a
state secretary kept official records. The general and the state
secretary reported directly to the central government. The twenty
satrapies were linked by a 2,500-kilometer highway, the most
impressive stretch being the royal road from Susa to Sardis, built
by command of Darius. Relays of mounted couriers could reach the
most remote areas in fifteen days. Despite the relative local
independence afforded by the satrapy system however, royal
inspectors, the "eyes and ears of the king," toured the empire and
reported on local conditions, and the king maintained a personal
bodyguard of 10,000 men, called the Immortals.
The language in greatest use in the empire was Aramaic. Old
Persian was the "official language" of the empire but was used only
for inscriptions and royal proclamations.
Darius revolutionized the economy by placing it on a silver and
gold coinage system. Trade was extensive, and under the Achaemenids
there was an efficient infrastructure that facilitated the exchange
of commodities among the far reaches of the empire. As a result of
this commercial activity, Persian words for typical items of trade
became prevalent throughout the Middle East and eventually entered
the English language; examples are, bazaar, shawl, sash,
turquoise, tiara, orange, lemon, melon, peach, spinach, and
asparagus. Trade was one of the empire's main sources of
revenue, along with agriculture and tribute. Other accomplishments
of Darius's reign included codification of the data, a
universal legal system upon which much of later Iranian law would
be based, and construction of a new capital at Persepolis, where
vassal states would offer their yearly tribute at the festival
celebrating the spring equinox. In its art and architecture,
Persepolis reflected Darius's perception of himself as the leader
of conglomerates of people to whom he had given a new and single
identity. The Achaemenid art and architecture found there is at
once distinctive and also highly eclectic. The Achaemenids took the
art forms and the cultural and religious traditions of many of the
ancient Middle Eastern peoples and combined them into a single
form. This Achaemenid artistic style is evident in the iconography
of Persepolis, which celebrates the king and the office of the
monarch.
Data as of December 1987
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