Week 4 Writing Assignments

The Persian Empire often gets modest attention in world history books compared to their neighbors the Greeks, with much of the coverage usually focused on the some-times turbulent Greek-Persian relationship including multiple wars. Some of this may reflect a long-time fascination with the Greeks among many Western scholars and even average history buffs as well as a much smaller number of available Persian records. But the Persians merit strong coverage. Although its period of greatest political influence lasted only two centuries, the Persian Empire played an important role in world history. In a breathtaking series of conquests Persians established a larger, more multicultural empire than any people before them, encompassing Anatolian Greeks, Phoenicians, Jews,gyptians, Mesopotamians, and some South Asians. Domination of the east–west trade routes made the empire a major meeting ground. The Persians’ wars with the Greeks and their empire building in western Asia also paved the way for an even greater imperial structure under the extraordinary Macedonian Greek Alexander the Great and his successors.

7-1aBuilding the Persian EmpireThe Persian homeland was located on a plateau just north of the Persian Gulf, in what is now Iran (see Map 7.1). Overland routes connected Mesopotamia and Anatolia to India and Central Asia through Persia’s mountains and deserts, where two pastoral Indo-European societies, the Medes (MEEDZ)and Persians, competed for power in the early seventh century. Soon the Persians displaced the Medes.At its peak the Persian Empire, usually known as Achaemenid(a-KEY-muh-nid) Persia after the ruling fam-ily, extended from the Indus Valley in the east to Libya in the west and from the Black, Caspian, and Aral (AR-uhl) Seas in the north to the Nile Valley in the south (see Map 7.1). King Cyrus II (Cyrus the Great) began the expansion, and his suc-cessors, Cambyses (kam-BY-seez) II, Darius (duh-RY-uhs) I , and Xerxes (ZUHRK-seez) I, continued the conquests. Their autocratic but culturally tolerant government established a model for later Middle Eastern empires and challenged the Greeks in the west. They also learned from their neighbors and the conquered peoples, even retaining some defeated leaders as court advisers. Hence, they learned to mint coins from the Lydians and adopted city planning from the Medes. Assessing their rule and leaders is not easy, however, since most of the written accounts of Persia that survive from twenty-five hundred years ago are by Greeks, Persia’s bitter enemies. Historians still debate the nature of the Persian state, society, and culture.After first overthrowing the Median king, by 539 Cyrus the Great (r. 550–530 BCE) had conquered Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Lydia (a kingdom in western Anatolia), and all the Greek cities in Anatolia such as Miletus. As much diplomat as soldier, the pragmatic Cyrus followed moderate policies in the conquered territories, making only modest demands for tribute. After conquering Babylonia, he issued a proclamation on a cylinder that some scholars today consider the world’s first charter of human rights and tolerance: “Protect this land from rancor, from foes, from falsehood, and from drought.” But other scholars consider this mostly Persian propaganda. Cyrus claimed that the main Babylonian god, Marduk (MAHR-dook), ordered him to help the Babylonians by bringing them “justice and righteousness.”2He also allowed the exiled Jews taken to Babylon by the Assyrians to return to Palestine and rebuild their temple, prompting a Jewish prophet to proclaim that Cyrus was favored by their god Yahweh. When Cyrus was killed while campaigning in Central Asia, his son Cambyses II (r. 530–522 BCE) subjugated Egypt, wisely presenting himself as a new Egyptian ruler who would bring, he proclaimed, stability, good fortune, health, and gladness.Cambyses was succeeded by Darius I (r. 521–486 BCE), a usurper and arrogant man who had seized power and who boasted that “over and above my thinking power and under-standing, I am a good warrior, horseman, bowman, spear-man.”3 Darius crushed a revolt in Egypt and spread Persian power east and west, even annexing Afghanistan and parts of the Indus River Valley in northwestern India. As a result, today many peoples in Afghanistan and Central Asia speak languages closely related to Persian. Darius claimed that within his territories he cherished good people, rooted out the bad, and prevented people from killing each other. To promote justice and ensure his posterity as a great lawgiver, Darius fashioned a law code for Babylonia that basically reaf-firmed Hammurabi’s laws made almost fifteen hundred years earlier.The Persians were among the classical world’s greatest engineers and builders. For example, to forge closer links with Egypt, Darius completed the first Suez Canal, 125 miles long and 150 feet wide, that briefly connected the Mediterranean and the Red Seas. He also began building a spectacular new capital at Persepolis (puhr-SEP-uh-luhs), on whose massive stone ter-race stood monumental royal buildings. Persepolis drew from Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Greek traditions, its crafts-men and workers including Egyptians, Greeks, Hittites, and Mesopotamians.

7-1bImperial Policies and networksPerhaps most crucial to their imperial success, the Persians generally treated conquered people and their social and reli-gious institutions with respect. Cyrus the Great embraced anything in other cultures that he considered useful and con-tributed to cooperation and effective government. Herodotus reported that “there is no nation which so readily adopts for-eign customs . . . As soon as they hear of any luxury, they instantly make it their own.”4 Unlike the earlier brutal Assyrians and Babylonians, the Persians used laws, generous economic policies, and tolerance toward the conquered to rule successfully. In Egypt, for instance, Cambyses became a pha-raoh. The Persians prided themselves on their ability to unify vastly different peoples under the “king of kings,” a title that respected other rulers with limited rights in their own ter-ritories. The “live and let live” tolerance was pragmatic, since Persian kings could not have realistically imposed a universal language or religion over their diverse empire. Leading citizens came from many backgrounds. Medes, Armenians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Kurds, a people living in the mountains just north of Persia and Mesopotamia, served as generals. Hence, many Greeks fought for Persia in the Greco-Persian Wars. The Persians also utilized various official languages, including Aramaic (ar-uh-MAY-ik), spoken by many peoples of varied ethnicities (including Jews) in western Asia, and later Greek. Greeks and Romans imitated some of these Persian techniques when they created even larger empires several centuries later.

Although in theory having absolute power, kings needed to consult with important nobles and judges, who were often in faraway provinces. Each provincial governor, or satrap(SAY-trap) (“protector of the kingdom”), ruled according to established laws and paid annual taxes to the king. Communication was aided by the “royal road” stretch-ing seventeen hundred miles from east to west, and a king’s messenger on a horse could cover this road in nine-teen days. The Greek historian Herodotus marveled at the extensive, well-protected roads, writing that “neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor darkness of night prevents these couri-ers from completing their designated stages with utmost speed.”5The Persian Empire was strengthened by trade, which was promoted both by the highways and by the use of stan-dard weights and measures and minted coins. A vast trade network and opportunities for extensive scientific and cul-tural exchanges helped attract the support of Greek cities in Anatolia. Instead of stealing their wealth, Persian rul-ers allowed conquered peoples to maintain their usual eco-nomic activities. Phoenicians, for example, continued their Mediterranean trade. The Persians maintained a kind of “royal navy,” perhaps two thousand vessels at its height, in the eastern Mediterranean, with crews drawn from locals such as Phoenicians and Ionian Greeks. To open new trade networks, Darius sent an expedition to India that returned by sailing around Arabia to Suez, laying the foundation for conquering the Indus River Valley and opening more mari-time trade.

7-1cPersian Religion and SocietyThe Persians made another distinct contribution to later world history by promoting Zoroastrianism(zo-ro-ASS-tree-uh-niz-uhm). Some key ideas in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are foreshadowed by, and perhaps even derived from, Zoroastrianism, which later became Persia’s state religion. Its founder, Zoroaster (whose name means “With Golden Camels”), was one of the first non-Hebrew religious lead-ers to challenge the prevailing polytheism. Scholars debate whether he lived between 630 and 550 BCE during the Axial Age or centuries earlier, perhaps around 1000 or 1200 BCE. He may have been a priest in the early Persian religion, which was closely related to the religion of the Aryans who migrated to India.The early Persians appar-ently believed in three great gods and many lesser ones, but Zoroaster had a monotheistic vision, preaching that only one of these, Ahura Mazda(ah-HOOR-uh MAZZ-duh)(the “Wise Lord”), was the supreme deity in the universe, responsible for cre-ation and the source of all goodness. A rival Satan-like entity, Angra Mainyu (“Hostile Spirit”), embodied evil and was the source of all misery, cowardice, lies, and sin. Ahura Mazda allowed humans to freely choose between himself and evil, Heaven and Hell. By serv-ing Ahura Mazda, men and women promoted ultimate goodness and truth. At the end of time, Zoroaster believed, Ahura Mazda would win a final victory over evil and even Hell would come to an end. Zoroaster also banned the use of intoxicants and animal sac-rifice. However, some Persians worshipped other gods, and several religions coexisted in Persia.The Jews may have adopted some ideas about good and evil, God and the devil, Heaven and Hell, and a last judgment from Zoroastrians while held captive in Babylon (586–539 BCE). Christianity later incorporated such ideas, and the Zoroastrian watchwords of “good thoughts, good words, good deeds” became key ideas of several religions. Darius I publicly attributed his victories to Ahura Mazda and honored him for creating earth, sky, and humankind. While Christianity and, later, Islam even-tually displaced Zoroastrianism in western Asia, the faith lives on today among small groups in Iran as well as in the wealthy Parsee (PAR-see) minority in India, descendants of Persian Zoroastrians who in the seventh and eighth centuries CE fled Islamic conquest and domination of Persia.The Persians were not as politically diversified a society as the Greeks (see Discover Historical Voices: A Greek Account of Persian Customs). Their system was headed by nobles, many of them warriors who had been granted large estates by the king, followed by priests, merchants, and bankers. In Persian-ruled Babylonian cities these citizens made important judicial decisions in formal assemblies. Zoroastrian priests schooled noble sons to prepare for government careers. The middle class included bakers, brewers, butchers, carpenters, coppersmiths, and potters. At the bottom of the social structure, many peasant farmers were impoverished, becoming poor renters or share-croppers bound to the land. Slaves—mainly debtors, criminals, and prisoners of war—filled various functions. Some were apprenticed in trades, while others operated small businesses.Persian society was patriarchal and polygamous. Men believed that the greatest proof of masculinity was to father many sons, and many rich men had several wives. Persian women were usually kept secluded in harems and probably veiled themselves, an ancient practice in western Asia. But some queens and other noblewomen strongly influenced their husbands, and some controlled large estates. A few women became independently wealthy. For instance, one entrepreneur and landowner of com-moner origins, Irdabama, controlled a large labor force of several hundred and operated her own grain and wine business.

7-1dWarfare and Persian DeclinePersia’s rulers eventually encountered major resistance by Scythians and Greeks. Darius campaigned unsuccessfully against the Scythians (SITH-ee-uhnz), the warlike Indo-European pastoral nomads whose territory stretched from Ukraine to Mongolia. Skilled horsemen and master gold and bronze work-ers, Scythians had both fought and traded with Greek cities. The many Greeks who lived in Persian territories were also rivals for regional power. Inspired by Scythian resistance, some Greek cit-ies on the Ionian (eye-OH-nee-uhn) coast of Anatolia rebelled against Persian control (see Map 7.1). In response Darius attacked cities on the Greek peninsula that were supporting the Ionian reb-els. During this first Greco-Persian War, the tiny disunited Greek states turned back the world’s most powerful empire. While the Persians failed to occupy peninsular Greece, they reclaimed the Ionian cities, brutally punishing the most rebellious. Darius then supported democratic forces in Ionian cities, a tactic that failed to inspire peninsular Greek cooperation with Persian aims.Xerxes (r. 486–465 BCE), the son of Darius, tried again to conquer the Greeks in 480 BCE, attacking with a huge army and naval force. In this fierce two-year struggle, perhaps Xerxes’s most effective ally was the Ionian Greek queen Artemisia (AHRT-uh-MIZH-ee-uh) of Helicarnassus, who was praised for her bravery as a naval commander and the wise counsel she gave the Persian king. But the Persian thrust failed. Although Xerxes still held some of the Greek world and regained control of Egypt, defeat in this second Greco-Persian War proved a turning point in Persian history.The Persian Empire was not finally conquered until 330 BCE, when Alexander the Great’s superior army defeated Persian forces. However, the seeds of decline had been planted ear-lier when Xerxes began imposing heavier taxes. By 424 BCE the Persian Empire suffered from civil unrest caused by fights within the Achaemenid family, disaffected satrapies, currency inflation, difficulty collecting taxes, and high interest rates and debt that ruined many merchants and landlords. Xerxes and his succes-sors also unwisely reversed the inclusive policies of Cyrus and Darius. Some regions rebelled. Egypt ended Persian control in 404 BCE, restoring pharaonic rule. Thus support for the increas-ingly remote kings weakened long before Alexander the Great ended Achaemenid Persia and its once-great empire.

7-2 the rise and Flowering of the Greeks

When people today think of the classical Greeks, they envision the “golden age” of Athenian democracy, with thinkers pondering life’s meaning and the scientific mysteries, but these were only part of a com-plex, innovative, and often conflicted society. Historians debate how much of their culture the Greeks created and how much they adopted from others. The Mediterranean was a zone of interaction for peoples living around its rim, and by 700 BCE the Greeks were prospering through active participation in maritime trade.The Greeks also struggled to forge democracy. Like people today, they debated how to rule populations, choose leaders, and educate youngsters. But the ancient Greek society modern people admire was also far from egalitarian and had what many people today would consider unattractive features, includ-ing slavery and a rigid patriarchy.

7-2aThe greek City-StatesVaried influences shaped the Greek world. Mountainous ter-rain, coastal plains, and scattered islands fostered many city-states rather than one centralized state, as well as spurring the maritime trade that brought growth and prosperity between 800 and 500 BCE. Political institutions that allowed socially diverse groups of residents in some cities to make decisions also encouraged economic growth. A growing population, too little good farmland, and commercial interests led many Greeks to emigrate, establishing new settlements along the Ionian coast, around the Black Sea, in Italy, and on the Mediterranean coasts of France and Spain (see Map 7.2). Greeks even visited and some sojourned or lived in Egypt.Prosperity led to a new conception of the city and the citi-zen’s role. The polis(POE-lis), a city-state, became the major institution of Greek life and gave citizens a sense of community, loyalty, personal identity, and meaning. Free male citizens meet-ing in an open assembly made all decisions, from building a new temple to making war. The worst punishment a Greek could suffer was expulsion from the polis, and some Greeks commit-ted suicide rather than face ostracism. City-states competed fiercely with each other, including in sports events. Modern sports fans owe much to the Greeks for pioneering organized athletic competitions. In the Olympic Games, begun in the eighth century BCE as a religious festival to honor the god Zeus, each polis sent athletes who competed naked in track and field events or personal contests of strength such as wrestling. The idea was to win, even if it meant cheating.Not all city residents were equal. Many cities developed oligarchy(AHL-uh-gar-kee), rule by a small group of wealthy leaders. As much as 80 percent of the population, including women, slaves, children, and resident foreigners, were not citizens and had no right to vote or hold office. Even among cit-izens, members of old, aristocratic families enjoyed greater respect and authority than others. By the seventh century, however, aristocratic power had weakened. Although aristocrats generally scorned trade in favor of wealth from landowning, growing trade created wealth for other citizens, allowing them to compete with the upper class. Furthermore, a new battle for-mation relied on infantry more than the aristocracy-dominated cavalry. The city-state of Sparta perfected the phalanx ( FAY-langks), consisting of a square of soldiers moving in unison, each man protected with heavy armor and carrying a sword or spear. Greek armies became citizen-armies, not paid profes-sional forces. As nonaristocrats risked their lives for their polis, they wanted a greater role in governing it.The new military system, population expansion, and increased wealth from trade with the Ionian Greeks helped fos-ter democracy. Some Greeks combined the contradictory ideas that people are politically free but also owe loyalty to their com-munity. Some also discovered how people could live without being controlled by gods or kings, framing notions of political freedom and equality for adult male citizens. These were radical ideas for that era, or even for ours.

7-2bReform, Tyranny, and Democracy in Athens

The most dramatic political changes occurred in Athens, a polis on the eastern Greek peninsula of Attica that became progres-sively more democratic. This change was partly the result of a crisis. The soil was wearing out, and farmers were going deeply into debt. As poor wheat harvests continued, farm-ers sold themselves and their families into slavery. The poor demanded reform. Around 594 BCE Athenians elected Solon (SOH-luhn), a general, poet, and merchant, to lead the city and rewrite the old constitution. To avoid civil war, he canceled debts, forbade enslavement for debt default, made wealth rather than birth the criterion for membership on the city’s governing council, and established a Council of 400 to review issues for action by the Assembly of Citizens, a court of appeals where people, rich or poor, could bring cases to court. However, he also reduced the freedom of women by, for example, allowing fathers to sell into slavery daughters who had lost their virginity before marriage.The Athenian path to more democracy moved from reform to tyranny to democracy. Solon’s reforms failed to please either side in this social and economic struggle. The poor wanted land from the rich, while aristocrats resented their loss of power. Tensions returned, allowing Peisistratus (pie-SIS-truht-uhs)(r. 561–527 BCE) to seize power as a tyrant, not necessarily a brutal ruler but someone ruling outside the law. Peisistratus gave to the poor land confiscated from aristocratic estates and launched a building program, including an aqueduct to bring water directly to the city center.In 507 BCE another aristocrat, Cleisthenes (KLICE-thuh-neez), established genuine democracy in Athens. Instead of emphasizing noble birth or wealth for citizenship, Cleisthenes created geographical units that chose people by lot (drawing names or winners by chance, usually from a container) for a new Council of 500 that submitted legislation to the Assembly, con-sisting of forty thousand citizens who selected city officials by lot. In the mid-fifth century aristocratic power was further reduced when lower-income citizens were allowed to become officials. Euripides (you-RIP-uh-deez) described the system in his play, The Suppliant Woman: “The city is free, and ruled by no one man. The people reign, in annual succession. They do not yield power to the rich; the poor man has an equal share in it.”6Athenians believed that ordinary citizens could serve in any government positions except as military officers, choosing rep-resentatives by lot rather than by more divisive elections. However, only a small group of adult males enjoyed these rights. Moreover, many Greeks thought that democracy of any type was a bad thing.

7-2c

The Spartan SystemIn the Peloponnese (PELL-eh-puh-NEESE) peninsula in southern Greece, the landlocked city-state of Sparta followed a course much different from that of Athens (see Map 7.2). Spartans saw military power as essential for prestige and influ-ence. Short of land, they conquered their neighbors rather than establish overseas colonies, and they made the conquered peo-ples agricultural slaves with no political or human rights who could be killed almost at will. Since slaves greatly outnumbered Spartans, a rigid military state emerged, led by two kings and a Council of Elders elected for life by an Assembly of all citizens over thirty. The Assembly approved or rejected measures pre-pared by the Council of Elders and the kings. Thus the Spartans discouraged independent thought or behavior. Boys who seemed physically unfit were taken to a remote rural area and left to die. The other boys received rigid military training and were taught that self-discipline and courage were the highest vir-tues. One legend tells of a young boy who found a small fox and concealed it under his shirt while engaged in military drill. While standing at atten-tion, the boy suddenly fell over dead. The fox had eaten into his vital organs, but self-discipline had kept him from crying out in pain. From ages twenty to thirty, Spartan males served in the army; only after this time were they allowed to live at home with their wives.Although enjoying no politi-cal rights, Spartan women acquired a higher status than other Greek women. Their husbands’ frequent absences allowed some to acquire wealth and land. Spartan girls underwent physical training, including races and trials of strength. When grown they enjoyed reciting poetry and swigging wine. Athenian men criticized Spartan women for their inde-pendence, portraying them as greedy, licentious, and needing male control. The playwright Euripides scolded the “Spartan maidens, allowed out of doors with the young men, running and wrestling in their company, with naked thighs.

7-2d Religion, Rationalism, and ScienceThe Greeks may have been practical people, but they also respected the supernatural realm. The many gods, legends, and myths introduced by the Homeric epics (see Chapter 3) pro-foundly shaped Greek thinking and values. Greek religion also owed something to Egyptian and Phoenician beliefs. Chief gods and goddesses represented various natural and human activities. Zeus, a sky-god, governed the natural and social order. Other deities included his wife, Hera (HEER-uh), representing mar-riage and the family; Poseidon (puh-SIDE-uhn), the lord of the sea and brother of Zeus; Athena, Zeus’s favorite daughter, the goddess of wisdom; Apollo, patron of music, philosophy, and other finer things in life; Dionysus (DIE-uh-NYE-suhs), the god of wine; and Aphrodite (af-ruh-DITE-ee), goddess of love, sex, and fertility. Her reputation for inspiring lovemak-ing is the source for the English word aphrodisiac. The Greek gods indulged freely in sexual pleasure and seducing mortals. Although these deities had human virtues and vices, Greeks viewed them as immortal and more powerful than humans. Defying the gods invited disaster, whereas proper sacrifices to the gods, usually incorporated into festivals and official ceremonies, guaranteed harmony between humans and the heavens. Today, figures and stories from Greek mythology such as Narcissus, Medusa, and Icarus still inspire literature and songs around the world, including popular music in countries as far away as South Korea where they are a common theme. In recent years the United States space agency, NASA, used the names of Greek gods, such as Apollo and Mercury, for some of its programs and spaceships.Interest in life’s deeper meaning also fostered a rational approach to the search for truth. The Greeks produced some of history’s greatest thinkers, join-ing the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Indians, and Chinese in laying the foundation for mod-ern science. Some Greek thinkers questioned supernatural explanations of natural events. The Ionian philosopher Xenophanes (zi-NAHF-uh-neez) was skeptical of the gods:Mortals deem that the gods are begotten as they [humans] are, and have clothes like theirs and voice and form.... The Ethiopians make their gods black. The Thracians (THRAY-shuhns) say theirs have blue eyes and red hair.8Indeed, some Greeks might today be considered atheists or agnostics. The scientist Democritus (di-MAHK-ruht-uhs) speculated that real-ity consisted of nothing except fundamental particles swirling randomly in the void. Some thinkers identified God with nature. Others, like Lucretius, condemned the immorality of people who do evil acts under religious delusions. 2,500 years ago, the Ionian-born philosopher Anaxagoras (c. 510-428 BCE), reflecting a spirit of scientific inquiry, correctly determined that the moon was not a god but rather a rocky object that reflects light from the sun, which was also not a god. This enabled him to explain moonlight, lunar phases, and eclipses. However he had become friends with the Athenian leader Pericles, whose political ene-mies turned to persecuting those linked to him. Anaxagoras was arrested, tried, sentenced to death, and then exiled, ostensibly for breaking impiety laws while promoting his ideas about the moon and sun. But his ideas would live on to this day, and for his recog-nition of the moon’s true nature, a lunar crater, visited by orbiting spacecraft some 2,400 years later, bears the name Anaxagoras.Creative thought sprouted throughout the Greek world. Thales of Miletus (ca. 636–546) was the first known person to perceive the universe as orderly and to seek a natural explanation of phenomena rather than attributing them to gods. His student Anaximander of Miletus (611–547) believed the first creatures lived in water and came close to the idea, developed several millennia later, that human beings evolved from lower forms of life. Democritus argued that all matter was composed of tiny seeds (atoms) that moved, creating different objects. Heracleitus (HER-uh-KLITE-uhs) of Ephasus (EF-uh-suhs) in Ionia perceived the universe in a constant state of flux, with only change permanent. The Ionian Pythagoras (puh-THAG-uh-ruhs) helped establish modern mathematics by emphasizing the number 10 and develop-ing the multiplication tables and major mathematical theorems.These early thinkers laid the foundations of natural sci-ence and philosophy by emphasizing the explanatory power of human reason and evaluating evidence by human rather than divine standards. However, some Greek thinkers suggested the more troubling idea of relative rather than absolute human standards. The sophists(SAHF-uhsts) emphasized skepti-cism, denying there is ultimate truth. People have struggled with this twin legacy of Greek thinkers ever since.

7-2e Axial Age Philosophy and ThinkersThree major fifth- and fourth-century BCE Athenian thinkers helped shape world philosophy. Today in many countries students still study their work as part of classes examining the “Classics.” The first two, Socrates and Plato, studied the nature of truth; the third, Aristotle (AR-uh-staht-uhl), examined the truth found in nature. These men participated in a philosophical and religious rev-olution across Eurasia between 600 and 200 BCE that historians often term the Axial Age. The ideas of Buddha in India, Confucius in China, several Hebrew prophets, the Persian Zoroaster (who may have actually lived much earlier), and various Greeks shaped classical societies and remained influential for many centuries.The earliest seminal Greek philosopher, the Athenian Socrates (469–399 BCE), believed that “the unexamined life” was not worth living. Shabbily dressed, eccentric, passionate, and indifferent to money and pleasure, he asked people leading questions that helped them examine the truth of their ideas, an approach called the socratic Method. Unlike the Sophists, Socrates believed in abso-lute truths that make people virtuous. Although considered the founder of Western moral philosophy, some of his elitist views might be unpopular even today. For example, suspicious of democracy, he favored government by the chosen few who acquired superior knowledge. Widely seen as a troublemaker for undermin-ing the polis by asking so many, often embarrassing, questions and “corrupting the youth,” Socrates was condemned to death for trea-son in 399 BCE. The prosecutor said of him: “Socrates is an evil doer and a curious person, searching into things under the earth and above the heavens, and making the worse appear the better, and teaching all this to others.”9 Refusing a lighter sentence or exile, Socrates chose death, making him, in modern eyes at least, a martyr for truth and free expression, although most of his contemporaries may not have viewed him this way.Socrates’s leading pupil, Plato (428–347 BCE), became disillusioned with city politics after his mentor’s execution. After sojourning in Egypt, Plato founded a school in Athens called the Academy (the source of our word academic), where he elaborated Socrates’s belief in ultimate truth, beauty, and goodness. He believed that most people, ruled by emotions, can-not see reality. Only a special class who are trained to use reason to control emotions and will, which he called the Guardians, understand ultimate truth and goodness and therefore should govern. Plato later retreated from this elitist conception, sug-gesting that strong laws could control democratic excesses. Some believe that Plato’s thinking sanctioned dictatorships in which a few men claimed special wisdom and virtue.The Athenian philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE) con-tributed enduring ideas, many of which might seem similar to some of ours today. The son of a Greek physician working for the king of non-Greek Macedonia, Aristotle studied philosophy with Plato and eventually founded his own school. Like Socrates, he was also charged with impiety, but he chose to go into exile. Although distrusting democracy, he encouraged people to pur-sue their personal desires. Rather than exploring ultimate truths, Aristotle pragmatically emphasized how human nature and physical nature worked. His writings spanned the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. One of the first psychologists, Aristotle described human emotions like affection, anger, bravery, fear, hate, joy, and pity. He concluded the world was round, classi-fied and analyzed nature, dissected animals, and pioneered zoology, providing a key foundation for both Western and Islamic science. He also studied logic, ethics, and political systems. In philosophy, Aristotle speculated on metaphysics, the broad field that stud-ies the most general concepts and categories underlying people and the world around them (such as “time” and “causation”).

7-2fLiteratureCulturally creative, Athens attracted many writers and artists because prosperity generated spending money for entertain-ment. Perhaps the Athenians’ most enduring contribution, drama, arose from annual religious festivals during which plays, often bawdy, based on historical or mythological themes were usually performed in outdoor amphitheaters, accom-panied by music. Most plays were tragedies, and the drama-tists had different styles. Aeschylus (ESS-kuh-luhs) (525–456 BCE) emphasized traditional values, the gods, and justice issues while portraying the disasters brought on by too much pride. Sophocles (SAUF-uh-klees) (ca. 497–406 BCE), a humanist, stressed emo-tional issues. Aristophanes (AR-uh-STAHF-uh-neez)(448–380 BCE) wrote com-edies ridiculing Athenians and their pretensions. In The Knights, a general tries to con-vince an ignorant sausage seller to unseat the Athenian leader: “To be a leader of the people isn’t for learned men, or honest men, but for the ignorant and vile.”10 Some of his criticism reflected Athenian losses dur-ing a terrible war.Some playwrights offered vivid images of women who refused to be silenced or abused. In Agamemnon(ag-uh-MEM-non), a great tragic drama by Aeschylus, the wife of Agamemnon, the hero of the Trojan War, kills him for sacrificing their daugh-ter to the gods to get a favorable wind to sail to Troy. Some plays address questions that, twenty-five hundred years later, dominate today’s headlines, such as asylum seeking, refugees, immigration, sexual violence, and treatment of foreigners. For example, in “The Suppliant Maidens” by Aeschylus, the plot involves a group of women from Egypt claiming Greek ances-try and seeking refuge in a Greek city from forced marriage back home. But although they are still seen as foreigners, the city’s citizens vote in their favor and protect them.Greek lyric poets, especially in Ionia, reflected an individualistic, intel-lectual approach. Hence, Archilochus (ahr-KIL-uh-kuhs) mocked the Spartan battlefield order to “return with your shield—or [carried] on it” by writing: “Some lucky Thracian has my shield, For, being some-what flurried, I dropped it by a wayside bush, As from the field I hurried. To blazes with the shield. I’ll get another just as good, When next I take the field.”11 A girl’s school director and perhaps the most intensely personal poet, Sappho (SAFF-oh), from the Ionian island of Lesbos, wrote pas-sionate love lyrics to her students: “A host of horsemen, some say, is the loveli-est sight upon the earth; some say a dis-play of soldiery; some a fleet of ships, but I say it’s whomever one loves.”12Considered Homer’s equal, Sappho wrote poems that were read in the Mediterranean world long after her death. Today she is considered a lesbian artistic role model.7-2g greek SocietyPronounced differences separated social classes the Delian(DEE-lee-uhn) League, a defensive alliance led by the richest state and largest naval power, Athens. Other cities contributed funds or ships. But the Delian League changed from a defensive alliance to an Athenian empire. Athens controlled the league treasury, spending some of the money on Athenian civic improvements. Then in 467 Athens took mili-tary action to stop the island of Naxos (NAK-suhs) from leaving the league. Some Athenians protested that a democracy, which allows varied opinions, could not manage an empire.Athens reached its golden age under Pericles (ca. 495–429 BCE), a visionary leader and spellbinding orator who pro-moted democratic legal reforms. Athenians, then numbering some 250,000 to 300,000, were justifiably proud of their city, especially of the magnificent public buildings such as the Parthenon (PAHR-thuh-nahn), a temple dedicated to the city’s patron goddess, Athena, on a hilltop called the Acropolis (uh-KRAHP-uh-luhs). But while Athenians embraced self-fulfillment and individual-ism, some criticized unrestrained freedom, fearing that too much pride or self-expression spelled trouble. Across classical Greece, playwrights, poets, and historians argued that arrogance led to pun-ishment by the gods and personal disaster. Despite the warnings, the Athenians’ civic pride eventually brought disaster, as increas-ing resentment of Athenian power by rival cities generated the long Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta-led alliances. In a famous “funeral oration” to memorialize dead Athenian soldiers, the nationalistic Pericles (r. 460–429 BCE) reportedly contrasted Athenian democratic institutions and equal-ity before the law with Spartan discipline and lack of freedom:. . . We are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. . . . I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because I want to show you we are con-tending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges. For in magnifying the city I have magnif ied the men whose virtues made her glorious.16Pericles introduced the novel ideas that war was not just to defend hearth and home but to spread better ideas and systems, and also that free citizens had a responsibility to their commu-nity. But the assumption that their high ideals made Athenians superior to their neighbors fueled dislike by other Greek cities.The war proved disastrous for Athens and boosted Sparta. The Athenians’ plan to use their navy to combat their ene-my’s superior land army floundered when a deadly plague hit Athens, killing a third of the population, including Pericles. The Athenians also unwisely attempted to capture Syracuse, a Greek city in Sicily. Later the Spartans, with Persian advice, destroyed the Athenian fleet. The victorious Spartans dis-banded the Athenian navy, destroyed the city walls, and killed or exiled thousands of Athenians. Although the war made and genders, with freedom reserved primarily for males. Greek society consisted, from top to bottom, of free men (only some of them citizens), many resident foreigners, free women, and slaves. Most free men, if not wealthy landowners or small farmers, worked as laborers, artisans, or shopkeepers. Resident foreigners, including Phoenicians, Lydians, and Syrians, were primarily merchants, bankers, and artisans. Many became wealthy but were required to serve in the military. Free women could not vote, hold office, or serve on juries. Socrates supposedly asked a col-league: “Is there anyone of your acquaintance with whom you have less conversation than your wife?” The reply: “Hardly anyone, I think.”13Women from elite families generally stayed inside the home, in contrast to many less affluent women.Slaves, mostly captives taken in battle or debtors, constituted about one-third of the population. They were often household servants, paid artisans, or teachers who instructed young people how to play music and write. Slaves also constructed many great buildings or worked on agricultural plantations or in mines owned by aristo-crats. Many slaves faced harsh lives and could be tortured and executed for mere suspicion of a crime. Whether slave or free, the poor did most of the work in industry and agriculture.Like the nuclear family system of the modern West but unlike the extended family pattern of many African and Asian societies, most Greek families consisted of a husband, a wife, and children. Women’s principal tasks were to feed and clothe their families and to bear and raise children. While lack-ing men’s sexual freedom, women could own property and divorce their husbands, and they played essential roles in religious festi-vals. For example, the oracle at the temple of Delphi (DELL-fye), which many leaders consulted to determine the will of Apollo, spoke through a woman’s voice.But women also experienced strong prejudice in a patriarchal society. Aristotle articulated the misogynist, or antiwoman, views of many men in describing women as deformed males. A popular saying expressed male views: “Respectable women should stay at home; the street is for worthless hussies.” Some women expressed their discontent, as reflected in a tragic play by Euripides: “[Men] say we lead a safe life at home. What imbeciles! I’d rather stand to arms three times than bear one child.”14 In contrast to political marginaliza-tion, Greek literature often portrayed women as powerful and capable of great anger, humor, faithfulness, and intelli-gence. For example, Penelope, the wife of Ulysses in Homer’s Odyssey, ruled the state wisely until his return while outma-neuvering many men seeking to marry her. In Aristophanes’s bawdy comedy Lysistrata(lis-uh-STRAH-tuh), a group of women organize to end war by refusing to have sex with their husbands until the men stop fighting. Lysistrata tells her husband: “We women got together and decided we were going to save Greece. Listen to us and keep quiet, as we’ve had to do up to now, and we’ll clear up the mess you’ve made.”15Some social customs might be considered controversial today. While their wives stayed home, men attended par-ties, sometimes enlivened by courtesans celebrated for their wit and charm. Some courtesans enjoyed high status and probably a good education. Aspasia (ass-PAY-zhee-uh), a vivacious, literate, and controversial Milesian, probably oper-ated an Athens meetinghouse where educated men, including possibly Socrates, came for sex and conversation with intel-lectual women. Advocating gender equality, Aspasia became the mistress of the Athenian leader Pericles (PER-eh-kleez), whose enemies, among them dramatists, accused her of writ-ing his speeches, violating the tradition that politics was for men only. Indeed, Greek opinion on her was so divided that it is hard to separate fact from fiction about her life and actions. Unlike some courtesans, most prostitutes were badly exploited slaves.Homosexuality has existed in all societies from earli-est times, but Greek men and some women were particularly open about their same-sex relationships. Nudity in public was accepted as normal, not shameful. Artists fashioned many natu-ralistic statues of naked men and women, and diverse homo-sexual practices and relationships were common. Yet many of these same people also pursued heterosexual relationships and marriage. Bringing up Greek boys and girls separately reduced heterosexual contact. Hence, homosexual behavior between older and younger upper-class men was accepted as part of a training or mentoring relationship for career preparation, with many famous Greeks having such relationships, among them Solon, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. In Sparta some top military units comprised homosexual couples. Female same-sex behavior was less public but likely fairly common, especially in Sparta. But the concepts of same-sex or even opposite-sex relationships or identity twenty-five hundred years ago were not necessarily the same as those in Western societies today. Men of superior status took for granted that, with or without consent, they could have intimate relations with anyone of inferior status, including servants, slaves, and foreigners. In contrast, many nonelite Greeks and some philosophers condemned homosexual rela-tions between two adults.During the early fifth century BCE pen-insular Greek cities successfully fought a series of wars with the greatest power of western Asia, the Persian Empire. But rival Greek states also fought ruinous wars with each other. Both Greeks and Persians borrowed many ideas from neighboring peoples, including the Egyptians and western Asians, causing historians to debate the classical Greek and Persian legacies for both Europe and the Middle East.

7-3aThe greco-Persian WarsThe Greco-Persian conflict began in 499 BCE, when Athens supported some Greek cities in Anatolia that were rebelling against their Persian overlords. After defeating the rebels in 494, Darius I dispatched a fleet to punish the peninsular Greeks in 492, but storms destroyed his ships. He then sent a larger Persian force, which was defeated at the Battle of Marathon in northern Greece in 490 BCE. The Greeks slaughtered the Persians, many of whom drowned in the sea.The Persians attempted again to conquer Greece in 480 BCE, when Xerxes sent a huge army and navy to engage an alliance led by Athens and Sparta. A Spartan force of three hundred fought to the death holding a strategic pass, but they were betrayed by some Greeks who showed the Persians a path around them. The Persians swept down into Athens, burn-ing the city. Expecting final victory, they attacked the trapped Athenian fleet in the Bay of Salamis (SAL-uh-muhs), near Athens. Surprisingly, however, they were defeated. The large Persian force, far from home, proved difficult to supply and control effectively, while the Athenians had also developed the world’s most advanced fighting ship, the well-armored trireme(TRY-reem), which had three banks of oarsmen and deadly bronze rams. The following year (479) the Greeks defeated the remaining Persian forces at the battle of Plataea (pluh-TEE-uh). Some historians argue that the Greek victory over the Persians led to a growing divide between “Europe” and “Asia,” with the Greeks increasingly viewing themselves as different from, and superior to, the people to the east.7-3bEmpire and Conflict in the greek WorldThe declining Persian threat reignited old rivalries between Greek cities, fostering nearly constant warfare between them. To defeat the Persians, the Greek cities had organizedthe Delian(DEE-lee-uhn) League, a defensive alliance led by the richest state and largest naval power, Athens. Other cities contributed funds or ships. But the Delian League changed from a defensive alliance to an Athenian empire. Athens controlled the league treasury, spending some of the money on Athenian civic improvements. Then in 467 Athens took mili-tary action to stop the island of Naxos (NAK-suhs) from leaving the league. Some Athenians protested that a democracy, which allows varied opinions, could not manage an empire.Athens reached its golden age under Pericles (ca. 495–429 BCE), a visionary leader and spellbinding orator who pro-moted democratic legal reforms. Athenians, then numbering some 250,000 to 300,000, were justifiably proud of their city, especially of the magnificent public buildings such as the Parthenon (PAHR-thuh-nahn), a temple dedicated to the city’s patron goddess, Athena, on a hilltop called the Acropolis (uh-KRAHP-uh-luhs). But while Athenians embraced self-fulfillment and individual-ism, some criticized unrestrained freedom, fearing that too much pride or self-expression spelled trouble. Across classical Greece, playwrights, poets, and historians argued that arrogance led to pun-ishment by the gods and personal disaster. Despite the warnings, the Athenians’ civic pride eventually brought disaster, as increas-ing resentment of Athenian power by rival cities generated the long Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta-led alliances. In a famous “funeral oration” to memorialize dead Athenian soldiers, the nationalistic Pericles (r. 460–429 BCE) reportedly contrasted Athenian democratic institutions and equal-ity before the law with Spartan discipline and lack of freedom:. . . We are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. . . . I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because I want to show you we are con-tending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges. For in magnifying the city I have magnif ied the men whose virtues made her glorious.16Pericles introduced the novel ideas that war was not just to defend hearth and home but to spread better ideas and systems, and also that free citizens had a responsibility to their commu-nity. But the assumption that their high ideals made Athenians superior to their neighbors fueled dislike by other Greek cities.The war proved disastrous for Athens and boosted Sparta. The Athenians’ plan to use their navy to combat their ene-my’s superior land army floundered when a deadly plague hit Athens, killing a third of the population, including Pericles. The Athenians also unwisely attempted to capture Syracuse, a Greek city in Sicily. Later the Spartans, with Persian advice, destroyed the Athenian fleet. The victorious Spartans dis-banded the Athenian navy, destroyed the city walls, and killed or exiled thousands of Athenians. Although the war made Sparta the most powerful Greek state, decades of instability fol-lowed, and eventually the frequent conflicts between the Greek cities proved too destructive. Less than a century after the Peloponnesian War ended, Greece was conquered by neighbor-ing Macedonia and made the base for a much greater empire.7-3cHistoriography: Universal and CriticalThe Greeks developed concepts of history that are still used today, but they did so in the context of their connections to other societies. Of course, peoples before them had some sense of his-tory. The legends passed down through oral traditions, such as the stories in the Hebrew Bible and the Homeric epics, were narratives of history, although we cannot prove their accuracy. The Chinese, most notably Sima Qian, also wrote historical accounts based on varied documentaries and other sources. But the Greeks Herodotus and Thucydides (thyou-SID-uh-deez)were the first to pursue critical, analytical, and universal history.Sometimes called the Father of History, Herodotus (ca. 484–425 BCE) wrote history on a scale never attempted before, providing the main source about the Greco-Persian Wars. Integrating information on geography and culture, Herodotus wrote vividly about neighboring societies. He was born in a Persian-ruled Ionian city, Halicarnasus, and traveled around the Persian Empire and sojourned in Egypt, concluding that some Greek gods could be equated with Egyptian divinities. He also visited Tyre in what is today Lebanon, where he learned that Phoenicians had invented the alphabet. A sophisticated man with an inquiring mind, Herodotus lived for a time in Periclean Athens, where he met many famous men, and he portrayed the Athenians favorably, attributing the Greeks’ victory over the Persians’ abso-

lute monarchy to the Greeks’ free society. Because his interests and

travels went well beyond the Greek world, Herodotus might be

considered the first world historian. But his writings must be used

with caution since he often reported unverified, implausible, and

even fanciful hearsay and failed to subject his material to enough

critical scrutiny. Yet, to his credit he was something of a cultural

relativist, avoiding Greek prejudices against other cultures and

offering sympathetic views of Persians and criticisms of Greeks.

Our knowledge of Greek politics and wars during the fifth

century BCE comes largely from a single book,

The Peloponnesian

Wa r

, written by Thucydides (ca. 460–400 BCE), a general exiled

from Athens for losing an important battle. Despite his exile,

Thucydides objectively evaluated the strengths and weaknesses

of his home city, setting an example of careful observation. Unlike

earlier writers, he added critical judgments to his narrative, such

as by criticizing the Athenians for ignoring Pericles’ warnings

to attempt no new conquests. He also evaluated democracy’s

benefits and drawbacks and asked fundamental questions about

the nature of power. Thucydides looked for patterns and moral

lessons in the past. Whenever historians interpret the past, they

are acknowledging a debt to Thucydides, a historian who was not

just a teller of tales but also a teacher of wisdom.

7-3d

Interregional Trade and Cultural Mixing

The Mediterranean Basin remained a vast zone of exchange in

which Greeks played the commercial role once dominated by

Phoenicians, trading wine and olive oil widely, establishing colo-nies, and spreading their culture. Like Greeks, Persians welcomed foreign traders. Port cities like Persian-ruled Miletus in Ionia prospered as regional trade hubs, and Persian gold coins were used by many societies. Persian leaders patronized Greek traders living in their domains, and in 510 BCE one of them, Scylax of Caryanda (SKY-lax of KAR-ee-AN-da), headed a Persian trade mission to India. Tribute flowed to the Persian capital, includ-ing Arabian and Bactrian camels, Indian gold, Scythian horses, Egyptian bulls, Anatolian leather goods, and Ionian silver.Long-distance trade was crucial in many ways. Merchants traveling elsewhere to trade eventually evolved into what histori-ans call a trade diaspora, living permanently in foreign cities or countries to do business. Most of the shipowners, traders, and mon-eylenders of Athens came from western Asia or Greek diaspora colonies such as Massalia (today’s Marseilles) and the Crimean peninsula. Expatriate Greek merchant communities arose in Egypt, western Asia, and around the Black Sea. Trade also spurred a strong Athenian navy, helping Greeks defeat the Persians. Athens, the leading Greek commercial and financial hub, controlled rich silver mines worked by over twenty thousand slaves and imported wheat from Egypt, Sicily, and southern Russia. It gained a reputation as the most profitable and safest city to do business in, where even those of humble origins could achieve wealth.The interlinked Mediterranean Basin fostered cosmo-politan thinking and brought together southern European, western Asian, and North African cultures. Though highly creative, Persians and Greeks also learned much from other peoples. Persians blended Ionian Greek, Mesopotamian, and Scythian art styles and motifs with their own traditions, while Greeks integrated Phoenician, Lydian, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian influences. Phoenician traders brought art forms and styles that inspired Greeks to modify their columns, pottery, statues, and ceramic styles. Greeks also adopted West Asian musical instruments and melodies, the Phoenician alpha-bet, and several Phoenician, Egyptian, and Anatolian gods. In addition, many Greek colonists absorbed local influences. For example, Greeks in Massalia, on the southern coast of France, had to understand local Celtic customs and language.Greeks visited, worked in, settled in, and learned about other societies. For example, many Ionian merchants lived in Egypt. The Athenian lawgiver Solon visited Egypt as a merchant, stud-ied with priests, and wrote poems about living along the Nile, and the influential writings of the Athenian physician Hippocrates (hip-AHK-ruh-teez) included some Egyptian medical ideas. Some Greeks even fought as mercenaries for Egyptian kings and worshipped Egyptian gods, while others served in Mesopotamian and Persian armies. The scientist Democritus visited Babylonia and Persia, and both Plato and Aristotle knew something about Zoroastrianism. Cosmopolitan Ionia, where Greek and Asian cultures mixed, produced path-breaking thinking in philosophy and science, often under Persian patronage. Thales, a Lydian subject whom some scholars think was of Phoenician descent, studied geometry in Egypt and was the first Greek to inscribe a right-angled triangle and to deter-mine the sun’s course from solstice to solstice, something the Babylonians had long known how to do. The Ionian-born math-ematician Pythagoras (ca. 580–ca. 500 BCE) may have visited Egypt and Babylon.7-3eThe Persian and greek LegaciesBoth Persians and Greeks left rich legacies for later societies. The Persians built the world’s first large empire and flexible, tolerant multinational state, fusing traditions from many cul-tures while spreading learning, such as Babylonian astronomy, to peoples such as the Greeks. Persians today still revere Cyrus the Great. The Persians’ Zoroastrian ideas also influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and many Persian words entered other languages; for example, the Persian word for “garden” became the English word paradise. Persian culture and language strongly influenced Afghanistan and Central Asia, and science and mathematics continued to develop in Ionia and Mesopotamia.Many historians have admired the Greeks as the direct cul-tural, intellectual, and political ancestors of modern Europeans and North Americans, perceiving Greek society as culturally richer than any other before modern times. They view the Athenian era of Pericles, Plato, and Aeschylus as a “golden age” that launched Western literature, history, philosophy, sci-ence, and the democratic ideal. However, the view of Greece as the fountainhead of Western culture has problems and critics. Many Greek customs and social inequalities, especially their sometimes cruel treatment of women and slaves, appall people today. To critics, most Greek thinkers were not very liberal or secular, their democracy was elitist and flawed, and what Greek ideas western Europe inherited came in modified form through the Romans and later through the Arabs. Moreover, modern science is based not only on Greek but also on Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern discoveries. As a result, some historians believe the Romans founded the Western tradition, while oth-ers see the Greeks as more an extension of western Asian and North African rather than Western societies.Today the Greeks seem both very strange and quite familiar, and the debate suggests how fascinating the Greeks have been to various societies over the centuries, beginning with the Romans. Middle Eastern societies also treasured Greek thinkers and sci-ence, and Greek philosophy influenced some Islamic scholars. The debate also indicates that the Greeks, however imperfect their society, fostered ideas and institutions that were unusual for their time and that have endured for over two millennia.

Between 334 and 323 BCE, Alexander of Macedonia (MASS-uh-DUHN-ia), a student of classical Greek ideas, created a huge empire that spread Greek culture over a wide area. Alexander’s achievements established new networks of communica-tion, and his legacy lived on for centuries in Hellenism, a wide-spread culture that combined western Asian (mainly Persian) and Greek (Hellenic) characteristics. During the Hellenistic Age, Greeks ruled over large parts of western Asia and North Africa, a domination that ended only with the rise of the Roman Empire and new Persia-based empires that continued to influence Middle Eastern history.7- 4aAlexander the great, World Empire, and HellenismGreek disunity spawned by the Peloponnesian War opened the door for Macedonia, a state on the northern fringe of Greece, to conquer a vast empire. The war had so weakened all the Greek cities that no one city could unite the peninsula. Led by King Philip II (382–336 BCE), who developed a paid pro-fessional army and devised a more effective infantry phalanx, the Macedonian army conquered the Greek cities in 338 BCE. But the hard-living, hard-drinking Philip had many enemies among Greeks, Persians, and Macedonian nobles. Two years later, on the eve of an expedition to Asia, Philip was assassinated.Philip’s twenty-year-old son and Aristotle’s former student, Alexander (r. 336–323 BCE), became king following his father’s death. A fearless and reso-lute megalomaniac, his ambitions for conquest were evident as a child. Alexander reportedly lamented that, with such a mul-titude of other countries, it was a shame that he had not yet conquered even one of them. Later, he wrote to the Persian king that he sought vengeance on Persia for its invasions of Greece a century and a half earlier. During his thirteen-year reign, this brilliant military strategist and leader of men used Macedonian, Greek, and mercenary troops to conquer the world from Greece to western India and from the Nile Valley to the Caucasus Mountains and Black and Caspian Seas.Alexander employed ruth-less tactics against enemies, some-times destroying entire cities and slaughtering their inhabitants. In three major battles between 334 and 331, he dismantled the powerful Persian Empire and then burned the capital, Persepolis, reportedly after a night of drunken excess, and became not just a Greek but a Persian ruler. The burning of Persopolis symbol-ized the end of one era of cultural exchange and the beginning of another. His destruction of many Zoroastrian temples weakened that religion. Alexander’s forces then moved through Afghanistan, fighting difficult battles with the tough and diverse peoples of that mountainous region, who chose to destroy their homes and farms than to surrender. Throughout history from ancient times until today many Afghans resisted foreign invaders and domination. Eventually many of Alexander’s horses died and his grain ran out. Finally reaching the Indus Valley, the Macedonian wanted to move into India’s heartland, but his exhausted, homesick troops refused, and they made a difficult desert journey back to Mesopotamia.Alexander saw himself as a world ruler, governing all peoples. His empire incorporated most of the major ancient Afro-Eurasian societies: Egypt, Crete, Mycenae, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley. Alexander initially organized his empire like the Persians. Although he was probably bisexual or homosexual and maintained an intimate relationship with a male adviser, Alexander married a Bactrian (northern Afghanistan) princess, encouraged his soldiers to take Asian wives, and wore the purple and white cloak and head ribbon previously worn by Persian royalty.After Alexander died in Babylon at age thirty-three, prob-ably from a fever acquired after a night of heavy drinking, the conquered territories retained a mixed Greek-Persian cultural flavor for centuries under the influence of Hellenism. Ever since then, Western observers lionized Alexander, while Persians viewed him as a reckless destroyer and symbol of Western imperialism. During the Hellenistic Age the Greek legacy was passed on in a form that fifth-century BCE Greeks might not have recognized, one that emphasized individual freedom and reason less and the emotions more. Farther east, some of Alexander’s soldiers set-tled in Afghanistan and western India, where Greek ideas had an enduring influence on the local art. For centuries afterward people as far away as Ethiopia, Nubia, and western India studied the Greek language and borrowed Greek artistic styles.Alexander’s empire soon fragmented. When asked to whom he left his empire, Alexander allegedly said: “to the strongest.” By the end of the fourth century BCE, his former generals, all Macedonians, had divided Alexander’s empire. A dynasty begun by Ptolemy (TAHL-uh-mee) controlled Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean coast; the family of Seleucus (suh-LOO-kuhs) controlled Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria; and followers of Antigonus (an-TIG-uh-nuhs) controlled the Macedonian kingdom and northern Greece (see Map 7.3).Seleucid dominance in Persia and Mesopotamia was ended by the Parthians (PAHR-thee-uhnz), Indo-European pastoral nomads who conquered large parts of Persia, Afghanistan, and Mesopotamia in the second century BCE. They expanded their empire into the Caucasus and crushed an invading Roman army in 53 BCE. Adopting many Hellenistic traditions, they made Greek he official state language. Gradually Persian influences grew stronger, and the Parthians became Zoroastrians. But frequent wars with the Romans, who replaced the other Hellenistic king-doms, sapped their strength. A new Persian power, the Sassanians (suh-SAY-nee-uhnz), defeated the last Parthian ruler in 224 CE. The Sassanians ruled much of western Asia for the next four centuries, coming into frequent conflict with the Romans.7- 4bHellenistic Cities and Economic networksAlexander founded many cities named after him, most famously the still-surviving city of Alexandria on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast (see Map 7.3). Hellenistic cities were not independent city-states as in old Greece but part of kingdoms, their citizens enjoying little political participation. Wealthy aristocrats, pro-fessional soldiers, and bureaucrats ran the cities’ governments. Although centers of Greek language and culture, which dominated elite circles, the multiethnic cities also existed in predominantly non-Greek environments and were influenced by local tradi-tions. For example, the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt ruled with pharaonic pomp. While Hellenistic monarchs relied on Greeks, Persians, and others to govern, they were vastly outnumbered by their Asian and African subjects speaking their own languages.No longer vibrant democratic communities, Hellenistic urban culture glorified hedonism. The upper classes enjoyed high living, with poets celebrating activities like horse racing, lovemaking, and drinking. A satirical Egyptian poem mocked a drunken and gluttonous harpist who showed up at weddings and festivals: “He disputes with the party-goers, shouting: ‘I can’t sing when I’m hun-gry, I can’t hold my harp without my fill of wine!’ And he drinks wine like two people and eats the meat of three.”17 Hellenistic cities were also cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse. Alexandria, for exam-ple, had large Egyptian, Greek, and Jewish populations and was a melting pot where many religions met, new ones sprouted up, and Zoroastrian holy books and the Hebrew Bible were translated into Greek. The Syrian Greek poet Meleager expressed the Hellenistic attitude: “Stranger, we live in the same motherland, the world.”18Alexander’s conquests also linked the Mediterranean and western Asia in a vast trading network. Alexander had used Persian wealth to build and repair roads and harbors, and Greek colonists introduced or expanded money-based economies. Long-distance trade expanded rapidly as Chinese silk and Indian sugar were traded for Egyptian onions, Macedonian wood prod-ucts, and Athenian olive oil. As caravans of vegetables and wine moved eastward, they crossed caravans of spices and other goods moving westward out of India, Arabia, and Northeast Africa. This trans-Eurasian trading network remained strong long after the Hellenistic states had disappeared.7- 4cScience, Religion, and PhilosophyHellenistic thinkers maintained the Greek interest in scien-tific, religious, and philosophical questions, making outstand-ing contributions that still shape the world today. Scientists and mathematicians rigorously collected and evaluated data and then he official state language. Gradually Persian influences grew stronger, and the Parthians became Zoroastrians. But frequent wars with the Romans, who replaced the other Hellenistic king-doms, sapped their strength. A new Persian power, the Sassanians (suh-SAY-nee-uhnz), defeated the last Parthian ruler in 224 CE. The Sassanians ruled much of western Asia for the next four centuries, coming into frequent conflict with the Romans.7- 4bHellenistic Cities and Economic networksAlexander founded many cities named after him, most famously the still-surviving city of Alexandria on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast (see Map 7.3). Hellenistic cities were not independent city-states as in old Greece but part of kingdoms, their citizens enjoying little political participation. Wealthy aristocrats, pro-fessional soldiers, and bureaucrats ran the cities’ governments. Although centers of Greek language and culture, which dominated elite circles, the multiethnic cities also existed in predominantly non-Greek environments and were influenced by local tradi-tions. For example, the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt ruled with pharaonic pomp. While Hellenistic monarchs relied on Greeks, Persians, and others to govern, they were vastly outnumbered by their Asian and African subjects speaking their own languages.No longer vibrant democratic communities, Hellenistic urban culture glorified hedonism. The upper classes enjoyed high living, with poets celebrating activities like horse racing, lovemaking, and drinking. A satirical Egyptian poem mocked a drunken and gluttonous harpist who showed up at weddings and festivals: “He disputes with the party-goers, shouting: ‘I can’t sing when I’m hun-gry, I can’t hold my harp without my fill of wine!’ And he drinks wine like two people and eats the meat of three.”17 Hellenistic cities were also cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse. Alexandria, for exam-ple, had large Egyptian, Greek, and Jewish populations and was a melting pot where many religions met, new ones sprouted up, and Zoroastrian holy books and the Hebrew Bible were translated into Greek. The Syrian Greek poet Meleager expressed the Hellenistic attitude: “Stranger, we live in the same motherland, the world.”18Alexander’s conquests also linked the Mediterranean and western Asia in a vast trading network. Alexander had used Persian wealth to build and repair roads and harbors, and Greek colonists introduced or expanded money-based economies. Long-distance trade expanded rapidly as Chinese silk and Indian sugar were traded for Egyptian onions, Macedonian wood prod-ucts, and Athenian olive oil. As caravans of vegetables and wine moved eastward, they crossed caravans of spices and other goods moving westward out of India, Arabia, and Northeast Africa. This trans-Eurasian trading network remained strong long after the Hellenistic states had disappeared.7- 4cScience, Religion, and PhilosophyHellenistic thinkers maintained the Greek interest in scien-tific, religious, and philosophical questions, making outstand-ing contributions that still shape the world today. Scientists and mathematicians rigorously collected and evaluated data and then offered hypotheses to explain mathematical problems, natural phenomena, and the workings of the universe. Alexandria, with the ancient world’s largest library (700,000 papyrus scrolls) and a famous institute with visiting scholars, was the chief research center, and Alexandrian thinkers and inventors anticipated modern scientific, mathematical, and technological develop-ments. Here Euclid wrote his text on plane geometry, a book used for two thousand years, and Herophilus (hair-OFF-uh-lus)improved the understanding of the brain and the nervous sys-tem. Aristarchus (AR-uh-STAHR-kuhs) proposed that the sun rather than Earth was the center of the universe, an idea most Europeans rejected for the next thousand years, while the geog-rapher Eratosthenes (ER-uh-TAHS-thuh-neez) calculated the circumference of Earth within about two hundred miles. The inventor Hero devised a steam turbine, although it was treated only as an amazing toy. Other major thinkers, such as the engi-neer and mathematician Archimedes, spent time in Alexandria (see Meet the People: Archimedes, a Hellenistic Mathematician and Engineer). Archimedes’s work may have helped inspire one of the most amazing marvels of Hellenistic technology. What some have termed the world’s first computer, the Antikythera, was probably invented around 100 BCE. This mechanism was a complex, whirling clockwork instrument with bronze gears bearing thousands of tiny interlocking teeth, powered by a hand crank. The machine registered the passage of time and the move-ment of celestial bodies with considerable precision. The only known model, which disappeared a few centuries later, was found in a shipwreck off Greece in 1901. It was not until the fourteenth century CE that the first geared clocks were invented.Greek philosophy and religion went in new directions dur-ing the Hellenistic Age. Some thinkers put less emphasis on rea-son to solve problems and more on resigning oneself to life in ways that often seemed fatalistic, taking life as it comes. The school of thought known as Cynicism, made famous by Ionia-born Diogenes (die-AHJ-uh-neez) (ca. 412–ca. 323 BCE), emphasized living a simple life, shunning material things and all pretense. A famous legend of the meeting of Diogenes and a young Alexander conveys the flavor of Cynic philosophy. Diogenes asked Alexander about his greatest desire, and the Macedonian replied, “to subjugate Greece.” Next, he would sub-jugate Southwest Asia and then the world. And after that, Alexander said, “I will relax and enjoy myself,” prompting Diogenes to reply: “Why not save yourself all the trouble by relaxing and enjoying yourself now?”19 One of the most revered Cynic thinkers was a woman, Hipparchia of Maroneia (ca. 350–280 BCE), who spent most of her life in Athens. She was married to the most famous Cynic philosopher in Greece, Crates of Thebes. Like most Cynics, her influence lies less in her writing (much of which has not survived) than in the example of choosing to live an impoverished life alongside her husband on the streets, which was usually con-sidered unacceptable for respect-able women of her day.

Achaemenid

151

satrap

153

Zoroastrianism

153

Ahura Mazda

154

polis

156

oligarchy

157

tyrant

157

Sophists

159

Socratic Method

159

metaphysics

159

Delian League

162

Peloponnesian War

162

trade diaspora

164

Hellenism

165

Cynicism

167

Stoicism

169

Mithraism

169