Greece and Iran - Chapter 4

     The Iranians started out as a group with a similar language and culture in what is now Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. The Medes people (Medes is a city there) were the first to achieve a complex political structure, and they conquered the Assyrians (who, if you remember from earlier, managed to conquer a lot of the region) in the 7th century BCE.
     Cyrus united the Persians and overthrew the Medeans, taking their land and expanding the empire with his son Cambyses' conquest of Egypt.
     The Persian society was based on patriarchy (the father was the head of the family). Persia was divided into warriors, priests and peasants. Under Darius I, the empire expanded into Greece and Pakistan. Satraps, the local governors, ruled the regions and brought taxes to the king's ceremonial capital, Persepolis. The empire under Darius I followed Zoroastrianism, which was the predecessor of Judaism and Christianity. It held that the god, Ahuramazda, was opposed to a force of evil, called Angra Mainyu. Zoroastrianism venerated nature.
     The Mycaeans were destroyed in 1500 BCE, which threw Greece into a Dark Age of depopulation, poverty, and relative isolation. Around 800 BCE, the Phoenicians brought new ideas into Greece when they decided to expand their trade routes, starting what is known as the Archaic Period.
      Greece was ruled by polises - city-states, which had an urban center and agricultural land. The acropolis was the top of the city, where people would meet in emergencies, while the agora was where government decisions were made (and where the marketplace was).
     Greece perfected the use of a hoplite army - one that fought in a close formation with lots of armor. Hoplite armies were mainly farmers, who required little training and worked between seasons.
     Greece started colonies to reduce the population in its core, and began to coin money in the sixth century BCE. In the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE, tyrants took control of the city-states by seizing power and holding it by violating normal procedures (while taking advantage of citizens' money). These tyrants were one of the reasons that democracy started.
     The ancient Greeks believed in a pantheon of gods, with Zeus as the main one. Sacrifices were important, and communication with the gods could occur with the help of priestesses or the Oracle at Delphi.
     During this time, an emphasis on individuality and history occurred. Herodotus, the first true historian, published Histories, a chronicle of wars.
     The two main cities of the time were the democratic Athens and the militaristic Sparta (the fear of rebellion made authorities start a militaristic life for the people, with boys taken into the army at seven).
     Pericles, a government official, oversaw the transfer to democracy, helped to build the Acropolis, and was involved in the Peloponnesian War (more on that later).
     An uprising of the Greeks under the Persians, called the Ionian War, ended up failing and resulting in two attacks on Greece in the fifth century (the attacks were called the Persian War).
     Athens ended up taking control of the Aegean navy and using its money to subsidize their democracy and culture. Women and slaves were exploited, allowing the men to have more time to be involved in the government and politics. The Spartans and their allies started the Peloponnesian War because they feared Athens' power. They only won because of help from the Persians.
     King Philip II made Macedonia (part of modern-day Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Albania and Bulgaria) into a military power and united the city-states into a strong empire in the fourth century BCE. His son Alexander the Great conquered and took over the Persian empire. When Alexander died, a half century of power struggles started. This was called the Hellenistic age because of lands in NE Africa and W Asia coming under Greek (Hellenistic) control.
     In Egypt, Alexandria became the world's greatest city. It was the center of commerce in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, it started a museum and a library, and made advances in science, technology and medicine.
     Members of the native population of Greece learned Greek and took on some of the Greek customs to be a part of the ruling class. Greeks borrowed from Egyptian and Mesopotamian culture, and gave their citizens many freedoms, even for minority groups, such as the Jews.