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2021 Lect 27 Persian Empire — Transcript

by The Friendly Historian · 2,613 words · 471 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:04we've been mentioning this large
0:05empire of persia both in our discussion
0:08of bronze age greece and then
0:10in our discussion of hellenism and so
0:12now it's time that we actually turn to
0:14the persian empire itself
0:16and this isn't a small secondary topic
0:19the persians were actually
0:20the largest empire of the ancient world
0:24and there's a lot to talk about in terms
0:26of their culture
0:27political structure and artistic
0:30expression
0:31so that's what we're going to focus on
0:33today
0:38there's just so much to talk about when
0:40it comes to the persian empire
0:42that will begin with an overview just a
0:44brief overview and then we'll dig a
0:46little bit deeper into some of the
0:47specific rulers
0:49but the persian empire persian is a
0:53latinized form
0:54of the term persa which is considered by
0:58the persian peoples to be the
0:59the homeland the root homeland
1:02and they start beginning to show up in
1:04the archaeological record in about the
1:06first millennium bce
1:09they are going to be related to these
1:12midians who we already saw were part of
1:14the assyrian empire
1:15at one point however they're separated
1:19linguistically they both speak a
1:22different
1:22form of what will become the iranian
1:24language but they seem to have been
1:26united culturally and in other ways
1:29central to this first group
1:32of persians is horses and this is
1:35something that's just going to continue
1:37being
1:37an important cultural feature they used
1:41horses as transport they were largely
1:43nomadic peoples
1:44and then they're going to use horses
1:46also in
1:47combat and it's somewhat like the
1:49assyrians your ability to ride a horse
1:51well
1:53is going to be something that the
1:54persians hold dear even into the later
1:57periods
2:00they form what is referred to as the
2:03acamenian dynasty
2:05and cirrus is given the title of the
2:07first accommodate empire and begins this
2:10aggressive
2:10expansion throughout the region
2:14but there are a couple of innovations
2:15which are really central to the
2:17to the persian empire in general one of
2:20them
2:20is a well-maintained public road system
2:24i just said that the persian empire is
2:26the largest empire we've talked about up
2:28until this period
2:29so it is just essential that they have
2:32an effective means of communication
2:35and in order for communication to flow
2:37at this period it means somebody has to
2:39take a message from one area to another
2:41physically take it so you have to have
2:44roads that are both well maintained
2:46and safe and they develop um
2:51almost like a pony express would be a
2:53good analogy i think most of us would
2:55would recognize they have a system of of
2:57transferring messages
2:58from established region to established
3:01region there would be
3:02a number of these little hostels along
3:04the
3:05road and where people would be waiting
3:07messengers on horseback would be waiting
3:09just in case a message comes through an
3:12imperial message comes through
3:14and they also had people that regularly
3:16patrol these roads to make sure that
3:18there were not bandits
3:19um that were accosting either the king's
3:22men or other types of merchants
3:24and having safe and effective roads i've
3:26said it three times now i guess but
3:28that's really going to be a hallmark of
3:30an effective empire persia is going to
3:32have it and rome is going to have it
3:36we've talked about the public roads and
3:38the postal system
3:40so let's consider some of the other
3:41things that the persians were doing
3:48many of the innovations that i just
3:50spoke about are attributed to
3:52cirrus the great and of course he
3:54probably had a lot of help
3:56he didn't pull these ideas fully formed
3:58out of his own head
3:59but he's credited with making a lot of
4:01these changes work
4:03and we know a lot about him because of
4:06the evidence
4:07and remember that by this point by the
4:085th and 6th centuries bce
4:11we are really starting to get a lot more
4:14information about what people
4:15are doing because they're writing more
4:17down so
4:18we had talked about the development of
4:20these languages now these languages are
4:22fully
4:23fully formed and people are using them
4:26for administrative documents
4:28to do tributary speeches we have a
4:31really good greek source for the reign
4:33of cirrus the great
4:34xenophon and then we have another
4:37historian herodotus
4:38who is a greek speaking
4:42he's greek but he was born under persian
4:44rule
4:45so we have some some pretty well
4:48corroborated sources for what
4:49we're beginning to talk about by this
4:51period
4:53and we know that cirrus the great as we
4:54just mentioned is going to be credited
4:56with being this emperor who's unifying
4:59the persian empire through these various
5:01innovations and he'll begin to build
5:05um a multi-tiered administrative system
5:08relying upon what he calls satraps
5:11or the satrapi which are governors
5:14of those regions and the governors are
5:17installed to carry out
5:19the decrees of the emperor and to
5:22collect tribute from
5:23that region so these well-maintained
5:26roads are there now
5:27there is a male system in place there
5:31really is no excuse
5:32as a satrap for not carrying out the
5:35desires of the emperor and for making
5:37sure
5:38that that tribute is going to be flowing
5:40back toward the royal house
5:41and it seems to have worked quite well
5:44the other thing to mention about
5:46cirrus's approach
5:48is i've used the word assimilation here
5:51um and when you think about cultures
5:54some of taking over an area is making
5:58sure that you have enough authority
5:59through your military
6:01to take political control out of
6:02whatever ruling body had been there and
6:04replace it with your own
6:06that's arguably almost the easy part the
6:08difficult part
6:09is to make sure that these large numbers
6:12of people
6:13are going to continue to consider you
6:16their
6:16overlord and you can do that through
6:20incredibly harsh tactics making sure
6:22that they are
6:24um beaten down physically that all of
6:27their money is taken out of their
6:29their pockets so they really don't have
6:31a choice and in that at that stage you
6:32really are ruling a nation of slaves
6:35but cirrus seems to have taken another
6:37approach which is to
6:39preserve as much as was possible the
6:41local culture that was there so that the
6:44population
6:45really didn't feel a harsh
6:48sense of a change happening so we don't
6:51have this new ruler
6:52um who's come to come in and do
6:54everything his way
6:55instead he'll allow you to have your own
6:57religions your own marriage and social
6:59practices
7:01and instead of sending your tribute to
7:03the old king
7:04now you send your tribute to him and
7:08it's not just within the policies but
7:10also within the propaganda that's
7:12used in which he portrays himself as a
7:15liberator
7:18he's not afraid to aggrandize himself
7:20and say yes i am the greatest ruler of
7:22all time
7:23but i'm going to use this to not just
7:26help me
7:26and my dynasty but i'm also going to
7:28liberate you from these other oppressors
7:30come join me come join
7:32and be part of this great persian empire
7:35and again it seems to have been fairly
7:42effective
7:44so by the end of the 5th century bce the
7:47persian empire has really gone from
7:49strength to strength
7:50they do have some problems with
7:52succession which includes some
7:54assassinations
7:55but we have power transmitted to
7:58cambisis
7:59and then to darius the first
8:03in 521 and some of the events that take
8:07place
8:07under his reign are going to set off a
8:10long-term war with a new power that's
8:13emerging in the west the greek
8:14city-states
8:16but darius's reign starts out quite
8:19effectively he's going to establish
8:21souza as the capital city he's going to
8:24undertake some extensive building
8:26projects
8:28and then he will turn his attention
8:30toward
8:31a revolt that's going on in the ionian
8:33era
8:34area and athens which is a new
8:37upcoming city-state decides that it will
8:40support what it considers to be its
8:42brothers in ionia
8:43against persian rule
8:47and this rebellion is put down pretty
8:49effectively by darius
8:51but it seems to have pricked his pride
8:54a little bit and he vows that he will
8:57punish the greeks for getting involved
8:59in what he considered to be
9:01his own business and he'll invade greece
9:04with about 20
9:04000 men and he attempts to engage them
9:09in a naval battle but his naval
9:12his navy is destroyed in a storm in 492
9:16or largely destroyed in a storm and
9:19they're going to end up
9:20meeting the greeks on the field of
9:22battle at marathon
9:24now the real significance the takeaway
9:27for a course
9:28like this where we're really looking at
9:29things um quite broadly the
9:32the importance of the battle of marathon
9:34is that it's going to show
9:36that the persians could in fact be
9:38defeated
9:39because up until this point they have
9:41pretty much been able to roll over and
9:42take control of anybody they wanted
9:44and there's a real psychological
9:47importance to that thinking that an
9:49enemy is just beyond defeat perhaps they
9:51truly
9:52are destined to be rulers of the known
9:55world
9:56um but the greeks have been
9:58experimenting with some infantry tactics
10:01and we'll talk about that a little bit
10:02more when we look at the greeks but
10:04they're using
10:05men in formation who are fairly lightly
10:09armored but they're working as a unit
10:11and that's known as the greek phalanx
10:13and it seems to have been fairly
10:15effective at marathon and they are able
10:17to push back
10:18the persian advancement
10:27there are three really watershed moments
10:30in the war during the persian wars from
10:32the greek perspective
10:34and the first one we've just looked at
10:35the battle of marathon and then we have
10:37the battles of thermopylae
10:39and salamis but we'll talk about these
10:42but remember
10:43that in the scope of the persian empire
10:46this is something that's happening in
10:48one region of the empire so even as
10:51they're
10:51losing some of these battles to the
10:53greeks which will have an enormous
10:55impact on the way that the greek
10:56city-states develop
10:58the persian empire is still going to be
11:02very strong and vigorous so remember
11:04think of that map
11:05in your in your head that map that
11:07covers that whole region
11:09stretching down into southwest asia all
11:12across the fertile crescent
11:13so all of that territory um is still
11:16under persian control and is still
11:18tripping along just fine even as they're
11:20losing some of these battles to the
11:22greeks
11:23so darius is succeeded by his son xerxes
11:27who is going to lead what's considered
11:29the second wave of the of the
11:31persian war so we had that first wave
11:33under darius
11:34which they were pushed back at marathon
11:36and now we're gonna have the second wave
11:38led by xerxes
11:41and one of the more important moments
11:44in that invasion is the battle of
11:46thermopylae
11:47and it's been memorialized in lots of
11:49different ways most recently there was
11:51the battle
11:52its movie which is a little old now
11:54actually but this battle
11:56300 which memorializes the moment
11:59in which the king of sparta one of these
12:02other
12:02new greek city-states is going to hold
12:05off the bulk of xerxes army
12:08by positioning itself in this narrow
12:11pass
12:12so on the slide you can see um a
12:15representation a fairly modern
12:17representation of what this
12:19arium thermopylae looks like where you
12:21can see
12:22there were there were mountains on one
12:24side cliffs on one side and the sea
12:26on the other so very famously you have
12:30the king
12:30of sparta holding off this bulk of
12:33xerxes army with 300
12:34spartans now if you've seen the movie
12:37you know that
12:38ultimately they are all slaughtered and
12:40the spartans this isn't a victory for
12:42the spartans
12:43however it does prevent the persian
12:47army from carrying on a full-scale
12:50assault on any of the athenian
12:52navy it's going to slow things down a
12:55little bit
12:56until the ultimate engagement is going
12:58to happen at salamis
13:00and at this point xerxes forces will be
13:04defeated in a naval battle that's led by
13:07the greek general thermostakalis but
13:09this will become
13:10a symbol of greek courage and spartan
13:13hardiness
13:14and a symbol of the greek athenian
13:18navy um and again remembering that
13:22we'll talk about that in a little bit on
13:23the greek side but for the persians it's
13:26going to mean that they're going to
13:27retreat
13:28this is going to become the boundary the
13:30eastern boundary of their empire they
13:32won't move any forward
13:34anymore into the mediterranean region
13:35they're going to focus
13:37on controlling the territories they
13:38already had in mesopotamia
13:41and the levant
13:49perhaps the best symbol of the wealth
13:53prosperity the scope of the persian
13:56empire is embodied in the city of
13:57persepolis
13:59um and most historians think
14:03that persepolis was the most important
14:06of several courts that the persian
14:09the persian ruling dynasty visited
14:11throughout the year
14:12um and i've linked a recreation of that
14:16in our learning materials for this week
14:17so you can see
14:18what it would have looked like at its
14:20peak which is really
14:22pretty impressive but it also gives us
14:25some insight i think
14:27into the persian leaders and
14:30their identity as a people it's been
14:33said
14:33that persepolis isn't really a building
14:37it's rather a tent in stone um
14:40because it was very closely linked
14:44to an important identity as a nomadic
14:47people
14:47so even as the persians were
14:49establishing themselves
14:51in a very real way throughout this this
14:53region with buildings
14:54um with courts they also seem to have
14:58clung
14:59to their homeland this is where we are
15:01from
15:02and we don't want to abandon our nomadic
15:05roots the importance of
15:06horses the importance of our religious
15:09rituals
15:10so persepolis in some ways was a place
15:13that the court would go stay for a
15:16period of weeks and then they would move
15:17on
15:18and while they were there they would
15:20observe these important religious
15:22rituals it's also a place to show how
15:26wealthy and splendid you
15:28are um so there would have been
15:31everything would have been covered in
15:33the most expensive materials
15:35gold um probably cedar and cypress
15:40lapis lazuli gemstones and
15:43one of the most awe-inspiring depictions
15:46and persepolis
15:47is a relief and by relief i mean
15:51all carving out of stone the image that
15:54you see on the upper right hand here is
15:56considered a relief if you're not
15:58familiar with that term and these
16:00release depict
16:02people coming from all over the empire
16:04and bringing
16:05just enumerous offerings as tribute so
16:08you have
16:09greeks and you have needs and you have
16:11egyptians and you have israelis you have
16:13all of these people
16:14that are bringing the best fruits of
16:16their country and it's
16:18it's really gives off the sense of how
16:20much power
16:21and control the persian emperor had
16:24that's what he wants you to see
16:25right this is his propaganda also
16:28historians claim that when alexander
16:30eventually sacks the city of persepolis
16:33it took
16:34200 wagons to cart away
16:37just the gold and silver from persepolis
16:42so it is this center of exotic
16:45exotic and precious goods that symbolize
16:48the power of the emperor
16:50but then in a very real way too show all
16:53of the different cultures
16:54that are included in this empire
16:58and we'll talk a little bit next time
17:00about some of the
17:01diverse religious changes that are
17:03happening
17:05and that is going to be part of that too
17:07that all of these different
17:08regions are allowed to worship their own
17:11gods
17:12um but at the same time we have
17:15zoroastrianism which is becoming an
17:17important identifier

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