Universal History: Ancient Period

1. THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

2. the persians lived in what is today
southwestern iran

3. AT THE BEGINNING THEY WERE
WARRIORS AND NOMADS WHO
HERDED CATTLE

4. Cyrus the Great
• REMARKABLE LEader united the Persians
into a Powerful kingdom
• He ruled from 559 B.C. to 530 B.C.

5. • 539 B.C. Persians swept into Mesopotamia and
captured BABYLON
• They took over: MESOPOTAMIA, ASIA MINOR,
SYRIA, CANAAN AND THE PHOENICIAN
CITIES.

6. • He treated his new subjects
well.
• He allowed captive jews in
Babylon to return home
• He had a merciful rule and he
hold his Empire

7. CONTRIBUTIONS
• THEY BUILT MILES OF
ROADS
• THE ROYAL ROAD
STRETCHED FROM ASIA
MINOR TO SUSA (THE
PERSIAN CAPITAL)
• PERSIANS SET UP
ROADSIDE STATIONS TO
SUPPLY FOOD, SHELTER,
AND FRESH HORSES TO
THE KING’S
MESSENGERS
In the days of the mighty
Persian Empire, there
was a 1600-mile long
ancient highway known
as the Royal Road

9. DARIUS
• HE CAME TO POWER THE
THRONE IN 521 B.C.
• HE REORGANIZED THE
GOVERNMENT TO MAKE
IT WORK BETTER
• HE DIVIDED THE EMPIRE
INTO 20 PROVINCES
CALLED SATRAPIES

10. • SATRAP
«PROTECTOR OF THE
KINGDOM»
• HE WAS A TAX
COLLECTOR, JUDGE,
CHIEF OF POLICE, AND
HEAD RECRUITER FOR
THE PERSIAN ARMY
• HIS ARMY WAS
CALLED THE
IMMORTALS
BECAUSE WHEN A
MEMBER DIED, HE
WAS IMMEDIATELY
REPLACED

11. • THE PERSIAN RELIGION WAS CALLED ZOROASTRIANISM
• THEY BELIEVED IN ONE GOD
• GOD: CREATOR AND FORCE OF GOODNESS
• HUMANS HAD THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE BETWEEN RIGHT AND
WRONG, AND GOODNESS WILL TRIUMPH IN THE END
• IT STILL HAS A SMALL NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS TODAY