The Rise of the Persian Empire
Our knowledge of Persia, the greatest of all Near Eastern empires, is deeply colored by our sources, the vast majority of
which are Greek and therefore focused on Greco-Persian relations. This leaves us ignorant of what …
The Rise of the Persian Empire
Our knowledge of Persia, the greatest of all Near Eastern empires, is deeply colored by our sources, the vast majority of
which are Greek and therefore focused on Greco-Persian relations. This leaves us ignorant of what happened
throughout much of the rest of the Persian empire and paints a picture of the Persians that reflects Greek biases. But the
Greek authors also provide a vivid narrative of those episodes in Persian history with which they were familiar. The
Persians were part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Europeans and emerged as the rulers of southwestern Iran after the
Assyrians destroyed the Elamites. The founder of Persia was Cyrus the Great, who crushed the Medes in 550 B.C.,
gained control of western Anatolia and the Greek cities of Ionia in 547 B.C., and finally destroyed the Neo-Babylonian
kingdom in 539 B.C. His son, Cambyses, rounded out Cyrus’s achievement by conquering Egypt.
The Outbreak of the Greek Wars
Darius I put the finishing touches on the empire founded by Cyrus, conquering the Indus Valley, establishing a
Persian bridgehead in the Balkans, and giving the administrative structure of the empire its definitive form. But a
botched effort to expand Persian authority into the islands of the central Aegean led to a massive rebellion among
Persia’s Anatolian Greek subjects, who received token support from their relatives in Athens. After he crushed the
Ionian revolt, Darius determined to neutralize the threat posed by the city-states of mainland Greece. His first
expedition foundered in a storm. The second, aimed at Athens, was defeated at Marathon. Thus began the epic
Persian confrontation with Greece, which continued, in one form or another, until Alexander’s destruction of the
Persian empire.
Robert L. Dise Jr. has taught at the University of Northern Iowa since 1992; prior to joining its faculty, he taught at Clinch Valley College (now the University of Virginia’s College at Wise). He received his B.A. in History from the University of Virginia (at Charlottesville), concentrating on the history of the ancient world, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, specializing in the history of Rome.
If you wish to support this channel and the effort put into selecting, finding and uploading these valuable historical works, you may do so either directly through paypal or by downloading and using the revolutionary Brave browser via this referral link https://brave.com/ele794
Crypto donations:
bitcoin: 1FXkq3WfwJgsCse9xbsZdrqY37eEXNZwW8
ethereum: 0x03d5593CD950333aA4eC14cd15ed9F7a9Ba09b88
litecoin: Lar3AsEwk4B53JPwnZspwY6ySjn6p1fwhJ
BAT: 0x03d5593CD950333aA4eC14cd15ed9F7a9Ba09b88
