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Early Iran. 1000 - 500 B.C.E. Jonathon Paul Daniel Arias. Geography. North/Northwest: Caucasus Mountains and Caspian Sea Northeast: No natural barriers East/Southeast: Baluchistan Desert and the mountains of Afghanistan South/Southwest: Persian Gulf West: Zagros Mountains .
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Early Iran 1000 - 500 B.C.E. Jonathon PaulDaniel Arias
Geography • North/Northwest: Caucasus Mountains and Caspian Sea • Northeast: No natural barriers • East/Southeast: Baluchistan Desert and the mountains of Afghanistan • South/Southwest: Persian Gulf • West: Zagros Mountains
Political: Conquest • Median kingdom in northwestern Iran helped destroy Assyrian Empire in the seventh century B.C.E. • Around 550 b.c.e., Cyrus overthrew the Median king and built a larger Persian empire. • The Persian Empire was built up by a series of three kings: Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius I. • Cyrus (r. 550 - 530 B.C.E.) captured all of Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Was first Persian ruler. • Cambyses (r. 530 - 522 B.C.E.) conquered Egypt. • Darius I (r. 522 - 486 B.C.E.) helped push the role of the Medes further out of the then Persian controlled empire. Darius extended the boundaries of the empire east into the Indus valley and west into Macedonia.
Political: Structure • Darius divided the empire into twenty provinces; a governor called a satrap administered each province. • Provinces were required to pay annual taxes of gold and silver which heavily drew on local sources, causing inflation. • A system of well-maintained roads that met on the capital city of Susa in southwestern Iran allowed for efficient communication between provincial and central administrations for almost two centuries. • Kings acted as lawgivers, but allowed each conquered people to live in accordance with its own traditions. • Kings held important royal ceremonies and were entombed at Persepolis, in the Persian homeland.
Economic • Underground irrigation channels opened the plains to agriculture and allowed the creation of civilization. • The annual payments that the provinces gave to the central government were mainly hoarded. Increased cost in gold and silver due to hoarding led to economic decline in fouth century B.C.E.
Religious Darius and his successors were followers of Zoroastrianism: • Stated that the world had been created by Ahuramazda, "the wise lord," and that it was threatened by Angra Mainyu, "the hostile spirit." Individuals would be rewarded or punished for actions on Earth in afterlife. Due to far reach of Persian Empire into western Asia, it is believed Zoroastrianism may have been a major influence on Judaism and indirectly Christianity.
Social • Three-tiered hierarchical society: • A landowning warrior aristocracy was at the head; • Followed by priests; • Followed by common peasants and slaves. • Patriarchal family organization
Intellectual • Very few surviving written documents. • Most document about Iran written at the time are from the point of view of the Greeks. • Obvious architectural knowledge seen in the Apadana.
Artistic • An accumulation of gold and silver was found in Tajikistan. • The accumulation included a model of Four-Horse Chariot from the Achaemenid Empire • This model was either used in religious rituals or as a toy. • Some experts divide the art in to Pre-Islamic and Islamic art. • It is difficult to identify Iranian art due to a lack of artistic unity across Iran.
Pictures Cited http://www.gl.iit.edu/govdocs/maps/Iran-Administrative%20Divisions.gif http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/2747000776_5f64ed22ed.jpg http://z.about.com/d/ancienthistory/1/0/k/T/2/786px-Persian_empire_490bc.gif http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/9005199.jpg
