World History

Achaemenid

Alexander/Seleucid

Parthian

Sasanid

Dates

539-330bce

330-323bce / 323-83bce (after 247, moving west)

247 bce – 224 ce (conquest of Mesopotamia 155 bce)

224-651 ce

Founder

Cyrus “the Shepherd” (r. 558-530bce)

Alexander (d. 323bce)

Mithradates I (r. 171 bce-

Origins

Medes and Persians (SW Iran)

Macedonia

Iran

founding culture

pastoral nomads

Hellenic

semi-nomadic horseriders

Persians

Crucial successors

Darius (r. 521-486bce) conquerer and administrator.

Xerxes (r. 486-451) Expanded war with Greeks.

General Seleucus (r. 305-281bce)

Shapur I (239-272 bce) stabilized Western borders; fought off Rome

Government

satraps with overlapping supervision

Weak empire, driven west by Parthians

revived satraps, but weaker center

revived Achaemenid systems.

Other great things

standardization of laws, coins, taxes; Persian Royal Road and postal couriers; qanat (underground irrigation canals)

Hellenistic cities (Alexandrias), populated by Greeks. Introduction of Greek culture, trade with Mediterranean

Active international trade and new crops. Captured Romans as engineers.

Zoroastrianism

Zarathustra (7-6c bce). Strong State support, esp. Darius

Hostile: destroyed temples and killed magi (losing oral traditions).

Tolerated, but not strongly

State-supported revival. Oral Gathas compiled in Avesta. Theology develops

Downfall

Greeks and other rebellious provinces; Alexander, drawing on Philip’s unification.

foreigners, in spite of success of Greek colonists. Finally wiped out by Romans.

Pressure from Rome (1c ce), rebellious satraps, Sasanid uprising.

Constant border conflicts with Rome/Byzantium, Hindu Kush. Death blow is Arab Islamic expansion.