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. |
© 2003 – Jonathan Dresner