Ancient Persia: Notable Concepts (Political, Economic, Social, Militaristic, etc.) and Notable Groups (Civilizations, Peoples, Alliances, Leagues, Types of People, Types of Places, Types of Professions, Military Groups, etc.)

Manneans (All Facts)

• Lived in a small kingdom to the south of Lake Urmia

• Built a fortified citadel at Hansanlu

  • In it was a sheltered temple and palace

• Reared horses

• Were experts in metalworking

• Saw several wars between the Assyrians and the Urartians

• Were subject to diverse cultural influences including Assyrian, Greek, Scythian, and others

Medes / Medians (All Facts)

• Indo-European Iranian people who entered and settled in modern-day Iran (the Iranian plateau) by 800 BCE

  • Occupied the areas in and around the central and northern Zagros mountains (modern-day Iran and Iraq)

  • Having settled in Iran, they eventually reached the frontiers of Assyria by 740 BCE

    • The Assyrians bragged about how much they could massacre them only to have to return the following year to subdue them again

  • Were able to further establish themselves in the lands of Iran as a result of the decline of the Elamites after the Elamites had been defeated by the Assyrians

    • By around this time, they moved into Anshan, which, like Susa in Elam, was a great center of Elamite culture

• Spoke an Indo-European language that was unlike anything else heard at the time

• Rough, illiterate, and relatively poor

• Skilled warriors who fought on horseback

• Fiercely independent but extremely divided people

Persians (All Facts)

• Indo-European people who entered and settled in modern-day Iran (the Iranian plateau) by 800 BCE

  • Occupied the areas in and around the central and northern Zagros mountains (modern-day Iran and Iraq)

  • Iranian peoples whose homeland is considered to have been the steppes of central Asia or southern Russia who migrated into western Iran

  • Lived a semi-nomadic life like their ancestors had done on the central Asian steppe

  • Having settled in Iran, they eventually reached the frontiers of Assyria by 740 BCE

  • Were able to further establish themselves in the lands of Iran as a result of the decline of the Elamites after the Elamites had been defeated by the Assyrians

    • By around this time, they moved into Anshan, which, like Susa in Elam, was a great center of Elamite culture

• Dominated the namesake empire’s population

  • Were given special privileges

Achaemenid Persian Aristocracy (All Facts)

• Comprised of advisers and officials

• Made up the Calvary in wartime

Achaemenid Persian Commoners (All Facts)

• Were exempt from having to pay taxes

• Served as the army’s heavy infantry

Satrapy (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to a province governed by a satrap

• Each province had to provide

  • Money (collected as taxes)

  • Horses

  • Produce

  • Ships

  • Soldiers

Satrap (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the leader or governor of a satrapy or province

• Was often chosen from a member of the royal family or the Persian nobility

• Essentially ruled as local kings, in which they

  • administered law and order

  • commanded troops

  • conducted local diplomacy

• They

  • collected taxes

  • provided security for the satrapy or province