Classical Blueprints & Persia

Centralized Government

Form of administration such as written legal codes or bureaucracy.
  • bureaucracy - get other agencies to do stuff for you. You don’t go to Biden to get a license
    • DMV

In Persia

Cyrus
  • united Persian tribes and expanded the Achaemenid empire to South Asia
Darius
  • got Persia to its biggest
  • Expanded into Greece and South Asia
  • Levied taxes and standardized laws
Satraples
  • Administrative and taxation districts headed by satraps
  • satraps - governors (helped by imperial spies

State Trade & Economic Integration

Agriculture as the economic foundation with some long-distance trade
  • Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Silk Road

In Persia:

Persian Royal Road
  • paved road from Anatolia to Mesopotamia with lodgings, inns, security, and postal stations
Coins
  • standardized coins with a guaranteed value

Urban Centers

Cities as the centers of trade, rituals, and political administration

In Persia

Persepolis
  • “persian city”
  • Originally a religious center, became site of imperial palaces
  • Destroyed by Alexander the Great
Rome, Athens, Sparta, Alexandria

Social Stratification

Way to distinguish between elites (nobles), warriors, priests, peasants, and slaves

In Persia

Imperial bureaucrats
  • Adminisrators, tax collectors, and record keepers
Priests
  • Magi; keep records, perform rituals, and maintained calendar
Slaves
  • Usually captives of war with little to no rights
  • Used for domestic service, agriculture, or public projects
  • Generally not heriditary
  • Some had end dates

Religious and Cultural Traditions

Codification of new or existing beliefs that provide an ethical code. Solidify power.

In Persia

  • Zoroastrianism - linked to some theory of divine right for rulers; guaranteed religious toleration for minorities (Jews, Christians)

Public Architecture & Art

Demonstrates distinctive cultural developments; often used by the state to solidify power

In Persia

Ganats
  • Underground canals
Imperial palaces, tombs, temples

Expansion

Techniques for military and imperial control with the use of mercenaries, roads, walls, etc.

In Persia

Persian Wars
  • Series of battles against Greek city-states beginning in ca. 490 BCE

Decline

Environmental & internal damage (deforestation, pathogens) external damage (invasion)

In Persia

Invasion
  • Alexander the Great
  • Arabs

Zoroastrianism

  • Believed in one god (monotheistic)
    • Ahura Mazda (wise lord)
  • Law of Asha - the ideal way life should be
    • Affirmed by daily prayer
  • Everything exists with moral opposites
    • Heaven and Hell
    • Good and Evil
  • At one point, it was the dominant religion, but now it is declining
    • Only 200k followers
    • Might die out
    • Why?
    • Can’t keep up with the times
    • Oppression, conversion, migration
  • Founded by Zoroaster (Iranian prophet)
  • Spread to India and modern-day Iran
  • Most practitioners today are in India