Description
Describe at least three unique characteristics of Ancient Greece (social, political, military, etc.) and why the Greek world adopted these practices. Use in-text quotations and use the textbook for the main source. Minimum of two sources required.Cite your in-text quotations in the body of the essay and list your used sources on a reference page. Use APA format in-text format for quotationsMinimum 500 words
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CHAPTER
7
Western Asia, the Eastern
Mediterranean, and Regional
Systems, 600–200 BCE
Wonders are many on earth, and the greatest of these
is man, who rides the ocean. He is master of the ageless
earth. The use of language, the wind-swift motion of
brain he learned; found out the laws of living together
in cities. There is nothing beyond his power.
Richard Yoshida/Shutterstock.com
—Chorus in Antigone, by the fifth-century BCE Greek playwright Sophocles (SAHF-UH-KLEEZ)1
IMAGE 7.1 Persepolis During the height of their empire, Persian kings built a lavish capital at Persepolis, in
today’s Iran. This photo shows the audience hall, the part of the grand palace where the kings greeted their ministers
and foreign diplomats.
Quoted in Norman Davies, Europe: A History (New York: Harper, 1996), 117.
1
148
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
IN THIS CHAPTER
7-1 The Persians and Their Empire
How did the Persians acquire and maintain
their empire?
7-1a Building the Persian Empire
7-1b Imperial Policies and Networks
7-1c Persian Religion and Society
7-1d Warfare and Persian Decline
7-2 The Rise and Flowering of the
Thales (THAY-leez) and Anaximander
(uh-NAK-suh-MAN-der), pioneering Greek philosophers and
scientists, grew up in prosperous Miletus (my-LEET-uhs), a commercial
city on the southwestern coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey) governed
by the Persian Empire, and long a regional crossroads mingling Greek
and foreign cultures. Like other young men, they haunted the bustling
docks and seaside bars, listening to tales of sailors returning from distant
shores and of travelers from foreign lands. Some sailors brought learning
from older societies such as Egypt and Mesopotamia, while Milesian
merchants sent ships all over the Mediterranean carrying treasured wool
developed by Milesian sheep breeders and fine furniture produced by
its cabinetmakers. Around the Black Sea, Milesian settlements supplied
fish and wheat, enriching the city’s traders.
Miletus flourished as a great intellectual center and meeting place
for the Greek and Persian worlds. This intermingling fostered new
thinking about geography and cartography. Thales worked out a geometrical system to calculate a ship’s position at sea, and his student,
Anaximander, made the first map of the Mediterranean world and the
first Greek astronomical chart. Later Hecataeus (HEK-a-TAU-us) of
Miletus published a map of the world known to the Greeks, from India
to Spain.
The Greeks developed a unique society on the rocky shores of the
Aegean Sea. In cities such as Miletus and Athens, they introduced
many ideas and institutions that endured through the centuries and are
still influential in the world today. The view of humanity’s greatness
offered by Sophocles in the opening quotation reflects an obsession
with individuality and freedom that made the Greeks role models for
modern democracies. But Greek achievements are only part of the
story. Connected to a wider world, Greeks benefited from regional
trade, colonizing other territories and borrowing ideas from neighboring societies. Another creative society and even mightier regional
power, the Persians, produced one of the great empires in history, dominating the easternmost Mediterranean and western Asia for nearly
two centuries while introducing many innovations. Ultimately, the rival
Greek and Persian societies were temporarily brought together in an
empire mixing their two cultures.
Greeks
What were some features of Greek
government, philosophy, and science?
7-2a The Greek City-States
7-2b Reform, Tyranny, and Democracy in
Athens
7-2c The Spartan System
7-2d Religion, Rationalism, and Science
7-2e Axial Age Philosophy and Thinkers
7-2f Literature
7-2g Greek Society
7-3 Greeks, Persians, and the Regional
System
In what ways did Persians and Greeks
encounter and influence each other?
7-3a The Greco-Persian Wars
7-3b Empire and Conflict in the Greek
World
7-3c Historiography: Universal and Critical
7-3d Interregional Trade and Cultural
Mixing
7-3e The Persian and Greek Legacies
7-4 The Hellenistic Age and Its
Afro-Eurasian Legacies
What impact did Alexander the Great and
his conquests have on world history?
7-4a Alexander the Great, World Empire,
and Hellenism
7-4b Hellenistic Cities and Economic
Networks
7-4c Science, Religion, and Philosophy
DISCOVER HISTORICAL VOICES
A Greek Account of Persian Customs
MEET THE PEOPLE Archimedes, a
Hellenistic Mathematician and Engineer
149
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150
7-1
CHAPTER 7
Western Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Regional Systems, 600–200 BCE
The Persians and Their Empire
TRANSITIONS
Q
SOCIETIES
How did the Persians maintain their empire?
The Persian Empire often gets modest
Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and some South
CONNECTION to TODAY
attention in world history books compared
Asians. Domination of the east–west trade
What features of Persian state and socito their neighbors the Greeks, with much of
routes made the empire a major meeting
ety seem most similar to, and which
the coverage usually focused on the some- most different from, modern countries? ground. The Persians’ wars with the Greeks
times turbulent Greek-Persian relationship
and their empire building in western Asia
including multiple wars. Some of this may
also paved the way for an even greater
reflect a long-time fascination with the Greeks among many
imperial structure under the extraordinary Macedonian Greek
Western scholars and even average history buffs as well as a much
Alexander the Great and his successors.
smaller number of available Persian records. But the Persians merit
strong coverage. Although its period of greatest political influence
7-1a Building the Persian Empire
lasted only two centuries, the Persian Empire played an important
role in world history. In a breathtaking series of conquests Persians
The Persian homeland was located on a plateau just north of
established a larger, more multicultural empire than any people
the Persian Gulf, in what is now Iran (see Map 7.1). Overland
before them, encompassing Anatolian Greeks, Phoenicians, Jews,
routes connected Mesopotamia and Anatolia to India and
800 BCE
750 BCE
ca. 750–550 BCE
Greek colonization in
Mediterranean, Black Sea
700 BCE
650 BCE
600 BCE
550 BCE
ca. 594 BCE Solon’s reforms in Athens
561–527 BCE Peisistratus tyrant in Athens
GREECE
600 BCE Persians become vassals of Medes
550–530 BCE Kingship of Cyrus the Great
547–546 BCE Conquest of Lydia
530–522 BCE Kingship of Cambyses II
525–523 BCE Conquest of Egypt
PERSIA
HELLENISTIC
WORLD
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7-1 The Persians and Their Empire
Central Asia through Persia’s mountains and deserts, where
two pastoral Indo-European societies, the Medes (MEEDZ)
and Persians, competed for power in the early seventh century.
Soon the Persians displaced the Medes.
At its peak the Persian Empire, usually known as
Achaemenid (a-KEY-muh-nid) Persia after the ruling family, extended from the Indus Valley in the east to Libya in the
west and from the Black, Caspian, and Aral (AR-uhl) Seas in
the north to the Nile Valley in the south (see Map 7.1). King
Cyrus II (Cyrus the Great) began the expansion, and his successors, Cambyses (kam-BY-seez) II, Darius (duh-RY-uhs) I,
and Xerxes (ZUHRK-seez) I, continued the conquests. Their
autocratic but culturally tolerant government established a
model for later Middle Eastern empires and challenged the
Greeks in the west. They also learned from their neighbors
and the conquered peoples, even retaining some defeated
leaders as court advisers. Hence, they learned to mint coins
from the Lydians and adopted city planning from the Medes.
Assessing their rule and leaders is not easy, however, since
500 BCE
450 BCE
400 BCE
350 BCE
151
most of the written accounts of Persia that survive from
twenty-five hundred years ago are by Greeks, Persia’s bitter
enemies. Historians still debate the nature of the Persian state,
society, and culture.
After first overthrowing the Median king, by 539 Cyrus
the Great (r. 550–530 BCE) had conquered Mesopotamia,
Syria, Palestine, Lydia (a kingdom in western Anatolia), and
all the Greek cities in Anatolia such as Miletus. As much
diplomat as soldier, the pragmatic Cyrus followed moderate
policies in the conquered territories, making only modest
demands for tribute. After conquering Babylonia, he issued a
proclamation on a cylinder that some scholars today consider
the world’s first charter of human rights and tolerance:
“Protect this land from rancor, from foes, from falsehood, and
from drought.” But other scholars consider this mostly Persian
propaganda. Cyrus claimed
Achaemenid The ruling
that the main Babylonian god,
family of the classical Persian
M a rd u k (MAHR-dook),
Empire.
ordered him to help the
300 BCE
250 BCE
200 BCE
100 BCE
507 BCE Athenian democracy under Cleisthenes
499–479 BCE Greco-Persian Wars
477 BCE Founding of Delian League
469–399 BCE Life of Socrates
460–429 BCE Periclean era in Athens
431–404 BCE Peloponnesian War
428–347 BCE Life of Plato
384–322 BCE Life of Aristotle
338 BCE Philip of Macedonia’s conquest of Greece
521–486 BCE Kingship of Darius I
518 BCE Persian conquest of Indus Valley
499 BCE Rebellion by Ionian Greeks against Persian rule
499–479 BCE Greco-Persian Wars
486–465 BCE Kingship of Xerxes
404 BCE Egyptian independence from Persia
330 BCE Conquest of Persian Empire by Alexander the Great
359–336 BCE Reign of King Philip of Macedonia
338 BCE Macedonian conquest of Greece
336–323 BCE Reign of Alexander the Great
332 BCE Invasion of Egypt
330 BCE Occupation of Persia
327–325 BCE Invasion of India
306–30 BCE Ptolemaic Egypt
238 BCE Parthian state in Persia
141 BCE Parthians’ conquest of Seleucids
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152
CHAPTER 7
Western Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Regional Systems, 600–200 BCE
Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Greek traditions, its craftsmen and workers including Egyptians, Greeks, Hittites, and
Mesopotamians.
7-1b Imperial Policies and Networks
Perhaps most crucial to their imperial success, the Persians
generally treated conquered people and their social and religious institutions with respect. Cyrus the Great embraced
anything in other cultures that he considered useful and contributed to cooperation and effective government. Herodotus
reported that “there is no nation which so readily adopts foreign customs . . . As soon as they hear of any luxury, they
instantly make it their own.” 4 Unlike the earlier brutal
Assyrians and Babylonians, the Persians used laws, generous
economic policies, and tolerance toward the conquered to rule
successfully. In Egypt, for instance, Cambyses became a pharaoh. The Persians prided themselves on their ability to unify
vastly different peoples under the “king of kings,” a title that
respected other rulers with limited rights in their own territories. The “live and let live” tolerance was pragmatic, since
Persian kings could not have realistically imposed a universal
language or religion over their diverse empire. Leading citizens
came from many backgrounds. Medes, Armenians, Greeks,
Egyptians, and Kurds, a people living in the mountains just
north of Persia and Mesopotamia, served as generals. Hence,
many Greeks fought for Persia in the Greco-Persian Wars.
The Persians also utilized various official languages, including
Aramaic (ar-uh-MAY-ik), spoken by many peoples of varied
ethnicities (including Jews) in western Asia, and later Greek.
Greeks and Romans imitated some of these Persian techniques
when they created even larger empires several centuries later.
www.BibleLandPictures.com/Alamy Stock Photo
Babylonians by bringing them “justice and righteousness.” 2
He also allowed the exiled Jews taken to Babylon by the
Assyrians to return to Palestine and rebuild their temple,
prompting a Jewish prophet to proclaim that Cyrus was
favored by their god Yahweh. When Cyrus was killed while
campaigning in Central Asia, his son Cambyses II (r. 530–
522 BCE) subjugated Egypt, wisely presenting himself as a
new Egyptian ruler who would bring, he proclaimed, stability,
good fortune, health, and gladness.
Cambyses was succeeded by Darius I (r. 521–486 BCE),
a usurper and arrogant man who had seized power and who
boasted that “over and above my thinking power and understanding, I am a good warrior, horseman, bowman, spearman.”3 Darius crushed a revolt in Egypt and spread Persian
power east and west, even annexing Afghanistan and parts
of the Indus River Valley in northwestern India. As a result,
today many peoples in Afghanistan and Central Asia speak
languages closely related to Persian. Darius claimed that
within his territories he cherished good people, rooted out
the bad, and prevented people from killing each other. To
promote justice and ensure his posterity as a great lawgiver,
Darius fashioned a law code for Babylonia that basically reaffirmed Hammurabi’s laws made almost fifteen hundred years
earlier.
The Persians were among the classical world’s greatest
engineers and builders. For example, to forge closer links with
Egypt, Darius completed the first Suez Canal, 125 miles long and
150 feet wide, that briefly connected the Mediterranean and
the Red Seas. He also began building a spectacular new capital
at Persepolis (puhr-SEP-uh-luhs), on whose massive stone terrace stood monumental royal buildings. Persepolis drew from
IMAGE 7.2 Bas Relief of Darius and Xerxes Holding Court This relief was carved in one of the
palaces at the Persian capital of Persepolis.
Q
What can you tell from this bas relief about the throne room, clothing styles, and
facial hair of the leaders and their soldiers and attendants?
Quoted in Lindsey Allen, The Persian Empire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959), 27.
Quoted in A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959), 125.
From George Rawlinson, trans., The Histories of Herodotus (London: Dent, 1910), 1, 140.
2
3
4
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
20°E
30°E
40°E
S C Y T H IA
50°E
60°E
70°E
J ax
80°E
N
40°
es
R.
Ar al
Sea
ar t
Da nu be R .
C
J U D A EA
R.
Se
a
500 Km.
250
500 Mi.
PERSIS
si
an
Gu
H
30°N
.
N
INDIA
GEDROSIA
lf
Persian homeland
d
250
MT
r
e
Re
Ni l
0
T
S
N
igris
Susa S .
Babylon
ELAM
ANSHAN
BABYLONIA
Pasargadae
Naqsh-i
Rustam Persepolis
ARABIAN
DESERT
Thebes
0
R.
Pe
EGYPT
SAHARA
es
OS
HIN
KU
sR
Jerusalem
at
ELB
URZ M
T S . PA R TH IA
Calah (Nimrud)
P L AT E
Z A Ecbatana
AU
OF
G
M E DI A
I RA
R
Behistun
DU
du
IA
I S R AEL
Memphis
BACTRIA
In
an
ENIC
P
ane
Aradus
Cyprus Byblos
Sidon
Sea
Tyre
us R.
R.
LI BYA
Nineveh
A S SYR I A
Eup
Ashur
SYR IA
PHO
err
a
CILICIA
Ox
Se
Cyrene
dit
TS.
hr
Me
M
TA U R U S
Rhodes
Crete
ARMENIA
R oy a l
n
sia
er AN ATOL IA
SOG D IA N A
d
IONIA LYD IA
Ephesus Sardis
Miletus
CARIA
TS.
an
GREECE
S M
Roa
Aegean
Sea
ASU
pi
MACEDONIA
CAUC
as
Black Se
a
THRACE
Growth of the Persian
Empire to 500 BCE
20°N
Arabian
Sea
Persian Royal Road
MAP 7.1 The Persian Empire, ca. 500 BCE At its height around 500 BCE, the Persians controlled a huge empire that
included northern Greece, Egypt, and most of western Asia from the Mediterranean coast to the Indus River in India.
Q What do you consider the major challenges of governing the Persian Empire given its large size and
multicultural population, as shown in this map?
Although in theory having absolute power, kings needed
to consult with important nobles and judges, who were
often in faraway provinces. Each provincial governor, or
satrap (SAY-trap) (“protector of the kingdom”), ruled
according to established laws and paid annual taxes to the
king. Communication was aided by the “royal road” stretching seventeen hundred miles from east to west, and a
king’s messenger on a horse could cover this road in nineteen days. The Greek historian Herodotus marveled at the
extensive, well-protected roads, writing that “neither snow,
nor rain, nor heat, nor darkness of night prevents these couriers from completing their designated stages with utmost
speed.”5
The Persian Empire was strengthened by trade, which
was promoted both by the highways and by the use of standard weights and measures and minted coins. A vast trade
network and opportunities for extensive scientific and cultural exchanges helped attract the support of Greek cities
in Anatolia. Instead of stealing their wealth, Persian rulers allowed conquered peoples to maintain their usual economic activities. Phoenicians, for example, continued their
Mediterranean trade. The Persians maintained a kind of
“royal navy,” perhaps two thousand vessels at its height, in
the eastern Mediterranean, with crews drawn from locals
such as Phoenicians and Ionian Greeks. To open new trade
networks, Darius sent an expedition to India that returned
by sailing around Arabia to Suez, laying the foundation for
conquering the Indus River Valley and opening more maritime trade.
7-1c Persian Religion and Society
The Persians made another distinct contribution to later world
history by promoting Zoroastrianism (zo-ro-ASS-tree-uhniz-uhm). Some key ideas in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are
foreshadowed by, and perhaps even derived from, Zoroastrianism,
which later became Persia’s state religion. Its founder, Zoroaster
(whose name means “With Golden Camels”), was one of the
first non-Hebrew religious leaders to challenge the prevailing
satrap (“protector of the
polytheism. Scholars debate
kingdom”) A Persian official who
whether he lived between 630 and
ruled according to established
550 BCE during the Axial Age or
laws and procedures and paid
centuries earlier, perhaps around
a fixed amount of taxes to the
emperor each year.
1000 or 1200 BCE. He may have
been a priest in the early Persian
Zoroastrianism
religion, which was closely related
A monotheistic religion founded by
to the religion of the Aryans who
the Persian Zoroaster, and later the
state religion of Persia. Its notion of
migrated to India.
one god opposed by the devil may
The early Persians apparhave influenced Judaism and later
ently believed in three great
Christianity.
gods and many lesser ones, but
Quoted in William H. Stiebing, Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture (New York: Longman, 2003), 303.
5
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153
154
CHAPTER 7
Western Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Regional Systems, 600–200 BCE
Zoroaster had a monotheistic vision, preaching that only one of
these, Ahura Mazda (ah-HOOR-uh MAZZ-duh) (the “Wise
Lord”), was the supreme deity in the universe, responsible for creation and the source of all goodness. A rival Satan-like entity, Angra
Mainyu (“Hostile Spirit”), embodied evil and was the source of all
misery, cowardice, lies, and sin. Ahura Mazda allowed humans to
freely choose between himself and evil, Heaven and Hell. By serving Ahura Mazda, men and women promoted ultimate goodness
and truth. At the end of time, Zoroaster believed, Ahura Mazda
would win a final victory over evil and even Hell would come to an
end. Zoroaster also banned the use of intoxicants and animal sacrifice. However, some Persians worshipped other gods, and several
religions coexisted in Persia.
The Jews may have adopted some ideas about good and evil,
God and the devil, Heaven and Hell, and a last judgment from
Zoroastrians while held captive in Babylon (586–539 BCE).
Christianity later incorporated such ideas, and the Zoroastrian
watchwords of “good thoughts, good words, good deeds” became
key ideas of several religions. Darius I publicly attributed his
victories to Ahura Mazda and honored him for creating earth,
sky, and humankind. While Christianity and, later, Islam eventually displaced Zoroastrianism in western Asia, the faith lives
on today among small groups in Iran as well as in the wealthy
Parsee (PAR-see) minority in India, descendants of Persian
Zoroastrians who in the seventh and eighth centuries CE fled
Islamic conquest and domination of Persia.
The Persians were not as politically diversified a society as
the Greeks (see Discover Historical Voices: A Greek Account
of Persian Customs). Their system was headed by nobles, many
of them warriors who had been granted large estates by the
king, followed by priests, merchants, and bankers. In Persianruled Babylonian cities these citizens made important judicial
decisions in formal assemblies. Zoroastrian priests schooled
noble sons to prepare for government careers. The middle class
included bakers, brewers, butchers, carpenters, coppersmiths,
and potters. At the bottom of the social structure, many peasant
farmers were impoverished, becoming poor renters or sharecroppers bound to the land. Slaves—mainly debtors, criminals,
and prisoners of war—filled various functions. Some were
apprenticed in trades, while others operated small businesses.
Persian society was patriarchal and polygamous. Men
believed that the greatest proof of masculinity was to father many
sons, and many rich men had several wives. Persian women were
usually kept secluded in harems
Ahura Mazda (the
and probably veiled themselves,
“Wise Lord”) The one god of
an ancient practice in western
Zoroastrianism.
Asia. But some queens and other
noble women strongly influenced their husbands, and some
controlled large estates. A few women became independently
wealthy. For instance, one entrepreneur and landowner of commoner origins, Irdabama, controlled a large labor force of several
hundred and operated her own grain and wine business.
7-1d Warfare and Persian Decline
Persia’s rulers eventually encountered major resistance by
Scythians and Greeks. Darius campaigned unsuccessfully against
the Scythians (SITH-ee-uhnz), the warlike Indo-European
pastoral nomads whose territory stretched from Ukraine to
Mongolia. Skilled horsemen and master gold and bronze workers, Scythians had both fought and traded with Greek cities. The
many Greeks who lived in Persian territories were also rivals for
regional power. Inspired by Scythian resistance, some Greek cities on the Ionian (eye-OH-nee-uhn) coast of Anatolia rebelled
against Persian control (see Map 7.1). In response Darius attacked
cities on the Greek peninsula that were supporting the Ionian rebels. During this first Greco-Persian War, the tiny disunited Greek
states turned back the world’s most powerful empire. While the
Persians failed to occupy peninsular Greece, they reclaimed
the Ionian cities, brutally punishing the most rebellious. Darius
then supported democratic forces in Ionian cities, a tactic that
failed to inspire peninsular Greek cooperation with Persian aims.
Xerxes (r. 486–465 BCE), the son of Darius, tried again to
conquer the Greeks in 480 BCE, attacking with a huge army and
naval force. In this fierce two-year struggle, perhaps Xerxes’s most
effective ally was the Ionian Greek queen Artemisia (AHRT-uhMIZH-ee-uh) of Helicarnassus, who was praised for her bravery as
a naval commander and the wise counsel she gave the Persian king.
But the Persian thrust failed. Although Xerxes still held some of the
Greek world and regained control of Egypt, defeat in this second
Greco-Persian War proved a turning point in Persian history.
The Persian Empire was not finally conquered until
330 BCE, when Alexander the Great’s superior army defeated
Persian forces. However, the seeds of decline had been planted earlier when Xerxes began imposing heavier taxes. By 424 BCE the
Persian Empire suffered from civil unrest caused by fights within
the Achaemenid family, disaffected satrapies, currency inflation,
difficulty collecting taxes, and high interest rates and debt that
ruined many merchants and landlords. Xerxes and his successors also unwisely reversed the inclusive policies of Cyrus and
Darius. Some regions rebelled. Egypt ended Persian control in
404 BCE, restoring pharaonic rule. Thus support for the increasingly remote kings weakened long before Alexander the Great
ended Achaemenid Persia and its once-great empire.
KEY POINTS
The Persian Empire, centered on a trade crossroads, was
larger than any empire that preceded it.
The Persians often won the support of peoples they had
conquered through their respect for native cultures and
their institution of the rule of law.
The monotheistic Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, may
have contributed some key ideas to Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam.
The Persian Empire suffered several setbacks, including
an unsuccessful campaign against the Scythians and
repeated failure to completely conquer Greece.
Though the Persian Empire was conquered by Alexander
the Great in 330 BCE, it had begun to decline over a
century earlier.
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-208
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7-2 The Rise and Flowering of the Greeks
155
Discover Historical Voices
A Greek Account of Persian Customs
The Persians used several written languages, but few of their
nonreligious documents have survived. Much of what we know
of Persian life in this era comes from Greek sources, most of them
biased against their greatest regional rival and threat. Of course,
even today writers’ or visitors’ observations on a foreign culture
may reflect their own political, cultural, and/or religious perspectives. Although his observations must be treated with caution,
the Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the later fifth century
BCE, had a less nationalistic and more universalistic approach
than most Greeks, holding some sympathy for Persians. He was
born in and traveled widely in the Persian empire, although not
to the Persian heartland, and gathered considerable information, including these observations on some Persian customs.
The customs which I know the Persians to observe are the following: they have no images of the gods, no temples nor altars, and
consider the use of them a sign of folly. This comes, I think, from
their not believing the gods to have the same nature with men, as
the Greeks imagine. Their wont, however, is to ascend the summits of the loftiest mountains, and there to offer sacrifice to Zeus
[Ahura Mazda], which is the name they give to the whole circuit
of the firmament. They likewise offer to the sun and moon, to the
earth, to fire, to water, and to the winds. These are the only gods
whose worship has come down to them from ancient times. . . .
To these gods the Persians offer [animal] sacrifice in the
following manner: they raise no altar, light no fire, pour no libations; there is no sound of the flute, no putting on of chaplets,
no consecrated barley-cake; but the man who wishes to sacrifice brings his victim to a spot of ground which is pure from
pollution, and there calls upon the name of the god to whom
he intends to offer. It is usual to have the turban encircled
with a wreath, most commonly of myrtle. The sacrificer is not
allowed to pray for blessings on himself alone, but he prays
for the welfare of the king, and of the whole Persian people,
among whom he is of necessity included. . . .
Of all the days in the year, the one which they celebrate
most is their birthday. It is customary to have the board furnished on that day with an ampler supply than common. The
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richer Persians cause an ox, a horse, a camel, and an ass to
be baked whole and so served up to them: the poorer classes
use instead the smaller kinds of cattle. They eat little solid
food but abundance of dessert, which is set on table a few
dishes at a time; this it is which makes them say that “the
Greeks, when they eat, leave off hungry, having nothing worth
mention served up to them after the meats; whereas, if they
had more put before them, they would not stop eating.”
They are very fond of wine, and drink it in large quantities. . . .
There is no nation which so readily adopts foreign customs
as the Persians. Thus, they have taken the dress of the Medes,
considering it superior to their own; and in war they wear the
Egyptian breastplate. As soon as they hear of any luxury, they
instantly make it their own: and hence, among other novelties,
they have learnt unnatural lust from the Greeks. Each of them
has several wives, and a still larger number of concubines.
Next to prowess in arms, it is regarded as the greatest proof
of manly excellence to be the father of many sons. Every year
the king sends rich gifts to the man who can show the largest
number: for they hold that number is strength. Their sons are
carefully instructed from their fifth to their twentieth year, in
three things alone—to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the
truth. Until their fifth year they are not allowed to come into
the sight of their father, but pass their lives with the women.
This is done that, if the child die young, the father may not be
afflicted by its loss.
Reflection Questions
1. What aspects of religious beliefs and worship does
Herodotus stress?
2. How was Persian culture cosmopolit
