Classical Antiquity

Taught by: [Imperator]



Sections in order

1. The Persian Empire
2. Alexander the Great
3. Rome
4. The Byzantine Empire




The Persian Empire

The Persians, a nomadic people, lived in the southwestern portion of modern day Iran. In 559 B.C., Cyrus the Great became king of the Persian tribes and began to expand the empire. In the year 539, the Chaldean capital city of Babylon fell to the Persians. Cyrus was renowned for his mercy to conquered peoples. He allowed captive Jews in Babylon to return to Israel and for all cultures and religions to be continued without Persian interference. By the time of his death in 530 B.C., the Persian Empire extended from India to Asia Minor. Cyrus’s successors conquered even more territory with Egypt falling to Cambyses and Greece suffering invasion under Darius.

King Darius who took power in 521 B.C. strengthened Persian rule by creating twenty “satrapies” or provinces with each ruled by a “satrap” or governor. After his death in 486, the Persian monarchy began to fall into discord as the polygamous kings’ sons fought each other for the throne. This weakening of the empire helped bring about its demise at the hands of the young king from Macedon known as Alexander the Great.




Alexander the Great

Born in 356 B.C., Alexander was only twenty years old when he became king of Macedon after his father’s assassination. He quickly consolidated his power in Greece and invaded the Persian Empire in 334. After several fierce but successful confrontations with the Persians, he had conquered all territory west of the Euphrates River by 331 B.C. Over the next five years Alexander took possession of the remainder of Persia and planned to move into India but his forces mutinied forcing him to return home. After reaching Babylon, Alexander fell critically ill and died at only 32 years of age. He had named no successor most probably because he knew no one could hold together the vast amount of territory he had seized and the empire split into four separate states.

Alexander’s generals formed their own kingdoms, which frequently fought amongst themselves. The Antigonids took Macedon, the Seleucids Persia, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor, and the Ptolemies Egypt. Over the next several hundred years, these kingdoms slowly declined and lost territory. Then a new power emerged in the Mediterranean world. By A.D. 14 the remnants of Alexander’s former empire were conquered by the Roman Empire.

For more information: History of Alexander the Great




Rome

According to legend, the city of Rome was founded in Italy in 753 B.C. After the expulsion of foreign kings who ruled the city in 509 B.C., the Romans began to expand their borders and conquer the entire Mediterranean world. In 190 B.C., Rome defeated the Seleucid king Antiochus III and Rome gained its first province in the Middle East. In 133 B.C., Pergamum and its territories in Asia Minor joined Rome after its last ruler died. Then, following a bloody Roman civil war between Octavian and Antony, Octavian annexed Egypt in 30 B.C., which extinguished the last kingdom of Alexander’s successors.

In 4 B.C., the ancient Jewish homeland of Judaea became a Roman province. Then, in 66 A.D., one of several revolts by the Jews began which lasted until 70 A.D. when the city of Jerusalem was captured by Rome. The siege had lasted for five months and by the end the city was burned to the ground and most of the inhabitants massacred. Titus only spared three watchtowers and a small section of wall to mark the place where Jerusalem once stood.

The Parthian Empire, which controlled roughly the territory of modern day Iran and Iraq, constantly fought with the Romans. In 53 and 36 B.C., Parthian forces defeated Roman attacks and a peace settlement was put in place in 20 B.C. under Augustus. Then in 113 A.D. Emperor Trajan attacked the Parthians in Mesopotamia. Armenia was annexed in 114 A.D. followed by the rest of Mesopotamia by 116 A.D. Not long after, another Jewish revolt began and Trajan was forced to recall his troops.

In 224 A.D. the Parthians succumbed to the Sassanids who were another Persian people. In 241 A.D. Shapur I became their king and began to conquer parts of the eastern Roman Empire. Unfortunately for him, he insulted the king of Palmyra who joined with the Romans to repel the Sassanids in 261. By 298 A.D. the east had been stabilized and peace lasted for 40 years until another outbreak of hostilities that ended in 363 A.D. Peace then lasted for another 140 years.
For more information: History of Rome




The Byzantine Empire

In 476 A.D. the emperor of the Western Roman Empire was deposed leaving the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople. After the fall of the west, the eastern section of Rome became known as the Byzantine Empire, which flourished in the 6th century A.D. under Emperor Justinian. During his reign, the Byzantines reconquered Italy and most of North Africa.

The east was always the stronger and richer part of Rome and had a smaller border in Europe, which made control of barbarian invasions easier. Around the time of the fall of the west, the east was also kept intact by the fact that the Persians didn’t have the resources to attack them. The Byzantine Empire would remain powerful until Muslims invaded and captured several of its richest provinces in Syria and Egypt. (See The Rise of Islam) It would take until 1453 before the Eastern Roman Empire finally fell to the Ottoman Turks. (See The 12th Century to 1945)




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