Persian Empire (dynasty): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:40, 1 December 2005

Revision as of 00:42, 1 December 2005

Line 23:

Achaemenid Persia united people and kingdoms from every major civilization of a vast region. For the first time, people from very different cultures were in contact with each other under one ruler.

===Hellenistic Persia ([[330 BC]]-[[170 BC]])===

The later years of the Achaemenid dynasty were marked by decay and decadence. The mightiest empire in the world collapsed in only eight years, when it fell under the attack of a young [[Macedon]]ian king, [[Alexander the Great]].

Persia's weakness was exposed to the Greeks in 401 BC, when the [[Satrap]] of [[Sardis]] hired ten thousand Greek mercenaries to help secure his claim to the imperial throne (see [[Xenophon]]). This exposed both the political instability and the military weakness of late Achaemenid Persia.

[[Philip II of Macedon]], leader of most of Greece, and his son Alexander decided to take advantage of this weakness. After Philip's death, Alexander looked toward Persia. Alexander's army landed in Asia Minor in [[334 BC]]. His armies quickly swept through Lydia, Phoenicia, and Egypt, before defeating all the troops of [[Darius III]] at Issus and capturing the capital at Susa. The last Achaemenid resistance was at the "Persian Gates" near the royal palace at Persepolis. The Persian Empire was now in Greek hands.

Along his route of conquest, Alexander founded many colony cities, all named "Alexandria". For the next several centuries, these cities served to greatly extend Greek, or [[Hellenistic]], culture in Persia.