Western Civilization

be laid.” This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to

Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations

before him.^12

Cyrus had a genuine respect for ancient civilizations—

in building his palaces, he made use of Assyrian, Baby-

lonian, Egyptian, and Lydian practices.

Expanding the Empire

Cyrus’s successors extended the territory of the Persian

Empire. His son Cambyses (kam-BY-seez) (530–522

B.C.E.) undertook a successful invasion of Egypt and

made it into a satrapy with Memphis as its capital.

Darius (duh-RY-uss)(521–486B.C.E.) added a new Per-

sian province in western India that extended to the

Indus River and moved into Europe proper, conquering

Thrace and making the Macedonian king a vassal. A

revolt of the Ionian Greek cities in 499B.C.E. resulted in

temporary freedom for these communities in western

Asia Minor. Aid from the Greek mainland, most notably

from Athens, encouraged the Ionians to invade Lydia

and burn Sardis, center of the Lydian satrapy. This

event led to Darius’s involvement with the mainland

Greeks. After reestablishing control of the Ionian Greek

cities, Darius undertook an invasion of the Greek main-

land, which culminated in the famous Athenian victory

in the Battle of Marathon in 490B.C.E. (see Chapter 3).

Governing the Empire

By the reign of Darius, the Persians had created the

largest empire the world had yet seen. As noted earlier,

it not only included all the old centers of power in the

Ni

le

R.

Tig

ris

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.
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es
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H
alys
R.
(^) Jaxartes
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(^) Ox
us (^)
(^)
(^) R.
Ind
us^
R.
Aral
Sea
Caspian
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Black Sea
Red
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Arabian
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(^) P
er
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ulf
Aegean
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Cau
casu
s (^) Mts.
Arabian
Desert
Sahara
(^) Z
ag
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ts.
Sparta Athens
Sardis
Ephesus
Nineveh
Susa
Persepolis
Memphis
Jerusalem Babylon
MEDIA
ASSYRIA
LYDIA
SYRIA
EGYPT
MESOPOTAMIA
PARTHIA
GREECE
THRACE
SOGDIA
PERSIS
CANAAN
MA
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0 300 600 Miles
Persian Empire, 557 B.C.E. Persian Empire, 539 ersianersianesrssiasiansannn n nnEmmpirmpirmpmpppppirerrrrre 3939 B.C.E. 0 300 600 900 Kilometers
Persian Empire, 500 B.C.E.
Royal Road
MAP 2.3The Persian Empire at the Time of Darius.Cyrus the Great united the Persians and
led them in the successful conquest of much of the Near East. By the time of Darius, the Persian
Empire was the largest the world had yet seen. The Persians allowed religious tolerance and gave
some government positions to natives of conquered territories.
Q How did Persian policies attempt to overcome the difficulties of governing far-flung
provinces?
42 Chapter 2 The Ancient Near East: Peoples and Empires
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