GRK 142 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Ionian Revolt, Northern Greece, Anatolia
Document Summary
Largest empire ever: hard to govern such a large area of land, communication is an issue. Royal road across the entire empire: 1000 miles long, courier systems. Satraps ruler of smaller areas (provinces: can wage war, answer to the king. Constant threat of rebellion because the empire includes so many people from so many different cultures. Lavish palaces in each large city for the king to travel around to. Tributes to kings: brought to the king yearly from each city, huge procession of subjects who each bring a gift to the king. The king is treated like a god. Zoroastrianism religion: order vs. chaos, good vs. evil, light vs. dark, ahura mazda (god of light) vs. ahriman (evil spirit, king is seen as ahura mazda"s servant. All persians learn three important things: horse riding, archery, truth telling. Cyrus is the first leader: conquers media in 550, 547 conquers cilicia, makes persia into an empire instead of just a country.
