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Chapter 7 Reading Guide: The Empires of Persia
Identification of People:
What is the contribution of each of the following individuals to world history? Identification should include answers to the question who, what, when, when, how and why is this person important?
Cyrus
Croesus
Cambyses
Darius
Eyes and Ears of the King
Xerxes
Seleucus
Mithradates I
Shapur I
Zarathustra
Identification of Terms and Concepts:
State in your own words what each of the following terms means and why it is significant to a study of the world history. Achaemenids
Persepolis
Satrapy
Royal Road
Persian Wars
Seleucids
Parthians
Sasanids
Qanat
Zoroastrianism
Parsis
Ahura Mazda
Angra Mainyu
Magi
Gathas
Avesta
Study Questions:
1. How did Cyrus manage to expand the Persian holdings during his lifetime?
2. Why does the book say that Darius was “more important as an administrator than as a conqueror?”
3. Describe the administrative structure of the Achaemenid empire.
4. In what ways did Darius, and his successors, promote communication and commerce throughout the empire?
5. In what ways did Alexander of Macedon both destroy and preserve elements of Achaemenid empire?
6. How did the Parthians come to control the Persian empire?
7. What was the role of the imperial bureaucrats in Persian society? How did they fit in with the other social classes? 8. What agricultural technologies and techniques did the Persians use to produce large surpluses they needed to feed their huge population of nonfood producers?
9. The Persian empires were noted for being part of a trade route critical to the economy of the classical world.
What did the rulers do to facilitate trade? Why was Persia geographically so important?
10. What were the basic teachings of Zoroastrianism? Why is it considered a highly moralistic religion? How did
Zoroastrianism influence other religions?
Identification of People:
What is the contribution of each of the following individuals to world history? Identification should include answers to the question who, what, when, when, how and why is this person important?
Cyrus
Croesus
Cambyses
Darius
Eyes and Ears of the King
Xerxes
Seleucus
Mithradates I
Shapur I
Zarathustra
Identification of Terms and Concepts:
State in your own words what each of the following terms means and why it is significant to a study of the world history. Achaemenids
Persepolis
Satrapy
Royal Road
Persian Wars
Seleucids
Parthians
Sasanids
Qanat
Zoroastrianism
Parsis
Ahura Mazda
Angra Mainyu
Magi
Gathas
Avesta
Study Questions:
1. How did Cyrus manage to expand the Persian holdings during his lifetime?
2. Why does the book say that Darius was “more important as an administrator than as a conqueror?”
3. Describe the administrative structure of the Achaemenid empire.
4. In what ways did Darius, and his successors, promote communication and commerce throughout the empire?
5. In what ways did Alexander of Macedon both destroy and preserve elements of Achaemenid empire?
6. How did the Parthians come to control the Persian empire?
7. What was the role of the imperial bureaucrats in Persian society? How did they fit in with the other social classes? 8. What agricultural technologies and techniques did the Persians use to produce large surpluses they needed to feed their huge population of nonfood producers?
9. The Persian empires were noted for being part of a trade route critical to the economy of the classical world.
What did the rulers do to facilitate trade? Why was Persia geographically so important?
10. What were the basic teachings of Zoroastrianism? Why is it considered a highly moralistic religion? How did
Zoroastrianism influence other religions?