Greek Vs Persian War Essay

Every great empire, country, person believe that they’re the ones who are doing what is right. They see nothing wrong with what they’re doing and blind to everything that doesn’t go along with what they want. For example, the war between the Greeks and Persians between 492 B.C.E. and 479 B.C.E. resulted in two world powers going head to head with each other. Greece is believed to be the symbol of Europe and for freedom, while Persia represents Asia and despotism. This allegation towards the two countries doesn’t come without reason. For both these are true and untrue depending on which way you decide to perceive it. Greece is made up of many small independent city states. Each one has its own form of government ranging from democracy to complete tyranny. Athens was the only city state that had a direct democracy, which means every adult male who owned property could take a position in courts, assemblies, or a council. In the 590s B.C.E. Solon “banned enslavement for debt and guaranteed basic rights to everyone.” However, later on women,
slaves, males under the age of 18, and people who didn’t own property couldn’t vote and had no other political rights. Because of these freedoms it’s believed that men fought with surprising courage at the battle of Marathon. Why this most likely seems true, there may be other lurking factors. The thought of being conquered and having to convert to Zoroastrianism, which is monotheistic, may have bothered them being polytheistic. Also the thought of being controlled by a foreign power never sounds appealing. Persia unlike Greece was made up of one empire called the Persian Empire ranging from The Indus River in the east to Libya in the west.
The government for the Persians was an authoritarian monarch which means it was ran by a tyrant. The word tyrant usually has a negative connotation. However, sometimes a tyrant can be good for a country; a few Greek city states actually had tyrants. Cyrus the Great conquered much land through persuasion and compromise. This was an effective strategy since it allowed peoples to “retain their own religions and cultures while simultaneously offering them partnership in the Persian Empire.” This doesn’t fit the definition of despotism completely. The tyranny part is true but didn’t rule in an oppressive way. This goes the same way for all Persian leaders after Cyrus the Great. Persia only resulted to violence when rebellions broke out among controlled territory, like in the Greek city
states. Despite how someone characterizes a culture or group of people, there is always ways to prove that person’s comments wrong. Persia in my eyes does not represent Asia since it only controls the western part while India and China control the east. Also the term despotism is incorrect since Persian’s rule is not cruel or oppressive. For Greece representing Europe I would agree since nowhere else had a strong form of government and as advanced as Greece was at the time. For Greece signifying freedom is also partly true. Only male adults got to experience the true pleasures of freedom. However, most of the world was the same way with men being at the top of the social hierarchy.