Geography and Environment

As early states grew in population, they needed more and more resources. They needed more land, larger armies, food, and wealth. As they expanded, they often came into conflict with other states over land and resources. Take, for example, the mighty Persian Empire and the city-states of the Greek Peninsula. These two very different societies expanded very differently. Their expansion launched a series of conflicts between them that forever changed world history.

The Persian Empire

The Persian Empire began in a region in the middle of an ancient trade route between the cities of Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley. Persian society expanded overland toward wealthy areas to the east (India) and west (Mesopotamia). Less than 50 years after its formation in 559 BCE, the Persian Empire had become the largest empire in the world. The Persians ruled over nearly 50 million people, almost one-third of all the people on Earth.

The Greek Peninsula

To the west of the Persian Empire was the mountainous peninsula of Greece. By 500 BCE, the Greek Peninsula was divided into hundreds of independent city-states that shared the same culture. These city-states were all small at first, but some—such as Athens and Sparta—became large and powerful. Poor soil and rugged geography gave the Greeks plenty of reason to want to expand. But in a mountainous area, it was hard to expand overland. The Greeks lived by the Aegean Sea, so they expanded across the seas instead. Greek colonists established new city-states all around the Mediterranean.

One example of the empire’s effective administration was the Royal Road. This road ran from the heart of the Persian Empire to Anatolia, over 1,500 miles away. It took most people months to travel the road. But the Persian Empire set up a mail service with rest stops every 30 miles where royal messengers could change horses. This allowed messengers to travel the distance in less than two weeks. Rapid communication helped the emperor’s servants carry out his will.

The Greek city-states

In contrast to Persia’s political system of centralized rule, where one king ruled everything, the Greeks lived in independent city-states ruled by many people. In most city-states, some citizens had a say in governing. However, each city-state worked differently. For example, Sparta was ruled by two kings and a council of nobles. Athens, on the other hand, practiced direct democracy. All male citizens voted in the Assembly that ruled the city.

Persia and Greece were both expanding and wanted the same land and resources. That soon led to conflict. In 546 BCE, the Persian Empire conquered several Greek city-states on the coast of Anatolia. In 499 BCE, these city-states rebelled against Persian rule, and Athens supported the rebels. After he defeated the revolt, the Persian emperor Darius I set off to punish the Greeks. The result was a 50-year period of conflict known as the Greco-Persian Wars. The much smaller Greek city-states managed to unite and defeat the world’s largest empire—twice.

Culture

Persian and Greek cultures were very different from each other.

Greek culture

The Ancient Greeks shared a common culture despite living in separate city-states, but they were isolated from outsiders and suspicious of foreign cultures. As a result, the city-states of the Greek Peninsula developed a distinctly Greek culture. The Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars launched a golden age of peace in Greece, where Greek culture flourished and spread to new places. During this period of peace, from 449 to 431 BCE, thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Euripides made Athens a cultural center of the Mediterranean world. Meanwhile, the Athenians started conquering other city- states and built their own sea-based empire.

Society

Terms like “direct democracy” and “independent city-states” might make you think Athens was a society that valued equality. But the truth was more complicated. The amount of freedom and democracy a person enjoyed depended on who they were. A single, all-powerful man might have ruled Persia, but the emperor tolerated differences and respected the many different cultures under his rule. For example, when he captured Babylon, Cyrus the Great liberated the Jewish people from a period known as the Babylonian Exile. Non-Persians within the empire could rise to positions of political power. The Cyrus Cylinder—a clay cylinder written to celebrate Cyrus the Great’s conquest of Babylon—is perhaps the world’s first statement about human rights.

In Athens, however, women, enslaved people, and non-Greeks were not considered citizens and were not allowed to participate in government. In many other Greek city-states, participation was even more limited. Often, only very wealthy males enjoyed citizens’ rights.

Decline and Transformation

Despite the Greek victory over Persia, a growing rivalry between different Greek city-states risked disaster. From 431 to 404 BCE, the Athenian Empire fought Sparta and their allies in the Peloponnesian War. Sparta won, but the war weakened the whole Greek world. This opened the door for a new state to arise. On the northern border of the Greek Peninsula, the Macedonian kingdom of Phillip II (r. 359–336 BCE) took advantage of the weakened Greek city-states and conquered most of Greece. After conquering the Greek city-states, Phillip’s son, Alexander, led an army of Greeks and Macedonians into the heart of the Persian Empire. Alexander, known as “Alexander the Great,” conquered all Persian territories as far east as India.

After Phillip and Alexander’s conquests, the Persian Empire’s power faded. Yet, its influence didn’t disappear. Persia’s political system was used as a model by many later states. In a similar way, many societies in Europe and America drew inspiration from Ancient Greece long after its power had faded away.