Worlds Collide: Persians and Greeks

By Bennett Sherry
How complex societies rise, grow, and decline depends on their geography, their style of government, and their connections to other societies. Even though it was 2,500 years ago, we can understand a great deal about the ancient worlds of the Persian Empire and the Greek Peninsula. In this article, you’ll learn about these two very different societies and how they changed over the 236 years between 559 BCE and 323 BCE.
A Greek red figure vase depicting the war council of Darius, King of Persia 549 BCE—486 BCE.

Geography and Environment

As the populations of early states and empires grew, they needed more resources for their people. They needed more land, larger armies, more food, and increased wealth. As they expanded, these societies often came into conflict 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 brought them together and launched a series of conflicts that forever changed world history.

A map showing the geography of the Persian Empire and city-states of the Greek Peninsula.

The Persian Empire

The Persian Empire began in a region that was in the middle of an ancient trade route between the agricultural urban regions of Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley. The Persians’ nomadic society expanded overland, toward the wealthy and agricultural urban centers 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, ruling nearly 50 million people. Almost one third of all people on Earth lived in the Persian Empire at that time.

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 even though they were divided by mountains. These city-states were small, but some—such as Athens and Sparta—developed into large, powerful states. Poor soil and rugged geography meant that the Greeks also had plenty of motivation to expand. But unlike the Persians, the Greeks expanded across the seas. Greek colonists established new city-states all around the Mediterranean Sea.

Infographic timeline for The Persians and the Greeks spanning 559 BCE–323 BCE.
A map showing the stages of the Persian Empire’s expansion. The areas in purple and pink are its earliest territories, with orange, brown, and green coming from later conquests.

A map showing the stages of the Persian Empire’s expansion. The areas in purple and pink are its earliest territories, with orange, brown, and green coming from later conquests. By World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Map of Greek and Phoenician Settlements in the Mediterranean Basin. Red, blue, and dark purple indicate the areas colonized by Greek city-states around the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

The areas colonized by Greek city-states around the Mediterranean and Black Sea (red, blue, and dark purple).

Big Question #1:
How did geography and the environment shape the development of the Persian Empire and the Greek Peninsula?

Political Structure

The expansion of these two societies—Greeks over the sea and Persians over land—led them to conflict. Let’s explore their politics, culture, and social hierarchies and how these differences helped define the conflicts that followed.

The Persian Empire

The story of the Persian Empire begins in 559 BCE, when the first Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great (he ruled 559–530 BCE), set out on a series of epic conquests. By his death in 530 BCE, he had conquered Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, most of Central Asia, and Anatolia. His descendants, especially Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE), expanded the boundaries of the empire even further.

The Persian emperors were absolute rulers. They controlled everything. They were treated almost as gods, and their word was law. They took the title “King of Kings.” The faraway districts of the empire were ruled by Persian governors called satraps, but the local elites among conquered peoples were recruited to fill other administrative positions. This bureaucracy (administration system) helped the emperors maintain control of and collect taxes from their huge empire.

What is a state?
Did you know that not all historians agree about what a “state” means? That’s because there are a lot of different sorts of states. In this course, we define state as an organized community living under a unified political system. An empire—like the Persian Empire—is one kind of state that rules over a large territory and many different groups of people. A city- state—like Athens—is a small type of state that rules just one city and the surrounding countryside. Like almost everyone on Earth today, you live in a state. Your country—such as the United States, Mexico, or China—is a state!


A long memory
A later Greek historian, named Herodotus, claimed that Darius was really angry about the Athenians helping the rebels. So angry that he commanded his servant to remind him “remember the Athenians” three times before every dinner he ate. Despite his anger and an army that was much larger than the Greeks, both Darius and his son, Xerxes I, failed to conquer Greece. The Greek victory was thanks to cooperation among the city-states against a common enemy, better military tactics and equipment, and a little luck.

A stone carving depicting war scenes and the “Behistun Inscription.” It tells about the conquests of Darius the Great and shows him speaking to people he defeated. The inscription is written in three different languages.

This is the “Behistun Inscription.” It tells about the conquests of Darius the Great and shows him speaking to people he defeated. The inscription is written in three different languages. © Getty Images.

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 established 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.

A map of the Persian Empire in the fifth century BCE. The brown line represents the Royal Road and links Persia to the Mediterranean.

A map of the Persian Empire in the fifth century BCE. Notice the Royal Road (brown) linking Persia to the Mediterranean. © Getty Images.

Big Question #2:
What type of leader did the Persian Empire have? What were some ways that the empire was governed?

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 valued strict military discipline, and 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.

Even though Greeks and Persians ruled themselves very differently, they were both expanding, and both wanted the same territory and resources. That meant that these two different political systems of Persia and Greece were on a collision course. 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!

Big Question #3:
What were the major differences between the Persian and Greek political systems? Why did these two systems come into conflict?

Culture

The distinct cultures that developed in these two places can help us better understand their political conflicts.

Persian culture

The Persians adopted many of the customs of the different peoples they conquered, creating a cultural melting pot. They were relatively tolerant rulers who allowed conquered peoples to keep their own religions and traditions, so long as they paid taxes and obeyed the emperor. Many conquered kings were even allowed to keep their title. That’s where the Persian emperor’s title “King of Kings” comes from.

The legacy of Zoroaster
The Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, was the world’s first monotheistic religion. The Zoroastrian holy book is called the Avesta, which includes the teachings of a man named Zoroaster, who preached about a single creator god named Ahura Mazda. Though it eventually declined, Zoroastrianism had a big impact on Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Today, the largest community of Zoroastrians lives in Los Angeles, California.

Big Question #4:
How were the cultures of Greece and Persia shaped by their political expansion and conflicts?

Greek culture

In contrast to the vast Persian Empire, the Greeks lived in a mountainous peninsula. They shared a common culture and set of beliefs with other Greeks, but they were isolated from outsiders. The ancient Greeks were suspicious of foreign cultures. So, while the Persian Empire became a cultural melting pot, the city-states of the Greek Peninsula developed a culture that was distinctly Greek.

The Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars launched a golden age of peace in which Greek culture flourished and spread to new places. The Athenians started conquering other city-states and built their own, sea-based, empire. During this period of peace, from 449 to 431 BCE, the Athenians’ achievements were numerous and notable. They built the Parthenon; their leader, Pericles, reformed Athenian democracy; and thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Euripides made Athens a cultural center of the Mediterranean world.

Society

You might hear stuff like “direct democracy,” “independent city-states,” or “golden age” and think that Athens sounds like a society that valued equality, especially compared to Persia. But the truth was more complicated. The amount of freedom, prosperity, and democracy a person enjoyed in Greece depended on who they were. Persia might have been ruled by a single, all-powerful man, 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 commemorate Cyrus the Great’s conquest of Babylon—is even acknowledged by some scholars as the first statement about human rights.

In the direct democracy of Athens, however, women, enslaved people, and non-Greeks didn’t enjoy the benefits of participation or status as citizens. In many other city-states, participation was even more limited. Often, only very wealthy males enjoyed the rights of citizens.

Barrel-shaped clay cylinder known as the Cyrus Cylinder showing wear. The Cyrus Cylinder displays writing that represents a Babylonian account of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539 BC.

The Cyrus cylinder; clay cylinder; a Babylonian account of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539 BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Pretty great
The Cyrus Cylinder was written to justify Persia’s conquest and to show everyone just how great Cyrus was:

“I am Cyrus, king of the universe, the great king, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world.… My vast troops marched peaceably in Babylon, and the whole of [Sumer] and Akkad had nothing to fear. I sought the welfare of the city of Babylon and all its sanctuaries. As for the population of Babylon […, who as if without divine intention] had endured a yoke not decreed for them, I soothed their weariness, I freed them from their bonds.”

Big Question #5:
How were these two societies organized? What were their social hierarchies like? What is one way that Persian society seems equal? What is one way that Greek society seems more equal?

Decline and Transformation

Cultures and societies are constantly changing, becoming more and less powerful. When a society starts to decline, it often creates an opportunity for change and for new societies to rise up. Let’s see what happens to the Greeks and Persians.

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, conquering all Persian territories as far east as India and earning him the name “Alexander the Great.”

After the conquests of Phillip and Alexander, the power of the Persian Empire and the other Greek city-states both faded. Yet, their influence didn’t disappear. Alexander’s vast empire ensured the spread and endurance of both Greek culture and Persian methods of rule. Persian bureaucracy served as a model for other empires over the next thousand years. Alexander’s armies spread Greek culture all the way to India. Though his empire didn’t survive his death, Alexander’s conquests and the successor kingdoms ruled by his generals launched what’s called the “Hellenistic period,” when Greek culture dominated in the Mediterranean and in the lands once ruled by the Persian Empire. Elements of Greek culture blended with local customs to create something entirely new in many places. In Central Asia and India, for example, statues of the Buddha were carved in the Greek style. And the great Mauryan Emperor Ashoka even wrote some of his famous speeches in Greek.

The very different societies of ancient Persia and Greece continue to echo through history. In the Mediterranean, the Roman Empire rose to replace the Greeks, but the Romans adopted plenty of Greek culture. Persia’s political system was used as a model by many later states. For example, as late as the 1970s, Iranian rulers claimed the title “King of Kings” as a symbol of their power and connection to the legacy of Cyrus and Darius. In a similar way, many societies in Europe and America have drawn inspiration from Greco-Roman culture, philosophy, architecture, and politics.

A mosaic showing the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, during which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Emperor Darius III. Alexander is seen on the far left, Darius is seen right of center, they are amongst horsemen fighting with spears and shields.

A mosaic showing the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, during which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Emperor Darius III. © Getty Images.

A map showing the areas of Alexander the Great’s empire and the successor kingdoms it broke into.

A map of Alexander’s empire and the successor kingdoms it broke into. By WHP, CC BY 4.0. Explore the map here.

Big Question #6:
What led to the decline and transformation of Persian and Greek societies?

Bennett Sherry

Bennett Sherry holds a PhD in history from the University of Pittsburgh and has undergraduate teaching experience in world history, human rights, and the Middle East. Bennett writes about refugees and international organizations in the twentieth century and is one of the historians working on the OER Project courses.

Credit: Sherry, Bennett. “Worlds Collide: Persians and Greeks.” OER Project, 2023. https://www.oerproject.com/

Image credits

Creative Commons This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 except for the following:

Cover image: The war council of Darius, presented on a Greek red figure vase. Darius King of Persia 549 BCE—486 BCE. © Culture Club/Getty Images.

Map showing the Greek Peninsula and the Persian Empire. By WHP, CC BY 4.0.

A map showing the stages of the Persian Empire’s expansion. The areas in purple and pink are its earliest territories, with orange, brown, and green coming from later conquests. By World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16107/the-achaemenid-persian-empire-c-500-bce/

The areas colonized by Greek city-states around the Mediterranean and Black Sea (red, blue, and dark purple). © Universal Images Group / Getty Images.

This is the “Behistun Inscription.” It tells about the conquests of Darius the Great and shows him speaking to people he defeated. The inscription is written in three different languages. © Moment / Getty Images.

A map of the Persian Empire in the fifth century BCE. Notice the Royal Road (brown) linking Persia to the Mediterranean. © Universal Images Group / Getty Images.

The Cyrus cylinder; clay cylinder; a Babylonian account of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539 BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

A mosaic showing the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, during which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Emperor Darius III. © Hulton Archive/ Getty Images.

A map of Alexander’s empire and the successor kingdoms it broke into. By WHP, CC BY 4.0. https://www.oerproject.com/OER-Materials/OER-Media/Images/WHP-Maps/300bce-layer-2


Newsela

Articles leveled by Newsela have been adjusted along several dimensions of text complexity including sentence structure, vocabulary and organization. The number followed by L indicates the Lexile measure of the article. For more information on Lexile measures and how they correspond to grade levels: www.lexile.com/educators/understanding-lexile-measures/

To learn more about Newsela, visit www.newsela.com/about.

The Lexile Framework for Reading

The Lexile® Framework for Reading evaluates reading ability and text complexity on the same developmental scale. Unlike other measurement systems, the Lexile Framework determines reading ability based on actual assessments, rather than generalized age or grade levels. Recognized as the standard for matching readers with texts, tens of millions of students worldwide receive a Lexile measure that helps them find targeted readings from the more than 100 million articles, books and websites that have been measured. Lexile measures connect learners of all ages with resources at the right level of challenge and monitors their progress toward state and national proficiency standards. More information about the Lexile® Framework can be found at www.Lexile.com.