Worlds Collide: Persians and Greeks

By Bennett Sherry
In this article, we will go back 2,500 years. We will look at two separate societies. One is the Persian Empire. The other was located on the Greek Peninsula. These two societies were very different, and came into conflict. They both changed a great deal between 559 and 323 BCE.

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A Greek red figure vase depicting the war council of Darius, King of Persia 549 BCE—486 BCE.

Geography and Environment

As early states grew, they needed more land and goods. As a result, many tried to expand, which led to conflict. This happened with the Persians and Greeks. The conflicts between their two societies changed world history.

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

The Persian Empire

Persia was in the middle of an ancient trade route. This location encouraged growth. The Persian Empire was formed in 559 BCE and grew rapidly. In less than 50 years, it was the largest empire in the world. The Persians ruled over 50 million people. That was almost one-third of all the people on Earth.

The Greek Peninsula

To the west of the Persian Empire was Greece. The Greek Peninsula is very mountainous. By 500 BCE, it was divided into hundreds of city-states. These city-states were independent. However, they shared the same culture. They were all small at first. But in time, some became large and powerful. The most powerful of all were Athens and Sparta. As Greek city-states grew, they started to need more land and resources. They wanted to expand. But expanding overland is difficult in a mountainous area. The Greeks lived by the Aegean Sea, so they expanded across the seas instead. Greek colonists founded new city-states all around the Mediterranean.

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

How were Greek and Persian societies organized? And how were they different?

The Persian Empire

The story of the Persian Empire begins in 559 BCE. In that year, Cyrus the Great set out on a series of conquests. Cyrus was the first Persian emperor. By his death in 530 BCE, he had conquered Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, most of Central Asia, and Anatolia. His descendants expanded the empire even further. Darius I was the greatest of these conquers. He ruled between 522 and 486 BCE.

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.” Persian governors ruled the faraway districts of the empire. These men were called satraps. However, local people filled other government positions. This bureaucracy (administration system) helped the emperors keep control over their huge empire. It also made it easier to collect taxes.

What is a state?
There are many kinds of states. We define a state as an organized community living under a unified political system. An empire rules over a large territory and many different groups of people. A city-state rules just one city and the surrounding countryside. Modern countries are states, too.

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 made his servant remind him “remember the Athenians” three times before every meal. Darius was angry and had an army that was much larger than the Greeks. But both Darius and his son, Xerxes I, failed to conquer Greece. The Greeks worked together against a common enemy. They also had better military tactics and equipment, along with 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.

The Persians built something known as the Royal Road. It ran from the heart of the Persian Empire to Anatolia, over 1,500 miles away. It helped speed up communication. This allowed the emperor to manage his large empire better.

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

The Greeks did not have one emperor. They 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. But Athens practiced direct democracy. All male citizens voted in the Assembly that ruled the city.

Persia and Greece both expanded quickly. That 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. Athens supported the rebels. After the Persian emperor Darius I defeated the revolt, he tried to punish the Greeks. This led to the Greco-Persian Wars, which lasted 50 years. The Greek city-states were all much smaller than Persia. However, they managed to unite. Together, they defeated the world’s largest empire. In fact, they did it 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

Persian and Greek cultures were very different.

Persian culture

The Persians took on many of the customs of the different peoples they conquered. They allowed conquered peoples to keep their own religions and traditions. Many conquered kings were even allowed to keep their titles. That’s why the Persian emperor was called the “King of Kings.”

The legacy of Zoroaster
The Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, was the world’s first monotheistic religion. The Zoroastrian holy book is called the Avesta. This book includes the teachings of a man named Zoroaster. He preached about a single creator god named Ahura Mazda. 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

Greece was cut off from much of the world by its mountains. Ancient Greeks were suspicious of outsiders. Because of that, they developed a uniquely Greek culture. Greek victory in the Greco-Persian Wars brought peace to Greece. That allowed Greek culture to flourish. The ideas of Greek thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Euripides spread to new places. Meanwhile, the Athenians started conquering other city-states. In time, they built their own sea-based empire..

Society

As mentioned above, Athens had a direct democracy. That might make you think it valued equality. But the truth was more complicated. The rights a person had depended on who they were.

Persia was certainly not a democracy. A single all-powerful man ruled it. However, Persian emperors tolerated differences and respected the many different cultures under their rule. For example, when Cyrus the Great captured Babylon, he freed the Jewish people there. The Persians also issued the world’s first statement about human rights. It is known as the Cyrus Cylinder.

Meanwhile, in Athens, women, enslaved people, and non-Greeks were not considered citizens. They were not allowed to vote. In many other Greek city-states, rights were even more limited. Often, only very wealthy males had citizens’ rights.

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 defend 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

The Greek city-states defeated Persia by fighting together. Yet, they soon began to fight each other. From 431 to 404 BCE, the Athenian Empire fought Sparta and their allies in the Peloponnesian War. Sparta was the eventual winner. The war weakened the whole Greek world. This allowed a new state to arise. That state was the Macedonian kingdom, located on the northern border of the Greek Peninsula. Macedonia’s King Phillip II (r. 359–336 BCE) attacked the weakened Greek city-states and conquered most of Greece. Phillip’s son Alexander then led an army of Greeks and Macedonians into the heart of the Persian Empire. Alexander became known as “Alexander the Great.” He conquered all Persian territories as far east as India.

After this, the power of the Persian Empire faded. Yet, its influence didn’t disappear. Persia’s political system was used as a model by many later states. A similar thing happened with Ancient Greece. Many societies in Europe and America were inspired by Ancient Greece long after its power faded.

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

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