Worlds Collide: Persians and Greeks

By Bennett Sherry
In this article, we’ll be going back 2,500 years. We will look at the Persian Empire and the Greek Peninsula. You’ll learn about these two very different societies and how they changed 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 and more land, food, and goods. That brought them into conflict with other states. Take, for example, the mighty Persian Empire and the city-states of the Greek Peninsula. The conflicts between these two very different 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 connecting Mesopotamia with India. 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 nearly 50 million people. That was almost one-third of all the people on Earth at the 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 city-states. These city-states were independent, but they shared the same culture. They were all small at first, but 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 established 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

Let’s explore how Greek and Persian societies were organized.

The Persian Empire

The story of the Persian Empire begins in 559 BCE. In that year, the first Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great, set out on a series of conquests. 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. This was particularly true of Darius I (he ruled 522–486 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 called satraps. However, local people filled other government positions. This bureaucracy (administration system) helped the emperors maintain control of 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—like the Persian Empire—rules over a large territory and many different groups of people. A city-state—like Athens—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 and 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

As we learned, Persia had a centralized political system in which one king ruled everything. The Greeks had a very different system. 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. 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 quickly. They both wanted the same land and resources. 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 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 Greek city-states were much smaller than Persia, but they united. Together, they defeated 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

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 so long as they paid taxes and obeyed the emperor. Many conquered kings were even allowed to keep their titles. 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. 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’s mountainous geography cut it off from much of the world. As a result, the Ancient Greeks were suspicious of outsiders. The Greek city-states developed a distinctly Greek culture. Greece’s victories in the Greco-Persian Wars allowed that culture to flourish and spread to new places. Thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Euripides made Athens a cultural center of the Mediterranean world. Meanwhile, the Athenians started conquering other city-states. In time, they built their own sea-based empire.

Society

Terms like “direct democracy” and “independent city-states” might make you think Athens valued equality. But the truth was more complicated. The rights a person had 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 freed the Jewish people there. The Persians also issued what is perhaps the world’s first statement about human rights. It is known as the Cyrus Cylinder.

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 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, after their victory, a rivalry developed between them. From 431 to 404 BCE, the Athenian Empire fought Sparta and their allies in the Peloponnesian War. Sparta was the eventual victor. The war weakened the whole Greek world. This allowed 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. Phillip’s son Alexander then 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. A similar thing happened with Ancient Greece. Many societies in Europe and America were inspired by Ancient Greece’s political system and thought long after its power had faded away.

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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