1. Persia emerged and developed into a great country. They were successful in every aspect of their civilization (this includes religion, technology, ruling, government, and how well they adapted to their geographical surroundings). Persia did a great amount of conquering other civilizations and they had a strategic government system that was very effective. Group #3 Period #7

6. How did each Persian ruler expand and better the Persian Empire? Persia’s government was a monarchy. Each ruler changed Persia’s civilization, whether extending the Empire or influencing the people’s feelings towards how Persia was led.

10. The Provinces Darius broke the Persian Empire into many provinces, since it was too big to be governed by just one person. He appointed satraps or local rulers to each province. He also had a type of security checking in to see whether or not the satraps were following his lead, along with an army leader and a tax collector. Each province spoke their own language, had their own traditions, and practiced their own religions. This is what made the Persian Empire so different from others.

11. Religion Zoroastrianism was different from all other religions during ancient times and that difference has had a great influence on our society today. The religion ancient Persians practiced was called Zoroastrianism.

14. Zoroastrianism today Today, the Zoroastrianism population is rapidly decreasing. What used to be millions of followers is now a disappointing number of 124,000 Zoroastrians. There are many reasons as to why the number of Zoroastrians is declining. Many Zoroastrians intermarry, which often results in them following and adapting to the religion their spouse practices instead of their own. In addition, since there is much freedom in the Zoroastrian religion, women are not limited to being the housekeeper of the family and instead choose to take on professional jobs outside of home. This can lead to Zoroastrian women not having any children at all because they are so busy with their jobs. The rate of Zoroastrian children being born to the number of Zoroastrian priest deaths is 1:6. This explains why Zoroastrians today fear that in 100 years, there won’t be anyone to continue their religion anymore. Fig. 3 Fig. 4

15. Persian Technology

16. Persian technology is divided into three categories: Weapons, art, and architecture. Because of Persia’s wealth in minerals and raw materials they were able to create new objects in each of these categories.

17. The earliest Persian armor, even back to nomadic times, consisted of short knives, lassos, bows and arrows, as well as a lance. By the time Persia had become a civilization under the rule of Darius, these weapons had evolved to become helmets, shields, bows and arrows, sling, knife, dagger, and lance. WEAPONS

18. The Persians got a lot of inspiration from the ancient Assyrians. In battle, they used Assyrian shields, clubs, axes, and pole-axes. They did, however, have a symbol different from the Assyrians. When Persia went into battle, the image of a golden eagle, placed on their main flag, went with them.

19. ART During the reigns of Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, the Persians created their most beautiful artwork,The most famous of which was made by the three kings themselves.

20. This gold bowl has a Persian inscription on it of king Xerxes This piece of art is called the Oxus. It was created by king Cyrus, is made of silver and gold, and has a griffin head on the top.

21. Architecture Persia’s Architecture was mostly designed by Persia’s kings. King Darius designed many of Persia’s buildings, a few including the terrace of Persepolis, main royal audience hall, the Apadena, Persia’s largest building, and several palaces. However, although Darius designed most of these buildings, he did not live to see his drawings made into reality. He died before many of the buildings were completed and his son, Xerxes, finished all of them.

22. Persia was a great nation, and although they didn’t invent any major technological breakthroughs for their time, they did invent some incredibly beautiful artwork and architecture. The greatness of their civilization was immortalized by these art forms. Much of the credit can be directly attributed to the three kings Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes. Below is a picture of the Apadena building, designed by Darius.

23. Conclusion: The Ancient Persian civilization made many great accomplishments. Although they had very different ways of doing things, they were a very successful society. Cambyses was very tolerant of other religions and created provinces for people to practice their own religions and cultures, which was something many ancient rulers did not accept. Ancient Persian kings designed some of the architecture. They also had the Royal Road, which greatly promoted trade. In addition, they practiced Zoroastrianism, which was the first monotheistic religion in ancient times and has heavily influenced later history. The different ways Ancient Persia enhanced their civilization is what made them very unique.

27. Bibliography (cont…) Religion Section: Littell, McDougal. World History: Patterns of Interaction . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Goodstein, Laurie. “ Zoroastrians Keep the Faith, and Keep Dwindling.” The New York Times. 6 Sep. 2006. 22 Nov. 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/us/06faith.html?_r=1&ex=1315195200&en=848ddbd441347089 Ritz, Janet. “ Zoroastrianism’s influence on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and You…” Editorial on the Environmentalist. 11 Apr. 2007. 22 Nov. 2008 http://op-ed.the-environmentalist.org/2007/04/zoroastrianisms-influence-on-judaism.html Wittens, Steve. “ Did Zoroastrianism influence Christianity?” Parsis, Iranis, Zaratnusntis - ALL Under One Roof. 15 Aug. 2008. 22 Nov. 2008 http://zoroastrians.net/2008/08/15/did-zoroastrianism-influence-christianity/ No Author. “Ancieent Sumerian/Semitic Religious images - Zoroaster (Zarathustra).” About.com. 24 Nov. 2008. http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/bl_zoroaster.htm (Fig. 1,2,3, +4) No Author. “ Zoroastrianism.” Wikipedia. 22 Nov. 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism