The document discusses several topics related to the rise and fall of empires: 1) It discusses the ancient Greek historian Herodotus and how he wrote about the rise of the Persian Empire and its defeat by the Greeks, demonstrating how empires first collapse from within. 2) It discusses the English historian Edward Gibbon and how he documented both the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and attributed its collapse to internal corruption and luxury. 3) It provides a brief biography of Pyrrhus, a ruler of Epirus who defeated the Romans at great cost in two battles but ultimately lost his power. 4) It discusses how internal struggles and seeking help from Rome led to the Greeks' submission and loss

1. Social Studies for 9th
Teacher: Mauricio Torres

2. Martin Scorsese

3. The historian Herodotus
wrote a history to answer
the question of why great
nations rise and fall:
He wrote on how the
Persians rose to power and
were defeated by a small
group of Greeks, which led
to its final downfall.
The fall of the Persian
Empire, like the fall of the
Roman Empire,
demonstrates powers first
collapse from within.

4. He wrote his history as a warning
to Athens. He urged the
Athenians not to follow in the
wake of the Persian Empire and
other empires that had failed
before.
He urged the Athenians, while
they still had the chance, to go
back to their old values of
patriotism, courage, and financial
and political common sense.

5. He was an English historian who documented the
rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
Gibbons not only created a document which details
how and why the Roman Empire rose and fell; he
created a document which detailed precisely how a
successful and powerful Empire could be subverted and
destroyed.
He seems to come from the premise that luxury
inherently bears a corrupting element in its DNA.
Also, that empires crumble from within.

6. Pyrrho was a ruler from Epirus.
He assembled a great army to
fight off the Romans.
He defeated them at a great cost, at
Heracleia.
One of his generals complimented
on his success, and his answer was
written down forever in History:
“another such victory will ruin me”.
This is known as a “Pyrrhic victory”.
He defeated them again, but lost his
power.
An old lady killed him by throwing a tile
on him.

7. Greeks fought each other for power.
In these attempts, they asked the Romans, a young
power from the west, for help in exchange for their
loyalty. Theses events happened around 168 B.C.
They fell under a false sense of liberty sponsored by the
Romans.
Little did they know that it was a path towards their
submission to the Romans.
Luckily for us, Greek culture ultimately conquered
the Roman mind.

8. We can finally summarize the decline of Greek
power by reducing it to the following factors:
Obsolete army
Internal
struggles
Over comfort
Submission to
Rome