On October 12, 539 B.C.E. Cyrus and his men entered Babylon and arrested the Babylonian king, a feeble tyrant by the name of Nabonidus. The Persians had attempted to take over the Babylonian empire before, but were unsuccessful. They fought a close battle, in which neither side caused much damage to the other. The reason that Cyrus and his army were unable to defeat Babylon, the first time, was that a stream that they encountered, called the Gyndes, which could only be passed in boats. Deterred by the Gyndes, Cyrus and his troops decided to postpone their conquest of Babylon, and immediately made plans to overcome the obstacle of the stream. Cyrus divided his troops into two halves, and had them dig on each side of the river. It took …show more content…
time, but they accomplished the task they had set out to complete. They could now walk across the river, into Babylon. This came as such a surprise to the Babylonians, that they could not defend themselves, as they would have, under other circumstances. Cyrus and the Persian troops then walked under the walls of Babylon and took over the city. Cyrus managed to accomplish this with virtually no bloodshed, which is something most conquerors would not have considered doing. Cyrus did not seem to enjoy causing pain and suffering. He conquered these nations, but he did it so that he could then liberate those he had defeated. In ways, this made him an even more fantastic military leader. He managed to take control of nation after nation, without slaughtering and terrorizing people, as many conquerors had done before and would continue to do after his death, and when he conquered Babylon, he was able to not only treat his people with respect and kindness after becoming their leader, but also help them regain their own level of control. It is because of this that Cyrus is considered by some to be a liberator, rather than a conqueror. The people who had been oppressed by Nabonidus had gone through incredible hardships. They had been exiled, enslaved, and had their religious and cultural artifacts confiscated. Cyrus’ first act as their leader was to free all of the slaves, including thousands of Jews who had been enslaved in Jerusalem and forced to stay in Babylon. He returned their belongings and allowed them to come and go as they pleased, which is how the Jews were able to return to Israel. By doing this, he allowed Judaism to continue, full-scale, and eventually branch off into Christianity. Cyrus allowed his people to worship their own gods in their own ways, when and where they pleased. This religious tolerance was unmatched by any ruler before him and eventually became the inspiration of many rulers who followed, including the founding fathers of the United States of America. Controlling the largest Empire in the world during its time is incredible in and of itself, but Cyrus decided to take his greatness a step farther.
Being an all-powerful leader of a population of any size is a responsibility that many people can hardly fathom, and it has proven to be too much power for most men. This kind of power has negatively affected the well being of the people of many nations throughout history. However, when Cyrus appeared and used his omnipotence for the good of the people, these civilizations prospered in ways that were previously unimaginable. The Persian Empire became the largest of its time, accounting for approximately 49.4 million people, which at the time was about 44% of the world’s population. The Persians, whose empire lasted over 200 years, developed multiple cultures and traditions, because of the diversity of people and belief systems within the Persian Empire. The Persians had taxes, coins, and laws, which helped them continue to become even more efficient, over …show more content…
time. However, as all things come to an end, Babylon eventually declined and fell into ruins, destroying all traces of what had once been an amazing empire. Then, in 1879, the Cyrus Cylinder was uncovered and was quickly recognized as an extremely important part of history. This artifact is the only documented history of Cyrus’ reign that details, in his own words, exactly how he came to power and what he did for the Babylonian people. When I, well disposed, entered Babylon, I had established the seat of government in the royal palace of the ruler, amidst jubilation and rejoicing. Marduk the great god, induced the magnanimous inhabitants of Babylon to love me, and I sought daily to worship him when my numerous soldiers in great numbers peacefully entered Babylon and moved about undisturbed in the midst of the Babylon, I did not allow anyone to terrorize the people of the lands of Sumer and Akkad and ... I kept in view the needs of the people and all their sanctuaries to promote their well-being. I strove for peace in Babylon and in all his other sacred cities. As to the inhabitants of Babylon who against the will of the gods were enslaved, I abolished the corvée which was against their social standing, I freed all slaves. This text, directly translated from the Cyrus Cylinder, begins the story of Cyrus’ conquest over Babylon. It was customary of kings and leaders in Babylon to keep some kind of record of what they had done and what they planned to do during their reign. In fact, it was a thousand-year-old tradition in Mesopotamia. So, Cyrus ordered his dictation to be recorded onto the cylinder. When Babylon fell, all of the Persians’ artifacts and documents were destroyed or lost. However, Cyrus the Great could not have been forgotten in the ruins. Not only was Cyrus written about in Jewish scriptures and various texts throughout the empire and beyond, his story made it into the Bible. The Hebrew Bible references him multiple times, stating that he, sent by their god, put an end to captivity in Babylon. However, until 1879, when the Cyrus Cylinder was discovered by the Assyro-British archaeologist, Hormuzd Rassam, in the foundations of the Esagila (the Marduk temple of Babylon) , there had never been any way of understanding the other documents and their significance.
The Cyrus Cylinder is considered by some to be the first declaration of human rights, and is also recognized as the oldest documentation of a multi-cultural and multi-faith state. The Cylinder, as well as a set of books, titled “Cyropaedia”, were studied by anyone who wanted to know how to run a nation or empire. Cyropaedia, while partially fictional , was very influential for many people, especially rulers and other highly ranked figures. Thomas Jefferson owned at least two copies of the book, which was the study of Cyrus and his ways of running an empire. Benjamin Franklin also owned a copy and was influenced by the biography. However, the object itself is possibly the most amazing piece of Cyrus’ history that remains, in any form, and it is recognized as such. There is even a replica of the cylinder on display in the United Nations Headquarter, in New York. The display promotes Cyrus’ Cylinder as “an ancient declaration of human
rights”. The Cyrus Cylinder is an extremely important piece of history. It is almost as significant as the story it tells. The story of Cyrus the Great and what he did for Babylonia is an important one to know. It has not only served as a guideline for our own founding fathers, but as an example of tolerance, kindness, and leadership. Without Cyrus the Great and the Persians’ conquest of Babylon, and how he chose to lead the people he had conquered, there is no telling what would have happened to the religions that were developed during that time, let alone the people who had been oppressed and enslaved. Cyrus saved those people, and many who would live after them, with his actions and his story. It is this, along with other things that he did, that makes him one of the most significant and influential people in world history, to date.
The Persian empire was ruled by mainly kings and satraps, as the kingdom began to extend it’s reaches to other civilizations, this way of government became more dominant than the form of government before. A lot of the empire’s success is based on pulling skills from different cultures and bringing them together to better the empire. The Persians greatly affected culture because they set the basis for all empire to come and how those empires should use their resources to become a culturally diverse
The Roman empire was a very large and successful empire, although like many things it had to come to an end. The three primary reasons that had most contributed to Rome's fall is foreign invasions, military weakness , and weak leadership.
I found that these two nations shared most forms of internal control. I would never advocate for a leader praised as a high god but I believe that these similarities show that there is a good successful way to govern; these methods lead to wealth, and expansion of control. However in the modern world polices that are geared towards the nation as the whole are rarely followed, instead many favor individuals. The rulers of ancient nations understood that is the nation as a whole is successful everyone benefits, including those at the top of the pyramid. Per usual I kept thinking about the relation to the modern world while writing this
The Persian Empire was ruled by Darius the Great from 522 to 485 BCE. He spent years improving administrative organization then worked on expanding the empire. This empire lasted longer than all the others because people could keep their own laws as long as they pay their taxes. The Persian army also allowed more protection from invasions. They used cuneiform writing borrowed from Summerians. More unifying forces they use was Universal System of Weights and Measure, Highway System, Postal service, and Zoroastrianism which was based on individual
Though Darius died in the year after the revolt, Xerxes repressed the Egypt revolt in 486BC “year after Darius’ death, he sent an army against the Egyptian rebels and decisively crushed them” (Herodotus). Although this caused Xerxes to become unpopular in Egypt, the Egyptians were submissive and displayed loyalty to Xerxes “twenty-five years of tranquillity followed… Egyptians were submissive subjects of the Persian crown, and even showed remarkable courage and skill in the Persian military expeditions” (George Rawlinson). However, Xerxes had to punish Babylon revolted twice. This indicated to historians that the Xerxes wasn’t successful in punishing the Babylonians the first time they revolted. Babylon has been severely punished “Babylon had revolted and that the satrap Zopyrus had been killed… Babylon was terribly punished. The splendid city fortifications… were demolished... Esagila with its towering ziggurat was torn down, as were the other temples… statue of Bel Marduk… of solid gold, was carried off and melted down… priest of Esagila who protested the sacrilege was killed… estates of the merchant princes and citizens were confiscated and granted to Persians… Syria was detached from Babylon and made a fully independent satrapy. Babylonia itself lost its identity through incorporation with Assyria and was henceforth ferociously taxed"
According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, Hammurabi was the sixth king of Babylon of the First Babylonian Dynasty from 1792 B.C.E. to 1750 B.C.E. Located in present day Iraq, Hammurabi is recognized with uniting this area, Mesopotamia (Hammurabi). While in power he pursued many military battles. The main purpose of these battles was to gain control of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. “This was essential as their agricultural productivity depended on it (Hammurabi)”.
Augustus and Cyrus overlap in positively promoting their efforts to reform and restore the cultural institutions of their Kingdoms and Empires, to improve the livelihoods of their peoples. Both Cyrus in Babylon and Augustus in Rome, ascend to power following upon times of destruction and deterioration. In both first person accounts, the men employ the positive strategy of restoring the culture and in turn the faith of their societies in order to reestablish support for their kingships. Cyrus is poignant in choosing to emphasize, “Daily, I supplied (the temple) [with offerings of x gee]se, two ducks, and ten turtledoves above the former (offerings) of geese, ducks, and turtledoves.” His phrasing shows his desire to place himself above all previous
The Babylonians were the 2nd group of people who conquered Sumer. The Babylonians rose by being lead by Hammurabi. Hammurabi was best known for his code of laws. The code of laws was meant for everyone in the city. The Babylonians were located on the banks of the Euphrates river. The river became an important part of trade. Hammurabi worked to unite his empire. The trade helped his empire economy a lot. Many types of artisans used materials brought back from different lands. These arts flourished so much. The code of laws helped him keep control of his empire and how he took care of his people in his empire. The kings begun to stop listening to Hammurabi and listening to other
In the glory days of Rome, the empire was safe. People got along very well, large scale public works including bathhouses and aqueducts were built. A single emperor had control of one of the largest empires in history. Great games and festivities rang throughout the land. But, all glory eventually comes to an end. With the largest empire at the time, Rome had an equal fall from grace. Rome fell because of the political corruption, inflation and the decline in morals of its citizens.
...nisms and used religious tolerance to obtain more people who would be “on their side”. The Persians were powerful because of the impact that they left on the world for other nations to grasp and understand in the future. They were the basis for many inventions that we use today, or have expanded upon. The differences between the Mongol and Persian Empire mostly dealt with religion and their motivation behind whether or not they were tolerant of other religions or not. The
For a long period of time, Rome seemed like an unstoppable empire. It conquered the majority of the land surrounding it, including Greece, Turkey, Iraq, and many of its other neighboring countries. It seemed as though Rome would conquer the entire world, as it was the center of it, until it began to decline in 476 C.E. The very aspects that made it so successful were the ones that caused its collapse. Various political, religious, and economic reasons caused its downfall. The fact that the entire economy of Rome collapsed and money became worthless was a major reason for the empire’s collapse. In addition, the loss of a common religion and lack of efficient ruling in relation to its vast territory affected the empire. The Roman Empire did not become so successful in a short period of time, and so its decline did not just happen overnight. Over several years all of these different aspects together caused the fall of the Roman Empire.
The greatest leaders in history often leave behind some sort of legacy. Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire around 500 B.C., which was the largest empire of its time (Cyrus II, the Great). The empire stretched from ancient Iran, and grew to include an area reaching from Greece to India (Persian Empire). Cyrus’ reign saw some of the first contacts between Persia and Greece, and helped Persia gain the political power that had once been held by the people of Mesopotamia (Cyrus, the Great). Cyrus the Great proved to be an effective leader who developed a strong military that was stationed strategically throughout the empire to stop rebellions and keep trade routes safe, treated captives like the jews kindly, and implemented an organized administration of government that included satraps who governed locally.
Alexander the Great (July 356BC – June 323BC) was King of the ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedon. By the age of thirty he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world. He remained undefeated in battle and is considered one of history’s most successful Military commanders. Historians’ have offered theories which could explain Alexander’s motivation to conquer so much of the known world. Some suggest that Alexander was an idealistic visionary who sought to unite the world, whereas others argued that he was a fascist whose hunger for power drove him. The Ancient Greeks were driven by love of honour (philotimaea) and their desire for greatness. They were competitive, always striving to better one another.
Alexander began his military campaign and his rule much where his father left off. Whether or not it was his aim, this created a sense of normality for the men that was part of his father’s regime. Alexander’s position as a warrior-king who stood side-by-side among his men also served to create respect among his peers. Gradually, as Alexander conquered more Persian land, he began to adopt the policies of Persian rulers. Alexander’s change in policy extended beyond just political roles, he gave consideration to the local gods in many of the lands that he conquered. Eventually, Alexander brought people in from the conquered nations to serve under him.
...ti-colored and multi-raced people, which was something that almost none of the other ancient empires had. It was a peaceful empire and was admired by many people. It had amazing acheivements in goverment, military and communication. It was the largest empire in the Ancient World and was an amazing empire, for the 250 years it lasted. The Persian Empire will be remembered as the largest empire in the ancient world and the most tolerant.