THE EGYPTIANS

Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus, a Greek city in what is modern-day Turkey. Around
the time of his birth (approximately 484 BCE), his city was under Persian rule and the Persians
were at war with the Greeks. As a consequence, Herodotus became interested in the subject of
the war and its causes. When he grew up, he traveled throughout the Persian world and
interviewed veterans in order to learn about the war.
Here are some observations about the way that Herodotus wrote history:
Although historians know the names of other early Greeks who were interested in history,
Herodotus appears to have been the first Greek writer to show interest in some question other
than "Where did the Greeks come from?"
Herodotus sought the causes of history in actions of men, not the gods.
Herodotus wanted to be truthful, but he also had to be entertaining, because in his time
(before books), history was performed in public, not read.
The introduction to his history begins with ...
"THESE are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he published, in the hope of thereby
preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and
wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due need of glory; and withal to put
on record what were their grounds of feuds."

DEFINITIONS
cataract: a waterfall or rapids that interrupt navigation on a river. Cataracts often
serve as the borders of ancient states such as Egypt.
Hyksos: people who invaded Egypt during the second intermediate period,
around 1600 BCE.
Menes: king who united Egypt around 3100 BCE
pharaoh: a semi-divine ruler of Egypt
weft: weaving term that refers to horizontal threads woven between vertical
threads to make a piece of cloth

BACKGROUND
By the time that Herodotus visited Egypt, the oldest civilization in the Mediterranean region
had ceased to be independent for more than five hundred years. Yet its reputation as a spiritual
center remained intact, as shown by this excerpt from Herodotus' history.
Just as the geography of Mesopotamia played a major role in determining where farmers
lived, when they farmed, with whom they traded and how large their population could become
without conflict over resources, the geography of the Nile Valley played a major role in
determining the characteristics of Egyptian civilization. The most prominent feature is the Nile

River, which draws water from three major tributaries in eastern and central Africa -- the Atbara
River, the Blue Nile and the White Nile -- and flows through a sandstone desert towards the
Mediterranean Sea in the north.

GEOGRAPHY
The Nile Valley has three distinct regions that figured in Egyptian history. At the mouth of
the river, the Nile Delta is a low, flat area that is prone to flooding, and which contains some of
the best soil in Africa, thanks to annual river floods that wash sediment (called silt) down to the
mouth of the river. In ancient history, this area was known as "Lower Egypt." To reach the delta,
the river flows through a long channel that wind between sandstone cliffs and narrow flood
plains. In ancient history, this region was known as "Upper Egypt." Upper Egypt ended at the
first of six major rapids known as "cataracts," and beyond that was the land called "Nubia" by
the Egyptians.

Ancient Egypt
The Nile River floods every year, and in the process, it irrigates the flood plain along either
bank and deposits fresh silt along its banks. The flood waters from the White Nile flow through
an enormous marsh called the "Sudd" in the southern part of the modern country of Sudan,
and arrive later and more slowly than the flood waters from the Blue Nile and the Atbara River.
As a result, the Nile floods that reach Upper Egypt are more regular and less violent than the
floods that brought water to farmers in Mesopotamia.

Cataracts divide the Nile River into navigable stretches. By limiting the ability of boats to
travel the length of the river, cataracts provided good locations for governments to tax trade and
prevent armies from invading. As a result, cataracts frequently served as political boundaries in
ancient Egyptian history.
The surrounding land is a flat, sandy plain composed of sandstone. There is a large, dry
desert to west, and volcanic mountains to the south and southeast. There are also large bodies of
salt water to the east (Red Sea) and north (Mediterranean Sea).
Since around 2500 BCE, Egypt has been a total desert, although the evidence from cave
paintings and Egyptian writing (hieroglyphics) suggests that the climate was less hostile to
human life in the Paleolithic period. During the earliest periods of Egyptian civilization, the
desert served as a physical barrier against invasion, although it did not prevent traders from
Mesopotamia from reaching a place called Buto in Lower Egypt by 4000 BCE.
The winds blow steadily from north to south in this region. That aided the Egyptians to use
the Nile River for navigation, since they could drift from south to north with the current and
return from north to south with sails. The winds hindered navigation along the Red Sea, since
there was no easy way for ships to return to the north against the wind.

POLITICAL HISTORY:
Egypt's first centralized government formed around 3100 BCE when Upper (desert) and
Lower (delta) Egypt were unified. At first, there were many small communities along the Nile
River, but as the Sahara Desert dried out, population pressures along the river may have led to
warfare and centralization. A carved stone tablet known as the "Palette of Namur," contains
images that led historians to conclude that Upper Egypt, led by Menes, conquered Lower Egypt
that led to the first period of centralized rule in Egypt, called the "Old Kingdom," which lasted
from approximately 2770-2200 BCE. During this period, strong pharaohs exerted
highly centralized authority over peasants, using local nobles to transmit their orders. The
evidence for the centralized power of the pharaohs comes from the major archaeological finds of
this period -- the great pyramids. The oldest was the pyramid of Zoser, king of the 3rd Dynasty
of Egypt. The center of power (the capital) was located at Memphis (near modern Cairo), where
Upper Egypt meets Lower Egypt. The Old Kingdom government appears to have been based on
religion, since there was no evidence of an army or warfare.
A pyramid provides evidence of centralized rule. A pyramid is a large structure that served
as a tomb for a pharaoh. It was constructed from blocks of stone weighing several tons each that
were brought to the construction site from elsewhere in the Nile Valley. The pyramids were not
built in the Valley itself -- that would have taken up valuable farm land -- but on the plateau
overlooking the valley, at the edge of the desert. In a period when there were no machines for
moving heavy loads, all of this had to be done using human muscle power, and the largest
pyramid of all, Cheops, required that humans lift stone blocks to a height of more than 400 feet.

The labor to do this came from Egyptian farmers, and it had to occur when the farmers were
not busy farming; i.e. during the flood season. The Nile floods begin at Cairo about June and
reach their maximum in September, during the hottest time of the year in Egypt. It must have
been difficult to keep farmers at work moving heavy stone blocks, and it must have also
required extensive organization to provide food, water and housing for a work force that
probably numbered in the tens of thousands. All of this leads historians to conclude that the
leaders of Old Kingdom Egypt possessed extensive power and the means to control large
numbers of people.
Following the Old Kingdom, there was a period of decentralization known as the "First
Intermediate Period" which lasted from roughly 2200-2000 BCE. During this period, pharoahs
lost the ability to have nobles make sure that their orders were carried out. No one knows why,
but one possible cause was a climatic disaster that made it impossible for nobles to collect taxes
from their peasants to deliver to the pharaoh. Another possibility was resistance to taxation to
build public works such as pyramids, which motivated nobles to revolt against central authority.
At any rate, for a time, there was no single authority that ruled all of Upper and Lower Egypt,
until the region was reunified about 2000 BCE.
The restoration of centralized authority produced the "Middle Kingdom" (roughly 2000-1700
BCE) with a new capital further south at Thebes. Historians believe that in order to establish
their authority, the new dynasty of pharaohs obtained support from artisans to equip their
armies for the fight against armies led by local nobles. During the Middle Kingdom, religious
buildings were constructed as temples rather than as pyramids, signifying a more "democratic"
approach to religion that allowed ordinary people to participate. The pharaohs of the Middle
Kingdom also constructed public works, such as the irrigation project in the Fayum Depression
west of the Nile near modern Cairo.
Following the Middle Kingdom, there was another episode of decentralized authority which
historians refer to as the "Second Intermediate Period (1786-1560 BCE). Apparently, nobles
revolted once again, and within about two generations, people called "Hyksos" invaded. Their
origin is unknown, but the Egyptians referred to them as "the sea people" leading historians to
speculate that they came from the north. Egyptian sources report that the Hyksos used horses
and chariots to cross the desert, and they arrived with bronze weapons which were unknown in
Egypt at that time. The Egyptians began to resist the Hyksos around 1600 BCE, and the war to
expel the invaders unified the Egyptians and led to the restoration of centralized authority
under Ahmose.
The third period of centralized government is called the "New Kingdom" (1560-1087 BCE).
Ahmose and his successors overcame both the Hyksos and noble opponents to establish a new,
centralized state. They kept the army together and used it to expand into Palestine and Nubia.
This was the beginning of the "Egyptian Empire." However, unlike the Persians (who created

their empire a thousand years later) the Egyptians never managed to incorporate conquered
peoples into Egyptian society.
Ramses III of the nineteenth dynasty (1182-1151 BCE) was the last strong Egyptian ruler.
Afterwards, an assortment of outsiders began to invade in the late twelfth century BCE, and
they successfully ended the rule of the pharaohs by 1100 BCE. A sequence of Nubians,
Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Rome, Arabs, French and English ruled Egypt until the modern
country became independent in 1952 CE.

RELIGION IN EGYPT
One of the basic beliefs of Egyptian religion was in an afterlife where a deceased person
entered the metaphysical world and became united with the supreme deity Osiris. One major
purpose of Egyptian religion was to insure that the Nile's annual flood proceeded normally so
they would have enough water and new soil to supply food for the subsequent year. The
Egyptian deities controlled the flood and thus, contact with the metaphyscial world was
essential to make sure that the deities maintained the flood.
In the Old Kingdom, Egyptians believed that only pharaohs could reach the metaphysical
world after death. That was because the pharaoh, was considered to be a descendant of Osiris
by way of Horus, another deity. To protect their status as "semi- divine," pharaoahs were only
allowed to produce children with other members of the royal family. To enable them to reach
the afterlife, deceased pharaohs were entombed in pyramids, along with food, servants and
everything needed to make a long journey.
In the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian religion began to offer the possibility of an afterlife to
ordinary people. Religious rituals were held in large temples, of which the Temple of Karnak is
the most famous. Living an ethical life was key to gaining access to the afterlife, so religion
provided rules for ethical behavior. After the end of the Middle Kingdom and the invasion by
the Hyksos, religion changed dramatically in the New Kingdom. For example, a woman named
Hatshepsut ruled as a pharaoh from 1486 to 1468 BCE, another pharaoh named Akhenaton
(1375-1362 BCE) attempted to introduce a religion based on the worship of a single deity named
Aten (the god of the sun), perhaps in order to undermine the power of the Egyptian priesthood
based in Thebes. Akhenaton's successor, Tutankhamun (1362-1352 BCE), is best known because
his tomb survived intact into the twentieth century, but he was also significant because he
reversed the religious reforms of his predecessor. The best known literary work on Egyptian
religion, the Book of the Dead, was composed during the New Kingdom and contains a
collection of spells and incantations to help dead people reach the afterlife.

SOCIAL HISTORY

Despite the passage of time and the impact of invasions and climate, many pictures,
sculptures and texts have survived from ancient Egypt. These samples, from the early New
Kindom of Egypt (circa 1500BCE) show a number of aspects of Egyptian social life.
With relatively little farm land, all
of which was located along the banks
of the Nile, Egyptians relied on plant
agriculture for most of their food and
they used a variety of techniques to
improve crop yields. Picture 1 shows
two men using a plow pulled by a
pair of oxen (i.e. cattle used for work
rather than food). Egyptians would
not have eaten beef or other large
animals since they could get more
food from good farm land by
growing plants than by growing
grass and using animals to convert it
into something that humans could
eat.

Picture 1: Farmers and livestock

It also shows a line of donkeys

used to transport goods over land.
Although this picture does not show
it, Egyptians also used boats to
transport goods and people along the
Nile River.
Besides serving as a
transportation route, the Nile also
provided food. The picture shows two
men carrying baskets of fish on their
shoulders, another carrying a string of
fish in each hand, and a fourth person
deploying a fishing net. The figure in
the upper right hand corner is
repairing a net.
Egyptian priests were forbidden
to eat fish (or beans). He implies that
eating fish was normal for most
Egyptians. Fish and beans would
have been the protein sources most

Picture 2: Fishing

easily available to ordinary people.

Since priests were "forbidden" to eat
common forms of protein, they could
justify offerings of rarer forms of
protein like milk and meat. Note the
butchered meat among the offerings
shown in Picture 3 (between the rear
end of the brown cow and the seated
black figure).
Picture 3 shows several things.
There are two types of cattle, one of
which is being milked and has a calf.
It also shows people of varying size
and colors bringing gifts to a large
dark-skinned person seated to the left
in front of a light-skinned woman
with a fan. Until recently, scholars
assumed that Egyptians were
ethnically linked to the populations of
Europe and southwest Asia (i.e.
Palestine, Arabia, Anatolia), but
African historians have documented
many African peoples who trace their
origins to Egypt. Picture 3, which
dates from about 1500 BCE, suggests
that Egypt was a multi-ethnic society
and seems to show a black person
receiving gifts from people of other
colors. One should not take the skin
colors literally, however, because like
the green and white color on the face
of an Eagles fan, the black color
might have symbolized something
other than race, such as membership
in a group like priests or government
officials.

Picture 3: Cows, government and ethnicity

WAR AND CHANGE IN EGYPTIAN SOCIETY

Based on hieroglyphic sources, historians know that early Egyptian society included
pharaohs, other local leaders (nobles), priests, artisans (specialized producers of tools and other
objects), and the largest category of all, peasant farmers. This social composition remained intact
through the Middle Kingdom, but two new groups appeared in Egyptian society in the New
Kingdom -- professional soldiers and slaves. Apparently, the Hyksos invasion introduced new

ideas into Egyptian society, including the fear of a subsequent invasion by outsiders. The
professional army was a response to the fear of invasion, and if modern examples are of any use,
later pharaohs kept the army out of politics by sending them on expeditions outside of Egypt.
The result was the Egyptian conquest of parts of Palestine and Nubia, and the formation of the
Egyptian Empire mentioned previously in this section.
Slavery existed already in Mesopotamia and has a long tradition in other cultures as well.
The late arrival of slavery in Egyptian culture may have been a response to the tensions that
resulted during several generations of Hyksos rule. Occupation by a foreign power forces the
inhabitants of a region to choose sides, and those who chose the losing side stand to lose their
freedom or even their lives. Resistance against an occupying power requires sacrifices in the
form of taxation and military service, and those who failed to do their share may have wound
up owing the government or the neighbors who filled in for them.

SPARTAN RULE
Xenophon (430-354 BCE) was an Athenian aristocrat who grew up during the Peloponnesian
Wars and witnessed the defeat of Athens. He blamed Athens' defeat in 404 BCE on the weakness
of its democratic system of government, and became a supporter of the Spartan system of rule
by oligarchy. Xenophon went on to join 10,000 other Greek mercenaries in the Persian army and
fought in the eastern part of the Persian Empire, where he eventually became the commander of
the Greek troops. Afterwards, he fought for Sparta for five years, and received an estate near
Olympia as his pension when he retired.

DEFINITIONS
demagogue: In the Greek world, a demagogue was a leader who obtained power
by persuading people rather than by inheriting power from an ancestor. Such a
leader was considered illegitimate by members of noble families, but in Greek
history, a demagogue was not necessarily a bad ruler.
democracy: a system of government whereby all members of the community are
sovereign. In practice, the right to participate in government was often restricted
by gender, age, property ownership or place of birth.
oligarchy: system of government where power is shared by a small group. In
ancient Greece, the oligarchy was composed of the wealthiest citizens.
polis: social concept in ancient Greece that referred to the people who inhabited a
city-state sovereign: possessing the right to exercise political power

BACKGROUND
Unlike the Persian Empire, which became the largest centralized state in the
Intercommunicating Zone between 500-400 BCE, the Greeks were organized into relatively
small city-states, peopled by what the ancient Greeks referred to as the "polis."

The polis consisted of all people who, by reason of birth or luck, were citizens of the valley, but it
did not include all residents, since wars and commerce brought others into the valley. The word
"polis" might be translated as "members of the community." It identified those families who had
the right to participate in political and economic decisions.

Model of a Greek sailing ship

As a result of the Persian invasions of 490 and 480 BCE, the Greek city-states organized
themselves into a defensive alliance called the Delian League. Athens was the strongest naval
power among the Greek city-states and it contributed the most men and ships to the naval
effort. Sparta was the strongest of the inland military powers, and it played the dominant role in
the organization of the army. The other city-states each contributed what they could to the
alliance, which meant in practice that those near the coast provided ships and sailors while
those from the interior provided soldiers, food, iron and other supplies to support the navy.
Although the Greeks were outnumbered by the Persians in both campaigns, they used their
knowledge of geography and the winds to position their forces and gain victories. They had no
way of knowing after the defeat of the second invasion that the Persians would not return, so

they kept the Delian League in existence. Skirmishes with remnants of the Persian forces
continued for another thirty years and seemed to confirm that they still posed a danger.
As long as there was a Persian threat, the Delian League operated fairly smoothly. But as
time passed and the Persian raids subsided, other Greek city-states resented the fact they were
expected to make payments to resist an invasion that never came. Resentment was particular
strong among interior states who believed that the Delian League became a device that enabled
Athens to tax everyone else. As resentment mounted, two factions developed around Athens
and Sparta, and their rival social and political organizations developed into ideologies that
influenced politics in every city-state. Athens maintained only a part-time military organization,
directed by councils of its citizens, many of whom were traders and artisans. Sparta maintained
a full-time military with generals for leaders. Compared to Athens, the Spartan population
contained a higher percentage of free farmers and slaves.
The first war between Athens and Sparta, fought from 459-445 BCE, ended in a draw. The
second war between 431-404 BCE became known as the Peloponnesian War and was described
in great detail by an Athenian general named Thucydides. This second war involved all of the
Greek city-states, and ended with a Spartan victory and the total destruction of Athens. That
made Sparta the most powerful Greek city-state by the beginning of the fourth century BCE, but
the other Greek city-states came to resent the Spartans as much as they had resented the
Athenians. In 371 BCE, Thebes led a coalition of Greek city-states that conquered Sparta, and
fighting erupted periodically between the Greek city-states for the next forty years.
The episode described in this reading -- the conquest of Mantinea by Sparta -- must have
occurred after 404 BCE (when Sparta defeated Athens) and before 371 BCE (when Sparta was
defeated by Thebes). In fact, it took place in 386-385 BCE. That was because, during the
Peloponnesian Wars, Mantinea established a thirty-year truce with the Spartans in 417 BCE. The
truce expired at the end of 388 BCE, leading to the Sparta's attack. NOTE: Mantinea was rebuilt
in time for a major battle to take place there in 362 BCE.
This map shows how archaeologists believe the city of Mantinea was laid out. Notice the
location of the river, the wall, and the agora.

Map of the Mantinea archaeological site, adapted by Jim Jones

Circumnavigating Africa by Herodotus

DEFINITIONS
Carthage: Phoenician trading colony on the North African coast near the
modern city of Tunis, Tunisia
intercommunicating zone: where people from three continents -- Asia,
Africa and Europe -- encountered each other and exchanged ideas

 latitude: measure of position on the Earth's surface north or south of the

Equator
Neco: a king of Egypt (610-595 BCE) during the time when Egypt was under
Assyrian control
Phoenicia: region inhabited by people from the coastal city of Tyre (modern
Lebanon). They created a trading network that extended throughout the
Mediterranean by the 9th century BCE.
Tropic of Cancer: imaginary line (23.4 degrees North latitude) marking the
points farthest north of the Equator where the sun appears directly overhead
at noon. This occurs each year on June 20 (the Summer Solstice).
Tropic of Capricorn: imaginary line (23.4 degress South latitude) marking
the points farthest south of the Equator where the sun appears directly
overhead at noon. This occurs each year on December 21 (the Winter Solstice)

Dish with the image of a Greek sailing ship

BACKGROUND
The Phoenicians were unusual among the peoples of the ancient world. They sailed
throughout the Mediterranean region and traded extensively, but they avoided war and formed
no empire. The Phoenicians originated in the port cities of Tyre and Sidon on the coast of
modern Lebanon. Although their region was suitable for farming, they also relied on fishing
and developed boat-building and sailing skills at an early date. By the time that Herodotus
lived, the Phoenicians had established trading connections throughout the Mediterranean and
were the principle trading rivals of the Greeks. The Phoenicians sailed as far as England and, as
Herodotus suggests, perhaps around Africa. Later, one of their colonies -- Carthage -- developed
into a major independent power on the north coast of Africa near Tunis (in modern Tunisia).
Like the Greeks, the Phoenicians based their trade on the exchange of specialized products
from different regions, including food products from the western Mediterranean and craft

products like glass and cloth from the eastern Mediterranean. Both cultures relied on the use of
writing for contracts and keeping other records needed for trade. Instead of orders from a king
or emperor, Phoenician unity was based on the willingness of all participants to trade.

The Persian empire and Phoenician trading area

NOTE: By the time that Herodotus lived, Roman farmers had began to develop a powerful
state in Italy. The Roman name for the people of Carthage was "Punic" (derived from their word
for Phoenicia). That explains why the Romans called their wars against Carthage of the third
and second centuries the "Punic Wars."

Locating points on the earth's surface

LATITUDE
Ancient peoples identified locations based on landmarks like mountains and rivers. But
people who sailed, like the Greeks and Phoenicians, couldn't do that in the middle of the sea.
They recognized, however, that depending on one's location, the sun and the stars appeared in
different places in the sky, and used those differences to measure their position. The simplest
measurement is distance north or south of the equator, which can be calculated by measuring
the angle between the horizon and stars (like the North Star) at night. This distance is called
"latitude."

Measuring "longitude" -- the distance east or west of a given point -- is more difficult, since
there is no obvious "zero" point from which to measure. About two thousand years passed
before humans devised a way to do this by comparing the time of sunrise at any given point
with the time of sunrise at the naval observatory at Greenwich, England. After that, humans
could identify any point on the earth's surface with two numbers -- latitude and longitude -much like the way that mathematicians use X and Y coordinates to mark the location of a point
on a Cartesian plane

URBAN CIVILIZATION IN AFRICA

The second expedition brought back reports of people living along the African coast, and
that description influenced map-makers for centuries. In the map shown to the right, a map of
Africa from Herodotus' time is shown superimposed on a modern map. You can estimate how
far Sastaspes' ship travelled using clues from the reading, and determine details about the
people he met from his description of their reaction to Sastaspes' arrival and the things he found
in their village.

THE GREATEST WAR IN HISTORY

Thucydides' life is largely a mystery. He was born into an Athenian noble family around
460/455 BCE and died around 400 BCE. As an adult, he served as a general in the Athenian
army during the Peloponnesian Wars and became a supporter of Pericles, making him a
"democrat" rather than an "oligarchist." As a historian, Thucydides was interested in power and
how human nature affected its creation and use. His book is usually considered to be the first
example of "scientific history" because he focused on reporting facts and tried to stay away from
offering opinions. Thanks to his devotion to facts, he provides details on many aspects of
Athenian life including food, clothing, housing, trade, technology, religion and so on. His book,
which was never finished, covered roughly twenty years of the Peloponnesian Wars between
Athens and Sparta from 431-411 BCE. This reading is from the beginning of the book, where
Thucydides reviews what he already knew about Greek history before his own time.

DEFINITIONS

Attica: the region surrounding the city of Athens and its port of Piraeus. It was not
a particularly good area for farming, so the local economy focused on fishing
from an early date, and later, the people of Attica became especially well-known
for trading by sea.

Hellas: the Greek word for the region inhabited by the ancient Greeks

marginal land: In agriculture, this is land that produces a satisfactory crop when
conditions are at their best, but fails to produce enough when conditions are
poor. In farming communities, marginal land is only used when no more good
farm land is available.

Peloponnesian Wars: name given to a series of wars between the city-states of

Athens and Sparta, and their allies, between 450-404 BCE
ThePeloponnesos was a peninsula in southwestern Greece dominated by
Sparta.

trireme: type of ship using humans with oars for power. A trireme was a
particularly large ship of this type, with three rows of oars, one above the other

tyrant: a form of government first described in 6th century BCE Greece. It was
led by a tyrant -- someone who grabbed power, usually by winning the support of
the masses. A "tyrant" was not necessarily a bad ruler, but merely someone who
obtained power in an "illegal" way. See alsodemagogue.

Background
Although the Greeks formed a united "Delian League" to defend against the Persian
invasions of 490 BCE and 480 BCE, competition developed between the two main
military powers, the city-states of Athens and Sparta. Not only were the cities created for
different reasons -- Athens was a trading town located near the coast, while Sparta was
located in the middle of a large agricultural region -- they also had competing forms of
government. Athenian democracy and Spartan oligarchy served as rallying points for
people in all of the other Greek cities, and as a result, the conflict between Athens and
Sparta created divisions in other city-states, and ultimately split the Greek world.
The first war between Athens and Sparta in 459-445 BCE resulted in no decision,
but the second war in 431-404 BCE was decisive. Not only did all the other Greek citystates become involved, but Sparta won and Athens was destroyed. After the war,
however, the other Greek city-states came to resent Spartan domination, and in 371
BCE, Thebes led a coalition of Greek city-states against Sparta.
Sparta, as the dominant city on the Peloponnesian peninsula, led a military alliance
that predated the Persian Wars. That formed the basis for resistance to Athens, which
prospered in the years following the Persian invasions. Athens had an advantage on the
seas, since it controlled the largest navy and could guarantee the delivery of supplies
and land armies to any point along the coast. Sparta, on the other hand, had more landbased allies and was able to win battles whenever both sides confronted each other
directly.
Following Athens' defeat in 404 BCE, the Spartans backed a government by an
oligarchy in Athens known as the "Thirty Tyrants" and established similar governments
in cities and on islands throughout the Greek world. Spartan rule was not popular,

however, and a year after their defeat, Athenians revolted and restored their democracy.
Other Greek cities began to rebel against Sparta, and even to ask the Persians for
assistance. Sparta invaded Persia in 399, but had to abandon their fight to resist a new
alliance of city-states that included Athens, Argos, Corinth, and Thebes. Next, Sparta
sought Persian help to end the rebellion in 387 BCE (which included the conquest of
Mantinea), then fought a war with Thebes in 382 BCE. Thebes got help from Athens and
defeated Sparta in 371 BCE, but then became a target of the other city-states, so that
even Athens joined Sparta to fight against Thebes.

The landscape of Attica

The Greek coast between Athens and Argos

Greece and the surrounding seas

The Chronology Problem: As a historian and someone who tried to identify causeand-effect, Thucydides had to specify when things occurred in order for his story to
make sense. For events that took place within the same year, there was no difficulty,
since his audience was aware of the cycle of seasons in Greece. Thus, statements like
"The next summer, just as the corn was getting ripe, the Peloponnesians and their allies
invaded Attica under the command of Archidamus ..." or "Next summer, about the time
of the corn's coming into ear, ten Syracusan and as many Locrian vessels sailed to
Messina ..." were precise enough.
On the other hand, the modern system for numbering years did not yet exist, so
there was no way to refer to any particular year except in terms of well- known events,
like a major flood or the death of a famous person. Thucidydes solved the problem by
discussing the war in two-year cycles, and using phrases like "... in the forty-eighth year
of the priestess-ship of Chrysis at Argos, in the ephorate of Aenesias at Sparta, in the
last month but two of the archonship of Pythodorus at Athens, and six months after the
battle of Potidaea, just at the beginning of spring, a Theban force" invaded.

PERSIAN CUSTOMS

DEFINITIONS
anthropomorphic: "human-like." An anthropomorphic god has human
qualities like personality, desires, and perhaps even a human form.

 Darius: emperor who ordered the first Persian invasion of Hellenic Greece in
490 BCE
deity: generic term for forces that control the metaphysical world. Allah,
Yahweh, Budda and the Christian God are all examples.
Ionian Greeks: Greeks who settled on islands in the Aegean Sea and along
the coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey). The Persian conquest of this region
precipitated the wars with Greece in the 5th century BCE.
Magus: a member of a hereditary caste of priests (the Magi) in Persian
religion.
Medes: Along with the Persians, nomadic pastoralists who inhabited the
Iranian Plateau prior to the formation of the Persian empire in the sixth
century BCE
satrapy: Persian province (governed by a satrap) in the 1st millennium BCE
Zoroastrianism: Persian religion whose principle deity was Ahuramazda

BACKGROUND
Before the Persians, the largest states in the "Intercommunicating Zone" (where Asia, Europe
and Africa come together) were kingdoms, ruled by members of a royal family who were
related to (most of) their subjects. That started to change around 2300 when the Kingdom of
Akkad conquered the city-state of Sumer in Mesopotamia. That created a new kind of state -- an
empire -- whose ruler was NOT related to all of his subjects. Other conquerers followed
(Babylonians, Hittites, Assyrians, Chaldeans, etc.), creating larger and larger empires in
Mesopotamia, until the Persians conquered everything from the Indus River to the Nile River,
including the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys.
Before 600 BCE, the Persians were not even the strongest group in their region. They were a
nomadic tribe that inhabited the southern part of the area dominated by the Medes, in what is
the modern country of Iran. After king Cyrus became the leader of the Persians around 550
BCE, they attacked the Medes and their allies, the Chaldeans (a.k.a. "New Babylonians") of
Mesopotamia. Part of the story is mentioned in the Old Testament book of Ezra, which describes
how Cyrus rewarded the Hebrews for their assistance against the Chaldeans by allowing them
to return from exile in Babylon to Palestine after the war.

Homeland of the Persians and Medes

During Cyrus' lifetime, the Persians eventually dominated Mesopotamia and Anatolia as far
west as the River Halys. Further west, descendants of the Hittites called the Lydians controlled
the western part of Anatolia (modern Turkey). After the Persians defeated the Lydians under
King Croesus in 546 BCE, they controlled everything as far west as the Mediterranean Sea
except for the coast and some islands in the Aegean Sea, which were under the control of the
Greeks.
The Greeks were not a united people, but rather a collection of city-states like Athens,
Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, etc. Some Greek city-states established colonies along the coast of
Anatolia during the 6th century BCE, and they resisted the expansion of Persia. The Greek
colonies were finally defeated by the Persians following a revolt in 499-494 BCE, but the
mainland Greeks remained beyond Persian control, and thus the Persians regarded them as a
threat.
After Cyrus died in 529 BCE, his descendants continued to expand the Persian empire.
Cyrus' son Cambyses (ruled 530-522 BCE) conquered Egypt in 525 BCE, and Cyrus' grandson
Darius conquered the Indus River valley as far north as the Hindu Kush mountains. Darius also
completed the conquest of Anatolia and lived long enough to launch the first invasion of the
Greek mainland in 490 BCE. His son Xerxes launched the second invasion of Greece in 490 BCE.
Darius ruled the longest, from 521 to 486 BCE, and he was able to complete the construction
of important public works projects like a canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, irrigation
projects in many areas, a new capital at Susa, and the "Royal Highway" from Susa to Sardis.
Darius also created an imperial administration by dividing the conquered territory into
provinces called "satrapies," each of which was run by a governor known as a Satrap chosen
from among the Medean or Persian nobles. Each Satrap was supported by a local military
commander and tax collector, and subject to intermittent royal inspection. Darius also
introduced a money system based on that used in Lydia.

PERSIAN RELIGION
Zoroastrianism, the Persian religion, was based on practices that originated around 1600 BCE,
but did not become organized until the lifetime of Zoroaster, who lived around 600 BCE. Persian

deities were associated with fire, and Persian worship sites often had someone who maintained
a continuous fire. The Persians also recognized a sun god named Mithria, and other gods that
were associated with natural phenomena. Their priests were known collectively as the Magi.
In Zoroastrianism, the metaphysical world is organized into two parts -- good and evil -which battle for control of the physical world where humans live. The name of the force for
good was Ahuramazdawhile Ahriman was the force for evil. Zoroastrians believed that
individuals could have a "personal relationship" with a deity, and that the afterlife was
accessible to all individuals. That was different from Old Kingdom Egypt, where only the
pharaohs could hope for an afterlife.
Zoroastrianism also offered a moral code for life in the physical world. That code favored
truthfulness and charity, prohibited specific sins, forbade personal enrichment or earning
interest on loans, and included a sort of "Golden Rule." These ideas appeared later in Hebrew
theology, possibly stemming from the time when the Hebrews were exposed to Persian ideas
during their exile in Babylon in the 6th century BCE.

CONCLUSION
Although this, the first Persian empire, lasted only 220 years, it provided an example for all
subsequent empire builders, in the same way that 19th century Great Britain provided an
example for the rest of Europe and the USA. In its day, Persia was largest, richest, mightiest, and
greatest of all states. To the inhabitants of the ancient world, the Persian governors were
representatives of an emperor who was strong enough to overcome the ancient kingdoms of
Mesopotamia and Egypt. For peasants, Persian governors were the highest authority that they
might encounter personally, with power over their elders, local chiefs and even their kings.

Questions
1. Why might someone think of fire as a source of spiritual (metaphysical) power?
2. Why did Persians consider Greek cuisine to be boring and their meals
"unfinished"?
3. Where did Herodotus get the information that appears in this reading?
4. Did Herodotus like Persian society? How did the fact that he lived under Persian
rule affect what Herodotus said about the Persians?

Background to
Alexander Reaches His Limits by Arrian
by Jim Jones, West Chester University of Pennsylvania (c.2013)
Return to the Syllabus

Flavius Arrianus (90-160 CE) was a Roman citizen and member of a Greek noble
family resident in Nicomedia (modern Turkey). He was a friend of Emperor Hadrian
who appointed him governor of Cappadocia (northeastern interior of the modern
country of Turkey), a border province which he successfully defended against
barbarian invaders. He wrote a history of Alexander of Macedonia, one of the most
successful conquerers in history. This reading describes the arguments employed by
Alexander and his generals as they debated whether to continue their conquest
beyond the Indus River. Besides describing further opportunities, Alexander listed
everything they had already conquered, including all of the Persian empire.

Definitions

Alexander of Macedonia: Greek conquerer of the Persia Empire between 334323 BCE

City-state: smallest stable form for a state, composed of a city and rural land
surrounding it. Most ancient city-states were ruled by kings who were leaders of
a prominent local family.

Empire: the idea of a state composed of multiple kingdoms joined together by

conquest, marriage or adoption. An empire was ruled by an emperor who was a
"king above kings."

Hadrian: Roman emperor from 117-138 CE who presided over the empire at its
most peaceful and largest.

Heracles: a Greek who was transformed into a god. Alternate spelling: Hercules

Indus River: the river that flows through the modern-day country of Pakistan. It is
the site of one of the oldest known urban civilizations which existed in the
second millenium BCE, and served as the unofficial "border" between the
Intercommunicating Zone and southern Asia during the time of the Persians and
Greeks.

Macedonia: mountainous region north of Greece that was home to Philip and his
son, Alexander, in the 4th century BC.

Background

Someone once defined an empire by saying "A king rules his people; an emperor

rules his peoples." This is a good way to understand the kind of political unit that the
Persians created, and which inspired imitators for centuries to come. It also suggests
the second challenge faced by an empire -- how to administer an empire after
conquering one. Kings lead people who are all connected to each other in some way,
so kings can rely on their loyalty to family and ancestors, as well as a common
language and system of beliefs, to obtain obedience. Emperors enjoy those
advantages with their own people, but they have to find ways to obtain loyyalty and
obedience from conquered peoples who once had their own kings.
As we have already learned, the Persian Empire started to form around 550 BCE
when a group of nomadic pastoralists, led by Cyrus, defeated their neighbors. The
Persian Empire grew quickly and much larger than earlier states like those in the Nile
Valley and Mesopotamia, and eventually conquered Greek colonies along the
Mediterranean Coast. The Greeks fought back, the Persians invaded, and Greek
society was transformed as a result. Greek records portray the Persians as an "evil
empire," and Greek leaders used the threat of a Persian invasion to justify military
alliances, taxation, and other actions.
That continued until 339 BCE, when Philip of Macedonia assembled an army that
invaded the Greek city-states from the north and conquered them all. Citing the threat
of a new Persian invasion (even though more than 140 years had passed since the last
one), Philip organized the Greeks into a new defensive "league," but unlike the Delian
League, Philip's league openly had a single leader -- him. After Philip was assassinated
in 336 BCE, his son Alexander took over and continued the military campaign,
conquering everything from Greece to as far east as India. In the process, Alexander's
forces conquered the entire Persian Empire by 326 BCE.

Macedonian landscape

The Empire of Alexander "the Great" of Macedonia

Alexander died suddenly in 323 BCE, before he could make arrangements to

transfer power to a successor. His death started forty-three years of civil war between
armies led by his generals, and by the time the fighting ended, the Macedonian empire
was divided into smaller empires led by descendants of four generals. Ptolemy and his
heirs ruled over Egypt, Palestine and Phoenicia; Seleucuscontrolled Persia, Syria and
Mesopotamia; Lysimachus got control over Anatolia (Asia Minor)
and Cassander headed the dynasty that ruled Macedonia itself. Despite fighting among
themselves, the four empires of the Hellenistic Greek world survived until the Romans
conquered them all between 146-30 BCE.
As a consequence of the Macedonian conquests, the Hellenistic Greeks completed
the mixing of Eastern and Mediterranean ideas by spreading Greek culture, especially
architecture and language, throughout the Persian Empire as far east as India. The
conquest of the east also advanced the Greek study of the physical world through
science and philosophy. Politically, the victory over the Persians ended the expansion
of empires from the inter-communicating zone to the west. Instead, new centers of
power developed in the Mediterranean region that eventually rivalled the eastern
centers. The Hellenistic Greek period ended when the Macedonians were conquered
by the Romans in 148 BCE.

Background to
Sexual Harassment in Ancient Rome by Justinian
by Jim Jones, West Chester University of Pennsylvania (c.2013)
Return to the Syllabus || Roman History Timeline

Flavius Justinianus (482-565) was born in the Roman province of Macedonia, located
in the Balkans (southeastern Europe, north of Greece). He rose through the army and
eventually became the Emperor (ruled 527-565) of the "Eastern Empire" during the
century after barbarians conquered the western part of the Roman Empire. He spent
much of his reign trying to reconquer the west and restore the stability of the Roman
Empire.

Definitions

Constantinople: city on the Hellespont (Bosporus Strait) that separates the Black
Sea from the Mediterranean Sea. It began as the village of Byzantium. Emperor

Diocletian made it the eastern capital of the Roman Empire in 285 CE, and his
successor Constantine renamed it Constantinople in 305. He made it the
Empire's primary capital in 315 CE, and it became the capital of the Eastern
Roman Empire after barbarians conquered the city of Rome in the 5th century
CE. After westerners began to refer to it as the Byzantine empire,
Constantinople remained the capital until its final conquest in 1453. In our time,
the city is called Istanbul.

Diocletian: Roman emperor who reformed the Roman government by

establishing a second capital at Byzantium (later Constantinople) in 285 CE and
designating an eastern Roman emperor to serve as his assistant and successor.

Justinian: eastern Roman emperor who reconquered much of the western

Roman empire between 527 and 565 CE.

Background

After the fall of the western Roman

Empire in the fifth century CE, the
Mediterranean became divided into
eastern and western regions, with
Roman authority intact in the east,
but barbarians ruling over large
portions of the west and more
barbarian groups arriving from the
northeast. The historical sources
are not as complete for the sixth
century CE as they were for the
earlier Roman period, but it
appears that there was a great deal
of warfare for the control of territory
and the right to pass it on to
successors.
Justinian, the emperor who ruled in
the east from 527 to 565 CE, made
a fairly successful attempt to
reconquer the west. He was able to
extend his authority to Italy, parts of
Gaul and the North African Coast,
but the border was not stable and
there was little economic activity
between Romans and non-

Map of the Roman world during Justinian's rule,

527-565

Romans. As a result, many Roman

settlements were abandoned in the
west and the population of cities
along the border (like Paris,
London, and Cologne) declined.

To strengthen his authority (and that of Constantinople over the west), Justinian
ordered his administration to standardize Roman law, which consisted of hundreds of
years of contradictory imperial decrees, decisions by local commanders and opinions
by legal scholars (called jurists).

By standardizing the law, Justinian

hoped to reduce the incentive for
Roman subjects to rebel, and to
eliminate the waste that resulted
when different officials made
conflicting decisions. Justinian
appointed a commission of jurists
which collected all of the
constitutions created since the time
of Hadrian and published the
results as the Codex Justinianus in
529. Next, they collected legal
opinions and published them as
the Digest (orPandects) in 533.
They also issued a general
textbook of Roman law,
the Institutes, and in 565,
Justinian's own legislation was
collected and published as
the Novellae. As a result, Roman
law became a more logical and
coherent body of rules. That gave it
a great deal of prestige, but also
made it much more difficult to
amend.
Justinian's other accomplishments
included a huge increase in the
construction of forts, public baths,
palaces, bridges, roads, and even
whole towns. The Church of St.

St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople

Sophia in Constantinople (shown

here) is one of the most impressive
examples. He also encouraged a
literary revival, and reorganized
Eastern Christianity to make him,
as emperor, the most powerful
authority on religion.

How to Read a Law

This selection contains the opinion
of Labeo, a jurist from the first
century CE, on types of behaviors
towards women that constituted
crimes punishable by law. Besides
describing criminal behavior, it also
provides definitions and
exceptions. It does not, however,
specify who decides when and
exception is justified.

Questions
1. What problem was this law intended to solve?
2. What was the purpose of a woman's "companion"?
3. What criteria did Romans consider in determining whether iniuria had been
committed? What kind of exceptions were allowed? What other criteria were
considered irrelevant under this law?
4. Can you think of any problems that might have resulted from Justinian's efforts
to strengthen and reunify the Roman world?