Achamenid_Empire__Persian_&_Xerxes

Persia: Achaemenid Empire This essay developed from an interest in the movie 300 and an interest in the way the Persians set-up their armies. From modern day Turkey, down to the Sahara in Africa, all the way across to modern day India in Asia, the Achaemenid Empire ruled. This empire was the biggest the world had seen at this time (6th century BC). This essay is going to have a look at the rise and fall of the empire and assess the key features of the reign of the god king Xerxes. In the 6th century BC the Persians were a subject people of the Median Empire. In 550 BC the Persians had successfully revolted against the Medes and Cyrus II (the Great) became the first king of the Achaemenid Empire, Achaemenes being the founder of the dynasty. The reign of Cyrus II lasted around 30 years, exact dates are unknown. In three decades Cyrus II conquered firstly the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire and the neo-Babylonian. Cyrus II lead campaigns into central Asia and was later killed in battle when fighting the Massagetae in modern day Uzbekistan. In the three decades of his rule Cyrus II had forged the largest empire the world had ever seen from the borders of Egypt in the west into modern day India & ruled over most of central Asia. Cyrus II was arguably the greatest Achaemenid king, he played the major role in the rise of the empire. Cyrus II was succeeded by his son Cambyses II who conquered Egypt, Nubia and Cyrenaica. Cambyses main goal was to conquer Egypt, which he had little success at, once the Egyptians were conquered there were many revolts, mainly due to the mistreatment of the Egyptians. Legend has it that Cambyses sent an army of 50’000 men to threaten the Oracle of Amun at the Siwa Oasis (Egypt), as the army was crossing the desert a sandstorm rose and buried the army alive. Many modern archaeologist and historians have passed this off as a myth but recent petroleum digs have found remains, which they believe are of the lost army. Cambyses II killed himself in 522 BC, only ruling for a short time. Darius I was the successor of Cambyses II, he ruled from 522 B.C. to 486 B.C. Xerxes was the first son born to Darius after he became king; Darius had an older son but favoured Xerxes and made Xerxes his successor because Darius believed he had greater abilities. Xerxes came to the throne of the Achaemenid Empire in 486 BC after the death of his father. In that same year (486 BC) that Xerxes came to power the Egyptians broke out in revolt against the Persian Empire. In 485 BC Xerxes and his army arrived in the Delta of Egypt and crushed all Egyptian rebels. Although Xerxes father had allowed the Egyptians to practice their own religion and was very lenient with the Egyptians. This leniency was granted due to Darius’ predecessor Cambyses II had committed atrocities against the Egyptian people and Darius wanted to create a more unified empire. Xerxes didn’t continue the leniency that his father had shown and treated the Egyptians very harshly. Under Persian control Egyptian customs and culture was ignored and Xerxes earned the name “villain Xerxes” from the Egyptian priests. When Xerxes left Egypt he left his younger brother Akhaimenes as satrap (ruler of a province, position below the king in the hierarchy, at the time of Xerxes there was around 30 provinces). In 482 BC the Babylonians revolted. Xerxes sent his son-in-law Megabyxos to Babylonia to crush the rebellion. Megabyxos destroyed the city of Babylon and ransacked all the temples. A lot of Babylonian land was taken from the people and given to Persian landlords. Before Xerxes had become king, in 499 BC Athens and Eretria (Greek states) sent help to Ionian Greeks revolting against the Persians. The revolt failed and Darius I (Xerxes father) made it one of his goals to get revenge and conquer Greece. In 492 BC Darius I sent his son-in-law Mardonius to conquer Greece however the Persian fleet was sunk in a storm. Refusing to concede Darius I tried again in 490 BC this time he sent Datis. Datis defeated the Eretrians and then went to the mainland to fight the Athenians but was defeated. Darius was planning another invasion when he died in 486 BC. Therefore it became a priority for Xerxes to continue his fathers’ campaign. Ancient writer Herodotus wrote about Xerxes argument in 485 BC with his uncle (against) and cousin (in favour) about a military campaign against Greece “From the day on which I mounted the throne, I have not ceased to consider by what means I may rival those have preceded me in this post of honour, and increase the power of Persia as much as any of them. And… at last I have found out a way whereby we may at once win glory, and likewise get land which is as large and as rich as our own… while at the same time we obtain satisfaction and revenge.” Xerxes plan was to build a bridge over the Hellespont, which is today known as the Dardanelles, once he had built the bridge he would march his army of 5 million men against the Greeks. Mardonius’ (Xerxes cousin, who was in favour of fighting the Greeks) encouraged Xerxes and said according to Herodotus “…after conquering and enslaving the Sacae, the Indians, the Ethiopians, the Assyrians and many other mighty nations, not for any wrong that they had done us, but only to increase our empire, we should then allow the Greeks, who have done us such wanton injury, to escape our vengeance.” Xerxes uncle Artabanus was trying to discourage Xerxes and said “You are about to attack a people far superior to the Scyths, a people distinguished above others by land and sea… Datis and Artaphernes led there huge armies against Attica the Athenians singly defeated them… if they man their ships and defeating us by sea…” Despite his uncles opposition to the invasion Xerxes continued making plans and decided that the invasion would go ahead. According to Herodotus, preparations for the invasion of Greece took four years to complete. One of the first acts to prepare for the invasion was to dig a canal (about 2500 metres long) across the Mount Athos peninsula. This canal would enable the Persian fleet to avoid the stormy waters that had destroyed the Persian fleet in 492 BC. The canal apparently took three years to complete and Herodotus wrote that it probably wasn’t necessary to dig the canal and that Xerxes only ordered the canal to be dug to “show-off”. The canal was actually necessary for the Persians plans. It was essential for the army and the fleet to be in contact at all times. The act of digging a canal and “showing off” shows us that Xerxes was trying to prove something, maybe earn respect or prove that he was capable of doing such things. Once the canal was completed a bridge was built over the river Strymon (near the ancient Greek city of Amphipolis, today the river runs through Greece and Bulgaria) for the army to use. It is believed that Xerxes buried nine young boys and nine maidens alive to appease the river gods, although this is most probably a legend. When the time came to assemble the army Xerxes called for all the soldiers to join, the usual army consisted of only Persians and Medians. According to Herodotus 46 different contingents (Greek for a group) and each brought with them their own dress (uniform), armour & weaponry. Herodotus claims that 2 million combat soldiers joined the ranks of the Persian army and there was also 3 million camp followers. Modern scholars believe this is an exaggeration and it is more likely that the army consisted of a lot less people, but most believe that it could have easily have been over 400’000, some scholars disagree and some say it could have been as little as 150’000. Even if it was only 150’000 and not 2’000’000 that was still huge according to the standards of the day. Herodotus wrote that the fleet to accompany the army consisted of 1207 warships and 3000 smaller vessels, scholars also believe this is an exageration and that 700 - 800 ships would have been more likely. When the army was ready to march out in the autumn of 481 BC Xerxes marched from Susa (in Persia 250 kilometres north of the Tigris river) towards Sardis (the capital of Lydia, in modern day Turkey). As he was marching his troops he stopped at Celaenae in Phrygia to visit Pythius. Pythius was the second richest man after Xerxes at the time. Pythius entertained the army and earned the favour of the king, but when Pythius asked if his eldest son may be excused from military service to look after him in his old age Xerxes rejected the request and then ordered than Pythius’ eldest son be cut in half an one half placed on each side of the gate of Sardis. This highlights both Xerxes unpredictable nature and the importance Xerxes was placing on enforcing military service, no exceptions. Engineers were called into build a bridge over the narrow part of the Hellespont (Dardanelles) , the Egyptian and Phoenicians built two pontoon bridges over the Hellespont (Dardanelles) which even at the narrow part was 1500 metres from side to side. The first bridge was destroyed by a storm and the engineers were executed. A second bridge was commissioned and eventually the Persians were ready to enter Europe. This is another example of Xerxes showing off he didn’t want to ferry his troops across he had to build a bridge and “show-off”. When Xerxes army reached the northern states of Greece they surrendered without a fight as they didn’t stand a chance with their small armies. When Xerxes army reached Thermopylae most of the Greek forces had retreated to here and some had stayed to defend the pass (which 2500 years ago was only 20m wide, but today unrecognisable) and the rest had retreated further south. Leonidas from Sparta had been appointed by the Greeks congress to be the leader of Greece’s forces, although out of the 7’000 soldiers at Thermopylae only 300 were from Sparta. The Greek fleet was posted close to Thermopylae at Artemisium. This was essential to ensure that the Persians couldn’t avoid facing the Greeks at Thermopylae by ferrying their troops behind the Greeks. When Xerxes army arrived at Thermopylae he expected the Greek soldiers to be intimidated by the size of his army and Xerxes ordered his men to stop and the Persian army set-up camp. Xerxes was going to wait for the Greeks to retreat but after four days they hadn’t and Xerxes was insulted that his army didn’t intimidate the few thousand Greeks and he ordered his men to attack. After a day of fighting Xerxes men still hadn’t broken the Greek’s ranks and this infuriated Xerxes so he sent his “Immortals” to fight the Greeks. The “Immortals” were the Persian royal guard, they failed to break the Greeks’ ranks. After two days of fighting and not making any ground Xerxes was again infuriated. While he was thinking what to do the next day Xerxes was approached by a Greek named Epialtes who offered to guide the Persians through a different route to get behind the Greeks. Leonidas worked out what was happening and sent the majority of the Greeks home and 1’400 including Leonidas remained behind to make a last stand. The Persian army defeated and killed Leonidas and all his men then finally victorious Xerxes started to head south and further into Greece. By now most of the Greek states where either surrendering or abandoning there cities/towns and heading south to try and avoid the Persians. The Greek fleet had returned to Attica and the Spartans were building a wall across the Isthmus of Corinth. Athens was abandoned with only a few men and soldiers remaining behind in the acropolis to try and defend from there. The Persian army reached Athens in mid September, the acropolis was attacked and after two week the Persians broke through and plundered the temples. After the conquer of Athens Xerxes next plan was to destroy the Greek fleet that was in the channels of the Salamis. Xerxes cut off the Greek fleet. Even though the Greeks had been cut off and were way outnumbered they had to fight and when the time came to fight they fought bravely, the Persians had a lot of ships but this was a hindrance in the small channels of the Salamis. As Xerxes watched over his fleet they suffered heavy losses and were eventually defeated. The loss in the Salamis had a very big effect on what Xerxes was going to do, Xerxes feared that a revolt was going to break out Ionia when they heard of the Persian fleets defeat. Xerxes decided to retreat with 60’000 men leaving the rest of the men and the fleet under the command of his cousin Mardonius. Mardonius had encouraged Xerxes to undertake this campaign in the first place so he felt obliged to remain in Greece until he either conquered Greece or until he died. Mardonius later retreated back to the Hellespont to defend the bridge. Xerxes never returned to try and conquer Greece again. Xerxes was distraught and after his failure to conquer Greece he didn’t try any more conquests, he didn’t commission any big changes and lost a lot of popularity. Xerxes was eventually assassinated in 465 BC after ruling for 21 years, the conspirator of the assassination was Artabanus, commander of the royal guard. In his later years Xerxes was heavily influenced by his queen and had lost a lot favour from the public and general dissatisfaction with his performance as king all led to his assassination. Although Xerxes will always be remembered as the king who failed in Greece Xerxes was also responsible for a lot of building in the Achaemenid Empire before his defeat in Greece, he finished his father’s (Darius I) palace, built his own palace, and built the “Hall of 100 Columns” which was not completed before he died. According to Greek sources Artaxerxes III came to the throne by assassinating 8 of his half brothers and became king in 358 BC. In 353 BC Artaxerxes III re-captured Egypt and once again made it a Persian satrapy. The Greek historian Diodorus tells us that Artaxerxes was assassinated by his minister Bagoas. Cuneiform tablets challenge what Diodorus tells us and claims that Artaxerxes died of natural causes. In either case Artaxerxes III was succeeded by Artaxerxes IV Arses (sometimes only referred to as Arses) who was only briefly in power for 2 years before he was poisoned by Bagoas. Diodorus tells us that Bagoas not only killed Arse’s children but many other princess’ who had a claim to the throne. Darius III was then placed on the throne by Bagoas. Darius III was to be the last king of the Achaemenid dynasty, in 330 BC Alexander (the Great) conquered the Persian empire which was in disarray with Darius III trying to find refuge in the Persian satraps. Alexander’s wins in key battles like the battle of Issus helped him to demoralize the Persians. Darius III was betrayed and killed by Bessus who was the Bactrian satrap. Bessus tried to claim he was Artaxerxes V, Darius’ successor. Bessus then retreated in central Asia to start a guerrilla campaign against Alexander. The empire failed mainly due to the poor leaders after Xerxes. Even Xerxes wasn’t up to the task of being king after his defeat in Greece. The size of the empire also meant that all the satraps had to be doing there job properly. With kings like Cambyses mistreating subject peoples this meant that the Persians didn’t have much support from them and revolts lead to the empire being disunited and failing. The Persian empire was vast and had one of the largest armies ever seen. The Persian empire is a classic example of why an empire needs inspirational leaders and an administration system that is free from corruption. If the Persians had earned the support of their subject people history would have been a lot different. Robert Vicary - Robert Vicary Ancient History Personalities, A.J. Koutsoukis, pg. 44 document 3.2 Ancient History Personalities, A.J. Koutsoukis, pg. 44 document 3.2 Ancient History Personalities, A.J. Koutsoukis, pg. 44 document 3.2