erged by 550 B.C.E. Cyrus the Great established highway reached Egypt. The Persi

Question

erged by 550 B.C.E. Cyrus the Great established highway reached Egypt. The Persians establat e a massive Persian Empire, which ran across the the first regular postal service, and they biie nflux of Iranians (Persians). A great conqueror Indian border to the Mediterranean, ad emerged by 550 ?.?.E. Cyrus the northern Middle East and into northwestern India. network of inns along their roads to accom The new empire was the clearest successor to the date travelers. These achievements would h great Mesopotamian states of the past, but it was connect the Middle East to trade routes com far larger. The Iranians advanced iron technology ing from central and eastern Asia, a vital step in the Persian emperors, particularly Darius, who his vast territories, developed a substantial bu in the Middle East growth of new commercial connections. Persian politics featured several character- istics, the first of which was tolerance. The Per- sian Empire embraced worked hard not only to expand but to int View the Image: The Assyrian, Chaldean, and Persian Empires on MyHistoryLab.com a host of languages and reaucracy. This ex Read the Document: Darius the Great: Ruler of Persia (522 B.c.E) on isted alongside earlier, cultures, and the earl Persian rulers were careful to grant consid- erable latitude for this diversity. Second, however, military nobility. The central government MyHistoryLab. com introduced several rius, suc-measures to control the activities of officials as was a strong authoritarian streak. Da cessor to Cyrus, worked hard to centralize laws and tax collection. The idea of wide participation in politics was rejected. Third, and related to the centralization process, Persian rulers developed a vital infrastructure for the whole empire. A major system of roads reduced travel time, though it still signed to distant provinces. Tax collection was carefully regulated, and spies were sent out to make sure regional officials remained loyal to the central government, rather than allying with local political forces Persia was also the center of a major new re- ligion. A Zoroastrian religious leader, Zoroaster (c. 630-550 ?.??.), revised the polytheistic re- ligious tradition of the Sumerians through the introduction of monothelsm. He banned animal sacrifice and the use of intoxicants. He intro- duced the idea of individual salvation through the free choice of God over the spirit of evil. Zo- roaster, and the growing group of Zoroastrian priests (the Magi) saw life as a battle between two divine forces: good and evil. Zoroastrianism emphasized the importance of personal moral choice in picking one side or the other, witha Last Judgment ultimately deciding the eternal fate of each person. The righteous would live on in a heaven, the "House of Song," while the evil would be condemned to eternal pain. Zo- took 90 days to go from one end of the empire to the other. An east-west highway, largely paved, fa- cilitated commerce and troop movement from the A relief of a procession decorates the ruins of a building roastrianism influenced Persia's later emperors and spread widely in the population as a whole

Explanation / Answer

In Persian politics, rulers ensured that there was a strong sense of obedience to authority by centralising laws and tax collection, while developing infrastructure for the whole empire. Furthermore, participation of citizens in politics was completely rejected. Emperors built a strong bureaucratic system to control the activity of the nobility and officials associated with them.

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