Key Words: Notes: Ancient Iran 1000-500 B.C.E. | 1) In the sixth century B.C.E. the vigorous Persians of southwest Iran created the largest empire the world had yet seen. | | | Geography and Resources | 1) Iran boundaries | IBHE | a) West: Zagros Mountains | | b) North/NW: Caucasus Mountains & Caspian Sea | | c) East/SE: Mountains of Afghanistan & desert of Baluchistan | | d) SW: Persian Gulf | | 2) The northeast is less protected by natural boundaries, and from that direction Iran was open to attacks by the nomads of Central Asia. | | 3) Humans trying to survive in these harsh lands had to find ways to exploit limited water resources. …show more content…
| | 4) In the first millennium B.C.E. irrigation enabled people to move down from the mountain valleys and open the plains to agriculture. | | 5) A buildup of salt in the soil or a falling water table sometimes forced the abandonment of settlements. | | | The Rise of the Persian Empire | 1) Groups of people, called “Iranians” b/c they shared cultural characteristics, spread out across western & Central Asia | Political | 2) The Medes were the first to achieve complex level of political organization. | | 3) The Persian rulers cemented their relationship with the Median court through marriage. | | 4) Cyrus (Kurush), the son of a Persian chieftain and a Median princess, united the various Persian tribes and overthrew the Median monarch around 550 B.C.E. | | 5) Cyrus placed both Medes and Persians in positions of responsibility and retained the framework of Median rule. | | a) The differences between them were small & Greeks could not readily tell them apart. | Social | 6) Patriarchal family organization | | b) Male: head of household had near absolute authority | | 7) Classes of Society