Persian Empire

The inscription on his monument was expressive of his reflection to the vanity of all human pursuits,—it was to this effect — I am Cyrus, the son of Cam-byses, founder of the Persian empire, and sovereign of Asia. Envy me not, therefore, this tomb. ... 

The Macedonian sovereigns, who subverted the Persian empire, neglected Babylon, and preferred Seleucia, till at length the ancient city was deserted, and Ctesiphon became the seat of empire. 

Tufnel, O., Lachish III, 2 vols., Oxford University Press, London, 1953. Olmstead, A. T., History of the Persian Empire, Chicago University Press, Chicago, 1970. 

A number of silver plates, bowls, and pitchers have been identified as being made in the Persian Empire during the Sasanian period (13, 14,... 

By the year 336 b.c., Philip of Macedon had subdued the bickering city-states of Greece and welded them into an impressive fighting force. He had also completed plans to invade Asia Minor in order to take on the forces of the mighty Persian Empire. In the summer of 336 B.C., Philip was murdered and succeeded by his son Alexander, who went on with the project. 

It was not until 331 B.C. that the Persian empire finally collapsed its nemesis - the Greeks and their brilliant leader - Alexander the Great. 

Although the differences between the two parties appeared to rest on the problem of the rightful heir to the office of caliph, the animosities were much deeper and involved basic differences in racial background and ancient traditions. Racially, the Shiites were mainly Persians of Aryan ancestry. It was their custom, based on a tradition that reached back to the time of the great Persian empire, to be governed by a hereditary monarchy. The Sunnis, who represented the majority of Arabs, were Semitic in origin. Their custom was to elect leaders on the basis of personal merit., not blood line. 

Islamic Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East have experienced violence since the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 622 a.d. The Sunni-Shia division has been a raw wound on the body of Islam since the eighth century when Moslem armies defeated those of the Persian Empire, an empire that stretched from Iberia to the Indus Valley. They manifest a fundamentalist hostility to Christianity, the other sect of the Moslem religion and the values of freedom and democracy. 

In Aristotle s time, Alexander the Great of Macedon (a kingdom north of Greece) conquered the vast Persian Empire. Alexander s empire broke up after his death in 323 b.c., but Greeks and Macedonians remained in control of large areas of the Middle East. For the next few centuries (the Hellenistic period ) there was a fruitful mingling of cultures. 

I S3. AI-Bab (or Bab al-AbwSb) is the old name for the city of Darband, on the western shore at the Caspian Sea. It served as a fortification against invasions from the north and as a point of entry for visitors from that direction into the Persian empire. See Yiqut, Mu /am, 1,437 4Z Christensen, Sassanides, 369,415 EP, s.w. "Babal-Abwlb" (D. M. Dunfop) "al-f bk" (C. E. Bosworth). 

Rib i is about to meet Rustam, not Yazdagird, but high officials of the Persian empire were frequently called "kings." See Morony, Iraq, 186-87. 

CYRUS THE GREAT (sixth century). Founder of the Persian Empire and king 559-529. Xenophon s Cyropaedia The Education of Cyrus), an edifying and fictional version of his life, was said to be the favorite book of Scipio Aemilianus. 

PHILIP II (d. 336). King of Macedon 359-336 and father of Alexander the Great he conquered Greece and was about to attack the Persian Empire when he was assassinated. 

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