Why Was the Achaemenid Empire Successful for So Long? Coursework Example

The Archaemenid Empire also known as the ‘Persian Empire’ was founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6^th century. The reason for the success of this empire was because of their military might. They overthrew the confederation of Median. The political basis for the great Archaemenid Empire was that their leader Cyrus the Great used his political acumen to manage the newly founded empire systematically. Cyrus established the satrap court in each province to manage the affairs of the cities. He set up the principles of equality and subjected taxes to be paid to keep the peace.

The Mauryan Empire was established in the year 321 B.C with the help of Chandragupta Maurya. Maurya overthrew the ruler of Magadha i.e. Nanda. The greatest ruler of the Mauryan Empire was ‘Asoka the Great’. He is known as Asoka the Great because he united majority of the subcontinent of India for the first time. The official religion to be established was Buddhism and Asoka sent out missionaries to spread this religion, making in the religion of the world. In this way, Asoka build up the prestige for the Mauryan Empire.

In the great Archaemenid Empire, Zoroastrianism was the main religion and this religion forbids slavery. The ruler of the great Persian Empire, Cyrus followed this rule in many instances and freed the Jews of Babylon. This lead to the construction of Persepolis with workers being paid. On the other hand, the religion in the Mauryan Empire played a crucial role as Asoka spread third religion worldwide. He sent many missionaries to the South East, West and Greece and also commissioned the monasteries to be built. Later, the merchants of India accepted this religion and helped spread this religion far across.

The Great Archaemenid Empire is known as the Persian Empire and was a result of the succession of the Median confederation. This empires comprises the ruling of the majority portion of the Great Iran. The Median and the Persian Empire together formed the Medo-Persian Empire which comprises of several merged territories of the historical empires earlier. It was one the largest empire in the classical era. The Maurya Empire was the powerful in the ancient India and was governed by the Mauryan dynasty from the years 321 to 185 B.C. Chandragupta took control of this empire by overthrowing Nanda dynasty and then united the whole India.

When we compare the traditions of Hinduism with that of Buddhism we can see that Buddhism was founded by Buddha. Whereas Hinduism was not founded by any prophet. Buddhism doesn’t believe in the soul’s existence whereas Hindus believe in Atman existence i.e. of souls. The reason for Buddhism to spread in the Southeast and East Asia was because of the efforts of Asoka the great. The Mauryan dynasty followed the religion of Buddhism and they were the one to unite the whole India. So, they promoted the spread of Buddhism religion instead of Hinduism.

During the period of Kush and Sakas, which was in the 1^st and th3 3^rd centuries; the economic, political, religious and cultural communication between Central and South Asia was accelerated greatly. There were excavations of archaeology, coins, art historical proof, deciphering of the inscriptions which lead directly to the connections between the Kush an empire with that of the northwestern Indian subcontinent. There was a cultural transmission and a long distance trade between the silk routes at the time of Kush an empire. These kinds of historical importance aided in the context of the cross-cultural links during the early time.

The reason in which the historians have paid more attention to the history of ancient Egypt than of the Sub Saharan Africa is because the archaeologist and historians have succumbed to the marvels of the ancient Egypt. They have been magnetized with the grandiose treasure and architectural love of the precious artifacts they have explored. Looking at the other side i.e. the history of Sub-Saharan Africa, we can see that Africa has not been able to show any civilizations except that of Egypt.

There are seven major characteristics and attributes for a society to be civilized. One is the social structure which means that there must be a social system in the society. This system comprises of the economic (wealth, job), social (Popularity) and Political (government and ruler). The second is the stability in the supply of food which means that the society must have extra food to serve its population and also may be able to trade it. I think the most compelling is the culture because it is the one thing that differentiates the civilization from a barbaric society.

When we look at the early African history we can see it as an autonomous and independent focus of recent development and scholarship. In the period of late colonialism, it was accepted widely by Western historian in Africa that South Sahara Africans have no history or civilization. This was because there were non-literate and left no records for the historians to study. Their writings were unsystematic and the tools they used were made of stone. As they were not civilized it was very hard to uncover their history.

The diffusion of the languages and the peoples in Africa signifies that these people have extensively moved around the African continent. The diffusion of iron and agriculture was because of the great number of migration of these people to various part of the world. This helped them create these innovations in cropping, buildings and military. Their migration helped them to set in motion the growth in population and the people who have been fleeing from the desiccation of the great Sahara desert. The large number of migraters spoke a language named ‘Bantu’ which is their mother tongue. It is still spoken throughout the sub-Saharan Africa.

The kingdom of Meroe which is quite ancient is known to its people as Kush. It was developed in the Nile River Upper Valley. Its border extended from the South of Egypt to the South part of Khartoum (which is known as Sudan now presently). It became one of the most crucial empires in the classical world history. The power of this empire was equaled to that of Egypt’s.

After the death of his father, Ezana became the king of Aksum and succeeded the throne, Ezana was infant and so his mother administered and governed the Kingdom of Aksum. At that time, a man from Syria was captured and was taken to educate Ezana. This young man was Christian so he taught the religion of Christianity to Ezana. When Ezana grew up and controlled the throne, he converted the religion of Aksum to Christianity. In this way the official religion of Aksum became Christianity.

The most important goods that were traded from Africa internationally were gems, diamonds and cocoa. Other most important good was that of ‘slaves’. This trade became quite active in the mid-17^th century and the trading ships sailed from Europe carrying goods manufactured. These ships when arrive at Africa traded the manufactured goods with that of the slaves at the cost of Africa. The traders of Europe found it more convenient to do business with the intermediaries of Africa who were the raiders of settlements. These captured African slaves were traded with Europeans who bring them to the western coast to turn them into slavery.

The geography played a crucial role in the earlier African history. This was because the Mediterranean Sea made most of the kingdom of Africa set near the coast. This helped to trade with the Europeans and the other continents like Asia and Europe. A majority of empires flourished in the region presently known as Ghana. The ancient Ghana empire comprised of the Akan people that build up their major civilization there in the 13^th century. The other empire flourished because of the geographical coastal location of Ghana was the Ashanti Empire.

Yes, the role of geography is different in Africa as compared to the East and the other region studied. We can divide east Africa on the 3 sub regions. One is the Region of the Great Lake which comprises of Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. The second region is known as the Horn of Africa which comprises of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia & Djibouti.

The information presented in this chapter is more surprising because it relates to the history of Africa i.e. we can see that in Africa the only civilization was Egypt. The other tribes were not civilized and were completely ignored. There was not much history present and scholars were unable to decipher because of the lack of tools and unsystematic writings.

Plebeians succeeded in the first decades of 5th BC and achieved significant gains in the form of self-organization plebeian community.

Thus, the period of the republic is characterized by the struggle of the plebeians and patricians, to complete a full equal rights of these classes and patrician-plebeian merger tops.  During the struggle a new social class structure of Roman society: the nobility, consisting of the senatorial class and equestrian, and the plebs rural and urban.  They were all Roman citizens (as opposed to the plebeians, the fight against the patricians).

Shortly before the Punic War, in 283, the Romans nearly destroyed the Celtic tribe Estonian south of the river Po and moved close to the line of the Alps region, all the communities which have been combined into an alliance with them.  Acquisition of Sicily spread the boundaries of the Union and the islands, which were by nature itself associated with Italy.  Romans quite subdued most of Sicily.

Soon the Romans took over and the island of Sardinia and Corsica, possession of which was extremely important to ensure that only Rome could enjoy all the benefits of trading on the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Joining it was the result of internal turmoil in Carthage.  After the war, Hamilcar vainly asked Carthaginian senate deserved the money to pay his army salary, and finally had to disband his army.

Throughout this century, there were significant changes in the economy of the empire.  Notable changes were observed in the social structure of Roman society.  Seriously transformed the ideology of the inhabitants of the Roman state.  For internal political development of the Roman Empire this period was characterized by frequent changes of emperors attempted usurpation of imperial power, sometimes resulting in falling away from Rome large areas.

Complex at the time was the situation on the borders of the Roman possessions.  Romans with great difficulty managed to cope with the deep inroads of the barbarians in the empire.

A major prerequisite for the collapse of Rome was contrary to the policy of the Emperor not only with the concept of family honor and family, but also with a priori given a sense of justice and moral.  On the decay of the Roman state greatly influenced Christianity.  Despite the fact that the first attempt to legalize Christianity did Emperor Galerius in 312 actually legalized Christianity Constantine, in 313 signed the Edict of Toleration.  Constantine himself converted to Christianity before he died, but throughout his reign, he protected the Christians in every possible way.

During the early republic was formed characteristic policy ancient form of ownership in which the owner of the land is the only full member of the civil community.  After the fall of the imperial power and the formation of the republic, both estates – patricians and plebeians were face to face.  In general, the dispute was about three issues: about the equation of political rights, debt bondage and access to communal public land.

The new emperor Qin Shi Huang Di became the founder of the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC.  He was one of the most famous emperors in Chinese history and the first unified Chinese empire.  After the death of Emperor Qin Shih Huang Di in 210 BC. A struggle for power between the governors of the provinces, and the winner, Liu Bang founded the Han Dynasty (206 BC- 220 AD).

During the reign of the Han dynasty China’s territory has expanded considerably.  After the fall of the Han Dynasty power struggle launched three kingdoms were Wei, Shu. After a short time the war came 16 provinces.  In 581 BC founder of the Sui Dynasty seized power and made an effort to unite the empire.

In the early period dynasty power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor, but later the local rulers formed almost independent states.  At the same time, China attacked the barbarians from the north and northeast.  Then it was decided to build a huge wall to protect the area.  In the end, the main power was concentrated in the hands of the Prince of Qin army that toppled ruler Zhou.

After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, the era of the Tang, the history of China flourished.  It was during this period, China has become the most powerful country in the world and was the main force in East Asia.

The invasion of the Chinese territory of neighboring nations, moreover, constantly flashed internal rebellion.  In 907, the dynasty ceased to exist and was quickly replaced by five others.  In this turbulent period of Chinese history were introduced banknotes and invented a primitive printing press.

The population of Xi’an, capital of the empire, greater than 1 million. People, culture flourished: developed classical painting, arts such as music, dance and opera, produced magnificent pottery was discovered the secret of the white translucent porcelain.

Dominated by Confucian ethics and Buddhism, there was progress in science mainly in astronomy and geography.

At the beginning of the 13^th century Genghis Khan invaded China.  By 1223 his troops seized all the land north of the Yellow River.  Sung dynasty ceased to exist in 1279, when Kublai Khan captured the whole of China and became emperor.

Islam arose among the Arabs of Hijaz, the north-western region of the Arabian Peninsula, in the beginning of 7^thcentury.  It should be noted that Islam did not come at once, it was preceded by the appearance of different reasons this time, both political and economic.  In ancient times, each tribe had its own gods.  But gradually more powerful belief in economic and political relations tribal gods supplanted other tribes.

The most influential was the tribe of Qureshi (to him belonged to the ancient sanctuary of the Kaaba, located in Mecca).  Meccan Qureshi tribal god is Allah. Islam supporters declared the sole and all-powerful, marking the beginning of a monotheistic religion of the Arabs.

It should be noted that even before that in Arabia were adherents of monotheistic religions.  So, there were Jewish emigrants from the Roman Empire, professed Judaism, Christianity. It is, therefore, the formation of Islam was influenced by Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and ceremonial vestiges of the old-Arab cults.

At the turn of 6^th and 7^th centuries Arabia experienced political, social, ideological crisis. There was no generally accepted Arabian political center.  Internecine war ravaged economy.  Nomadic tribal system to decompose.  Social contradictions, especially among the urban population, such as Mecca, worsened.  Separate tribal cults, beliefs prevented the unification of the tribes into one nation.  In the historical context of the Middle Ages it could only make a new religious ideology. This ideology has become Islam.

The rise of Islam associated with the name of the Prophet Muhammad, one of the prominent Meccan Hanifs.  The Prophet of Islam – a real historical person.  He came from the tribe of Qureshi, orphaned early, and was a shepherd.  Then he married a rich widow Khadija, became a merchant in Mecca.  Around 610, he gave a sermon monotheistic religion, which he called Islam.

In his sermons, Muhammad called for the belief in one God, Allah, to observe the simple rules of morality, to the restriction of usury, to provide charitable assistance to the poor rich.  Having moved from Mecca to Medina, he organized a community whose members have recognized him as a prophet.  The Khalifa is considered the successor, Vice Muhammad, and later representatives of God on earth, concentrated in the hands of all secular and spiritual power.  Islam became the dominant religion of the Arab states.

Charlemagne aims to expansion of the Christian world.  During his reign, the Franks made 53 campaign, 27 of them led by Charles himself; during his reign the Frankish state doubled.  The longest was a war with the Saxons 772-804 years, which resulted in Saxony was forcibly Christianized and incorporated into the Frankish state.

The camping in Spain against the Arabs in 778-810 years led to the creation of the Spanish brand Frankish state in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula.   In 773 and 774 respectively at the invitation of Pope Hadrian I, Karl undertook trips to Italy, defeated the Lombard, was crowned Italian crown and confirmed the right of the papal popes (Church) area.

In the legends and historiographical tradition Charlemagne is glorified as a great warrior, the legislator and educator.  The purpose of the Charles was the creation of decent Christian state. Charlemagne was anointed king in 754 during the lifetime of his father.

The Empire of Charlemagne was divided into districts headed by appointed by the monarch of the local nobility graphs possessing administrative and military authorities and the courts jury of local free men;  control over the graph and the court on behalf of the emperor carried small general so-called sovereign’s messengers.

The structure of the state of Charles marked the development of feudalism.  Nobility of the country associated with Karl Universe oath had to be at war with the servants of the people.  With 789 years Charlemagne repeatedly issued decrees prescribing every free man to find a lord under whom he had served.  Increase in the number of dependent peasants.

Mesoamerica is a special cultural and geographical area in the territory of which are located in the ancient times were highly agricultural crops in the Americas.  Geographically, it includes central and southern Mexico, Guatemala, western regions of El Salvador and Honduras.  Modern historical science divides the era of the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica into two chronological stages: early, or classic.

In general, the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica similar to those of the Old World civilizations as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, but far behind them in time. As modern scholars believe the ancestors of the Indians came to the Americas with the North-East Asia through the Bering Strait and Alaska.

The problem of studying ancient cultures of the Americas is further complicated by the fact that the territory of Mesoamerica occurred constant change of one people by another as a result of migrations, conquests, natural disasters, etc., with the new culture is often mixed with old, will continue to exist in their geographical boundaries.

The Aztecs, Mixtec, Yucatan Maya studied relatively well preserved thanks to the Spanish and Indian chronicles 16^th and 17^th  centuries and intensive archaeological studies of ancient architectural monuments of these cultures: Tula and Chechen Itza, Maya pan, Tenochtitlan, and others.

The Culture classical chronological period of Olmec’s, ancient Mayan, Toltec’s was studied very badly because of the almost complete absence of written sources such as Maya hieroglyphic texts and Zapata carved on stone steles and bas-reliefs are difficult to decipher, and other written sources do not illuminate the events earlier in the 10^th century AD.