The Ancient Greets 5.3 6th SS

defeated the Greeks at Thermopylae

• Zoroaster

• Cyrus

• Darius I

• Xerxes

religious teacher who preached a new monotheistic religion

• Zoroaster

• Cyrus

• Darius I

• Xerxes

reorganized the government and divided the Persian Empire into satrapies

• Zoroaster

• Cyrus

• Darius I

• Xerxes

king from Sparta who led soldiers into battle at Thermopylae

• Leonidas

• Cyrus

• Darius I

• Xerxes

expanded the Persian Empire with his strong army

• Leonidas

• Cyrus

• Darius I

• Xerxes

Persian King Darius I

• did away with separate governors in each province

• sent the Zoroastrians into exile

• established a citizen army to serve during times of war

• reorganized the Persian government to make it more efficient

Cyrus the Great held his growing empire together by

• establishing harsh military rule

• limiting travel between provinces

• treating conquered people fairly

• building strong fortresses in each conquered land

Under King Cyrus, in the 540s B.C.E., the Persian Empire conquered the lands of Anatolia, Syria, Judah, and

• Athens

• Sparta

• Crete

• Mesopotamia

Which factors led to the decline of the Persian Empire?

• The army was weakened after loses to Greece, and rulers disagreed about who should have power.

• The people began to rebel against the Persian kings, causing a long series of civil wars.

• A series of natural disasters (droughts and earthquakes) devastated the Persian homeland.

• The king's son plotted to take over the throne, causing civil war.