- Persia - Geographical environment
Heart land was Iranian Plateau
Land located 4 main capitals Susa, Persepolis, Pasargadae and Ecbatana
Empire was built over 50years by Cyrus II, Cambysis, Darius .....
Had 5 main areas in the middle east
- Egypt and Lybia in Africa
- Thrace in Europe
- The Lydian empire of Asia minor
- The babylonian and Syrian empires
- East of the heartland to the indus river (modern day Bactria)
The empire extended from the mediterranean sea in the west to the indus river in the west.
From the black sea in the north to the Persian gulf in the south.
Empire was divided in to satrapies
Central plateau and plains
mountain ranges
Elbutz mountains separate the caspian sea from the central plateau
Zagros mountain range separated the central plateau from Mesopotamia in the west
Significant landforms
All landforms were significantly effected by water supply (due to the mountains circling the region) and specific climatic conditions
Irrigation
Persian land, agriculture and irrigation depended on seasonal melting of mountain snow as the ring of mountains cut off the rain clouds from the desert like plateau
Resolved through Persian irrigation
Rivers
Indus and Oxus rivers were critical for agriculture
Tigrus and Euphrates rivers formed the heart of the babylonian and Assyrian lands
The nile in Egypt carved a valley in the desert
Rivers were critical resources
The challenge of size
Had political and administrative challenges. Issues were communication
Response = road network.
Imperial organisation included Courier system and a network of roads attributed to Darius
ROYAL ROAD
Stretched from Susa to Sardis.
H. described the stations along the road, distance and geographical obstacles
Took 11 days for the Couriers to reach the other end.
Took 90 days for the average person to travel each way including stop overs
Baked clay tablets from Persepolis state that the road was over 552 km
THE SILK ROAD
Connected babylon to Ecbatana and continued to the far east.
Advantages of resources
Human resources
Olmsted estimated that there were more then 50 million people in Persia. The core population were the Persians and the Medes (didn't taxes)
H states 46 different nationalities were apart of the empire eg. Egypt. They provided the army and navy and also paid tribute
Darius arranged the empire into satrap eg. Bahistian Rock
Physical resources
Expensive plateaus and plains suited the horsemanship of the Perisans = why they were so successful in military
Controlled wealth crop lands in the river valleys eg. the nile
Many grazing passes for sheets and goats
use mountain ranges for building resources eg. oak and walnut wood
Minerals and timber
"The dwellers of these lands have more good things then the rest of the world " - H
"Persian earth haven of ample wealth " - Eschylus
Gold from Sardis and Bactria
Silver and Ebony from Egypt
Ivory was brought from Ethiopia and India
The focus of the development in water technology was to make a highly efficient irrigation system, a qanat, which captured water from an aquifer and diverted it long distances to cultivated lands.
The innovation of Persian irrigation to resolve the variable water supply within the Heartland better improved the water supply of resources throughout the empire.
This qanat system facilitated the building of great gardens and palaces, as seen in Cyrus the Great’s construction of Pasargadae.