An empire can be termed as a single entity that has supreme rule as well as power over a large area of territory. This usually consists of people of different nationality and ethnicity. Greece and Persia fit the description. The two are among the list of empires that revolutionized the world. They had different set of cultures, different military strategies, ruled by different leaders all through the years but still possessed the strength they began with initially. Some of their leaders left legacies that have withstand the test of time.
One of the major geographical features that had an impact on Greece was the fact that it was surrounded by bodies of water. This proved advantageous to the Greeks in that it allowed them to travel as well as trade. The sea saw to it that a lot of locals became sailors, fishers as well as merchants. Because of their vast knowledge about the seas, they became skilled at ship building as well as voyaging. They also exhibited their prowess as naval militarism by building smaller and efficient ships that were used for navigation through narrow routes. Persia, on the other hand, boosted of a superb geography that gifted them fertile farmland in abundance. A sound majority of Persians undertook agricultural practices, and this was inarguably a suitable venture, seeing as it influenced economic growth. Persians had huge tracts of lands, which they put to productive agricultural use.
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Cultures in both Persia and Greece
The Persian kings as well as the nobility were Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism, was a religion that had been specifically named after Zarathustra, who was the founder. The rise of the religion came at around 600 BC. It proved to have a great influence on Judaism, Christianity as well as Islam. Zoroastrianism solemnly centered on a supreme god who was the creator of everything, material as well as spiritual. During ancient times in Athens, wedding ceremonies were conducted after the break of darkness. The bride was to travel with a chariot, standing, all the way to the house of the groom. Her family would follow the chariot closely on foot bearing gifts. The roles of the friends of the bride and groom entailed lighting the way as they played music and also, danced. This was done as a way of scaring away evil spirits. As the wedding ceremony progressed, the bride would eat a piece of fruit. This was a sign that her husband, from then onwards, would be the provider of both food and other basic needs. Some of the gifts for new couples included furniture, jewelry, perfumes, mirrors as well as vases which were filled with greenery (Osborne, 2012).
Alexander III of Macedonia, popularly known as Alexander the great, succeeded his father King Philip II. He is referred to as “the great” for both his diplomatic skills as well as his military genius. The spread of Greek culture all throughout the Middle East as well as Central Asia, is by far his major contribution to history. He encouraged the spread of Greek culture by solemnly founding 70 cities all over his empire and populating them entirely with Greeks (Arrian, 2013).
Philip II became king by 357 BC. He made very good use of his skilled military as well as diplomatic tactics in order to expand his countries territory as well as influence. He, thus, ended up dominating almost if not all of the neighboring Greek city-states. He was a seasoned tactician who ensured the sustenance of Greek power by putting in place a strong government, centered upon the military (Ellis, 2014)
The expansion of Greece was mainly helped by the contribution of Alexander the great who spread the Greek culture in what later came to be termed as Hellenization. With the advancement of years, Hellenization was coupled up by advanced military technologies such as long-range catapults. As such, ancient Greece refocused its expansionist strategy to allow for more military conquest (Arrin, 2013).
In summation, both the Greece and the Persian Empire displayed somewhat similar characteristics. Both were ruled by great leaders who wanted to see their empires rise much higher. They were almost similar, but yet entirely very different.
References
Ellis, J. R. (2014). Philip II and Macedonian imperialism . Princeton University Press.
Arrian. (2013). Alexander the Great . Oxford University Press.
Osborne, R. (2012). Cultures of Empire: Greece and Rome. New Left Review , (77), 105-120.
