Persian Empire 550-330BCE - Rise and Fall of Achaemenids from Cyrus to Darius III - Full History

in the first half of the BCE millennium many people's inhabit the lands of modern-day Iran the indigenous Elamites are huddled in dwellings near the northeastern Persian Gulf and are surrounded by two groups with a common ancestry the Medes to their northwest and the nomadic Persians who have settled the region's lower along the eastern side of the Persian Gulf and its southern regions events are in motion that will give rise to the largest empire the world had yet been witnessed to a king by the name of can by seas rules over the city-state of on Shan in the old Elam Empire lands adjoining the northeast of the present Persian Gulf and Shan is a vassal city to the median empire that stretches from the area north and east of the Persian Gulf into modern-day Turkey can by sea Sun Chios or Cyrus inherited the throne in 551 BCE during the last decade of his father's life where his father was content to play the role of subjugated ruler Cyrus looked to the lands of the median Empire and beyond with for now staid ambition for now as his father's had done before him he would need to acknowledge the median overlordship upon his father's death however Cyrus would begin to act upon that ambition but the ultimate irony is that the foundation for his empire would be initiated by his enemies aggression not his ruling the median Empire was Astia G's a warrior king whose name translated to Lance hurler according to the Nibbana disk renault khals osteo G's launches an attack against Cyrus he tasks HAARP igus his top general with leading this attack however HAARP igus turns double agent and notifies Cyrus of the plan encouraging him to revolt against media and then defects with him several other members of the media nobility in a large portion of his army the resulting hostilities in conflict last a full three years until the final battle in 550 BCE which results in the capture of Eck batana Cyrus now rules over the median lands in its vassal states one of which was ruled by an uncle of his name dar Sammy's who offers up his throne however he would still have a role to play in the leadership of the Archaea man at Empire through his grandson who would later become Darius the great the Lydian King Croesus attacks the Archaea manet city of Taria in cappadocia and enslaves its inhabitants the persians offer the citizens of Ionia in another part of the Lydian kingdom a chance to revolt against their ruler but they refuse this gesture Cyrus then assembles his army and meets Croesus whose forces at the mountain town Taria which straddles the border river Hallas creases fields a smaller army than that of Cyrus and despite both sides taking almost equal heavy losses Croesus makes the decision to retreat back over the river Hallas this pushes the front line firmly into his Lydian territory with creases on the defensive and Cyrus in pursuit on the flanks of both the Lydian and Persian armies our cavalry they are placed in front of the chariots Croesus is utilizing his specialized Egyptian phalanx troops an unnamed Persian officer noted to Cyrus in the leadership that the Lydian horses lacked familiarity with camels and that it might be possible to panic them at the scent of the animals Cyrus gave his permission to maneuver some camels from the baggage train in behind the Persian cavalry on their left flank the Lydian army advances with its cavalry advancing faster than its slower moving fouling 'kz at the of the advanced cyrus noted the longer line in numerical advantage of creases and that he risked getting outflanked to counter this he ordered his centre forward and lagged the flanks slightly behind in a refused flank formation these flanks were formed from his best troops Croesus seeing his wings advancing faster than the infantry calls for them to halt their advance somewhat however dust in the plains kicked up by both sides cavalry has obscured the advancing Persians and Croesus is unable to see Cyrus holding back his wings and as a result he perceives a much smaller box formation which he hopes to get on to the rear of and encircled in their haste to charge towards the rear of the Persians priestesses cavalry and chariots are then surprised by Cyrus's wings which now spread out and toward the Lydians the Persian archers also begin their barrage from both ground and within their fortified battlefield mobile archery towers abra Dadis the Persian general in charge of the chariots and their deadly scythe wheels is able to route the Lydian chariots but is eventually brought down by the Egyptian spearmen however they have managed through this charge to keep the Egyptians out of the fray of the main battle for considerable time the Lydian horses are as planned thrown into confusion upon their approach of the camels that were moved forward the riders some panicked dismount the fleeing horses but they are rendered useless on foot wielding their now unbalanced and clumsy riding lances soon they are cut down by the Persian cavalry and what few survivors there are flee the battlefield the Persian cavalry having routed the Lydian cavalry now wheels inwards and strikes at the Lydian infantry on the wings from the flanks and the rear soon the Lydian flanks are crushed from all sides who survived the onslaught also flee the battlefield however priestesses egyptian infantry is still moving forward and their momentum carries them through cyrus the center of the line it almost looked as if the Persians would be routed at their center but they dig in behind and to the side of their archery towers which cover them with devastating volleys deep into the Lydian ranks the volleys are so deadly the Lydian wings begin to crumble and flee creases on seeing this also flees the battlefield leaving his Egyptian infantry to be fully surrounded however rather than killing them all cyrus impressed at their courage and tenacity offers them to join his ranks they agree to this under the condition they won't have to fight Croesus cyrus agrees to this and they surrender and cyrus is victorious cyrus returns to his capital and tasks his general harp igus with annexing the smaller kingdoms of Cilicia Lysia and Phoenicia which lined the continental side around the northeast of the island of cyprus by the year 540 BCE cyrus has captured Elam and its capital Susa yet one great power still remains in western asia the neo-babylonian empire they are led by their general nabonidus who meet Cyrus and his general gob Rios at the Tigris River site city of opus the city was considered strategically important as it shored up the northern defensive end barrier of the median wall which protected the ancient city of Babylon Cyrus and his troops overrun the Babylonians and then continued unabated towards the city of Babylon the citizens of the town of sipar that stand between Cyrus and Babylon surrender without incident and cyrus the great marches into babylon he proclaims himself king of babylon summer and Akkad as well as king of the four corners of the world in actuality the occupant at Empire stretches from Asia Minor in the West to the Indus River in the East Cyrus would rule over his documentary Empire for another twenty years until his death the accounts of how he died vary but what does not vary are the accounts of his achievements and his legacy which would injurer even as his physical body turned to dust modern Iranians refer to him as the father indeed according to the Greek philosopher Xenophon born a hundred years after Cyrus death he said the following those who were subject to him he treated with esteem and regard as if they were his own children while his subjects themselves respected Cyrus as their father what other man but Cyrus after having overturned an empire ever died with the title of the father from the very people whom he had brought under his power for his plain fact that this is a name for one that bestows rather than for one that takes away the Babylonians themselves did not refer to him as conquer but instead Liberator he was distinguished as a statesman and as a soldier and created a stable political structure and foundation for Empire that his son would inherit and expand upon in part one we covered the rise of the occupied Empire under Cyrus the Great in this part two we look at Cyrus as son can by seize the second although his rule was much shorter than his father's he did much to add to the Empire the Persians now referred to simply as kasha which meant this Empire this Empire in 530 BCE under Cyrus stretches in the East to the far borders of what is now modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan and in the West to the far borders of present-day Turkey the echoes of the up cumin at Empire would continue to ring long after its decline and fall but for now we will continue to focus on its rise during Cyrus's conquering of babylon his son can by seized LED religious ceremonies for the Empire when Cyrus died chem Pisces became the King of Kings unlike his father's reign of decades can by seize reign would not even see one decade for he would die seven years into his rule under mysterious circumstances however in these seven years he would continue his father's vision of expansion the one independent state that remained east of where his father had conquered was Egypt the Pharaoh of Egypt a most the second whose name meant the moon is born was made Pharaoh by his own sword arm killing his predecessor the Pharaoh Opry's can be seized had requested aid of a MOS aid from a physician specializing in eye care that would come to visit him in his capital a most complied with his request but forced the physician by the name of Johar's net to keep his family in Egypt essentially to maintain a leash on him the reasons for this is that in addition to being a physician and a priest of Neath he also controlled a portion of the Egyptian Navy as an admiral angered at having his family used as pawns he instead approached canvases with an idea to marry the daughter of the Pharaoh and strengthened Persian ties with Egypt and of course some personal leverage of his own can buy seized complied but Pharaoh amo strict can be seized rather than send his own daughter he sent the daughter of the previous Pharaoh he had sir she was named Nita T's and she informed can be seized upon arrival of the deceit can be seized was understandably furious and he wanted to punish a mouse just prior to a MOU sending the Tati's to Persia he had fallen out with a Greek council man tactician and mercenary by the name of Fanus of Halicarnassus Fanus had served the egyptian court and was well respected by them and the military elite however for reasons not truly ever uncovered the two ended up in disagreement with Fanus being disgruntled and ultimately wanting to seek out an audience with the Persian Emperor a most adhering this became extremely anxious and he sent one of his most trusted eunuch guards after Fanus Fanus for his part likely aware of the eunuch guard tailing him headed instead to Lysia where unfortunately he was captured however ever the tactician he was able to get the eunuch guards extremely drunk and when passed out he made his escape towards the Persian capital fan s's timing would be extremely serendipitous as can be seized having already been angered and planning invasion drilled Fanus of the information required for the invasion to be a success Fanus counseled him about the need to request aid of the main arabian king in the lands between the persian empire in egypt for safe passage through those lands can by seize complied and sent a request to the Arabian king the king himself also an enemy of the Pharaoh not only complied but assisted with troops in water for the desert March first to Gaza and then beyond to pollution the initial target of the invasion this would be crucial towards the ultimate success for the Persians as the Egyptian military relied in great part on NASA's Council amis would die six months before can by C's arrival at Pelusium leaving his son some take the third to push back the Persians however can by C's was also able to gain assistance from the Cypriot towns and from a tyrant Polycrates of Samos Polycrates had agreed to back the egyptian pharaohs but was swayed via a massive bribe payment to back the persians instead cam by seized and his troops left the capital and entered the Arabian lands and true to his word the Arabian King provided them food and drink along the length of the route via various waste stations the first target and only direct resistance encountered would be at Gaza the Persians put Gaza to siege a siege that will continue even after the upcoming battle the larger balance of the Persian forces continued on towards Pelusium and Memphis beyond santak became incensed at hearing the Persian advance and of fantasy's betrayal so incensed that he rounded up fantasies male children stood them between two bowls and had them cut one by one draining their blood and mixing it with wine which he and his councilmen drank before the battle Polycrates and the Cypriots would ensure that the egyptians would not be able to make use of the mediterranean and forced them to bunker on the land instead samtech had stationed his troops along the fork of the Red Sea where it near the Nile if the inhabitants of pollution had hoped to surrender that hope was dashed as Psalm Tech had his troops fall back into the city as the Persians neared according to the Greek historian Tessie as' the Persians fought ferociously and were said to employ sacred Egyptian animals like cats in the battle to instill maximum fear into the Egyptians the Persian immortals usually reserved in battle fought at the front ranks and cut down thousands of Egyptians the victory was said to be so lopsided the Egyptians lost seven men for every Persian downed when it became clear that the Persians had the upper hand panic-struck the Egyptians who would flee in droves falling back to the city of Memphis according to another Greek historian Herodotus can buy sees was reluctant to shed more blood despite his victory at pollution and he offered the Egyptians in Memphis an end to the struggle he sent a Persian Herald in a ship to relay this offer it was said the Egyptians upon seeing the Persian vessel rushed out and attacked the ship killing all on board and taking their torn limbs with them back into Memphis Khem by seas was soon upon the city and he subjected it to his siege tactics the Egyptian losses in Memphis were even greater at 10 for every Persian loss and it is said a further two thousand Egyptians died soon the city fell even while Gaza was still under siege the Pharaoh attempted to flee the city but he was quickly captured and he was allowed to live under Persian watch but would end up committing suicide after attempting a revolt against his new overlords a revolt that would be crushed in its entirety the up cumin at Empire now annexed Egypt into its possession with can be seized as its new Pharaoh putting an end to the 26th dynasty the Libyan Kingdom Beyond sued for peace which the Persians granted the remaining three years of can by seized life are filled with historical uncertainty there are hints of a failed invasion into the kushai kingdom south of Egypt but no factual certainty this occurred there are carved reliefs that show a kosher delegation offering tributes of ivory incense and an okapi for the zoo of the king of khang similarly there are hints of a planned conquest of Carthage in the West said to have not taken place due to the unwillingness of the Phoenicians to fight their own kin where the truth lies in these is difficult to discern however what we do know is that can by seize died either from an accidental or self-inflicted thigh wound in 5:22 there's some debate as to how long or if there was a Persian prince by the name of Bardia who sat on the acumen at throne welcomed by seized campaigned in Egypt however we know with certainty that in the same year of his death he would be succeeded by Darius that brings us to the end of part 2 of the Persia rises series in part 3 we'll take a look at Darius who along with Cyrus was one of only a handful of King of Kings to bear that title Adam Daria wash cha Athea was raca shall Athiya cha cha cha Athiya parse a Shia Thea da Hyuna [Music] most historical sources agree that between can be seized death in the ascension of Darius to the a commended throne they're set Anna sir / either this person was Bardia also known as Mertes brother of can be seized or it was Gomorrah as or Austrian priest impersonating the brother this is an absolutely fascinating period of time there's much speculation and a variety of possibilities however I want to ensure that we utilize factual historical evidence when possible wherever the truth lies with regards to who the aserp er was and his period of time on the throne we pick up our series on the ecumenical Dargis was crowned the new king of kings and posaga d but he would hold his court in the city of Eck but Anna Darya spent over a year quelling rebellions throughout the empire we know this thanks to Darius his own account on what is known as the base tune inscriptions the inscription located on Mount base tune contains text in three languages or Persian Allah might and Babylonian which starts with Darius providing an autobiographical account of his lineage and that of the Empire and ends with details on his quelling of the rebellions that arose during his first year on the throne saying these nine Kings did I capture in these wars as to these provinces which revolted lies made them revolt so that they deceived the people then our hoorah mazda delivered them into my hand and i did unto them according to my will you who shall be king Hereafter protect yourself vigorously from lies punished the liars well if thus you shall think may my country be secure we know that a small loyal group of nobles assisted Darius with his ascension one of these into ferny's was killed by Darius with the accusation levelled against him intended rebellion the other nobles who had helped placed arias on the throne disavowed any connection with into ferny's bulgaria spent most of his first year in an almost constant state of reactive conflict he would introduce much reform and advancement into the empire over the duration of his reign the idea of dividing the empire into provinces and placing governors called sat traps to rule them with something Cyrus and others in the region had done before darius with each satyr up essentially serving as viceroy to the king and given a substantial level of autonomy however dari escaped assad traps a definitive structure and increased their number to 36 he also unified the coinage of the empire under a single system in addition to building roads and introducing standard weights and measures which greatly assisted commerce throughout the empire the initial revolt he put down was an uprising in babylon a revolt initiated and led by nebuchadnezzar the third who took advantage of a local noble openes who had removed his forces to assist darius darius felt betrayed that the people of babylon supported nebuchadnezzar and he put the city to siege city remained resilient for eighteen months even mocking darius during the siege with a taunt that he would only take the city when mules have foals according to legend darius finally gained access to the city when a high-ranking soldier of his had a mule hoof old daria sent so Pyrus into babylon having him posed as a deserter so Pyrus was able to gain the trust of the Babylonians and stealthily opened the city gates allowing darius and his troops entrance into the city once inside the city was taken quickly and nebuchadnezzar was put to death as with this rebellion Daria says enemies consistently took advantage of power vacuums to initiate their revolts another such rebellion that occurred while Darius had Babylon under siege occurred on the Citians of the de bandage and attacked Darius haven't addressed the babylon revolt first put down the bolts in alam and Assyria before finally moving on to assistance as he neared they fled the province heading back towards their lands near the Black Sea in pursuit of them he crossed the Black Sea at the Bosphorus Strait where present-day istanbul sits using a bridge of boats the sylveon's employed hit-and-run guerrilla tactics against the persians this frustrated darius and he took the unusual step of writing the Scythian leader to either fight or surrender while the Scythian refused to surrender darius would ultimately be victorious as the Scythian would employ scorched earth tactics in addition to the hit-and-run this had the result of damaging their own lands and angering their allies whose lands he employed these tactics in as daria smooth eastwards and the attrition rate of his forces could not be overlooked low on supplies troops and morale Daria stopped on the banks of the Auris where he would build eight great forts that were spaced roughly 13 kilometers apart from each other and headed back towards the Thrace while not conquered in their entirety Darius was able to instill respect in the city ins enough so they would not trouble the Persians again for some time with the rebellions quelled Darius embarked on a campaign to where he defeated the armies of a self-proclaimed Pharaoh by the name of petra Bastas and to Bastas had taken advantage during the period of instability just before and during the first year of Darius rule darius re-secured the egyptian lands that can be seized and conquered in 516 BCE darius turned his attention towards the indus valley he first passed through arya and bactria and then eastward into present-day Afghanistan and tekzilla' in present-day Pakistan which lies east of the Indus River he spent that winter in the Gandhara region before campaigning south to Karachi once in Karachi he sent a Greek retainer by the name of skylax of Tyrande to explore the Indian Ocean south of Karachi west to suez darius then marched through the Bolan pass and then our cozia and Drang gia finally back to Persia the Empire had a compass to the western shores of Turkey at that time the population there was predominantly Greek since Cyrus had taken control of the area in 540 BCE the satraps ruled those lands from Sardis on behalf of the Emperor appointing local rulers to provide local government on their behalf some of these men would be cruel tyrants in 499 BCE one such tyrant by the name of Airy stager as' from Elisha launched an attack with the Persian satrapy r2 Fermi's to conquer Naxals however the mission was a complete and utter failure sensing his imminent overthrow as a tyrant every stager is chose instead to incite the whole of Ionia into rebellion against Darius in 498 BCE with the support of troops and ships from athens and eretria the Ionians marched on Sardis and raised it Darrius sent Martone Asst one of his leading military commanders to crush the uprising Mardonius conquered Macedonia in 492 but allowed them to retain the autonomy that they had enjoyed since the sixth century in 490 Darius assembled another army this time consisting of 20,000 men under his Admiral datas and nephew are two ferny's they captured Eritrea and marched on to marathon just outside of marathon the Persian forces met a heavily armed Athenian army consisting of 9,000 men who were supported by 600 platens and 10,000 lightly armed soldiers led by no deities however the Persians would be defeated ending the first Persian invasion of Greece Darius in 486 was preparing for a second invasion that he would command himself when he died the task would be left to his son Xerxes Darius was embalmed and entombed in a rock-cut tomb that he had built for himself several years earlier in addition to the reforms Darius would be remembered for his great construction projects many of these done outside of the capital in the far reaches of the Empire one such project linked the Nile to the Red Sea also numerous temples were built for religions other than his aura Austrian faith what was unique about these projects was the inclusion of workers from all regions of the Empire which again enhanced the economies of the Empire outside of the capital this ends part 3 of the Persia rises series in part 4 we take a look at Darius son Xerxes the year is 486 BCE and the occu mented empire is in turmoil uprisings in Egypt Babylon Bactria have kept the newly crowned King of Kings known to us as Xerxes the first busy his father Darius had died with plans to invade Greece unfulfilled Xerxes continues those plans even as he is quelling revolt in Egypt where he crushes the forces backing the revolt Xerxes support of Zoroastrianism was perhaps more zealous than that of the Shahs before him at least according to documentation that survives for example in response to either the Babylonian or Bactrian revolt an inscription of Xerxes states and among these countries there was one where previously Davis had been worshipped afterward through a hora Mazdas favor I destroyed this sanctuary of Davis and proclaimed let Davis not be worshipped there where Davis had been worshipped before I worshipped Ahura Mazda Xerxes had no desire to return to Greece preferring peace and diplomacy however those around him were more eager for revenge and pushed Xerxes for the renewal of hostilities some of the Persian elite had not forgiven the Athenians knacks ian's and eretrians for the Ionian revolt the burning of Sardis and their victory at marathon however aware of the scale of his father's Army's losses he ultimately remains patient and takes his time from 484 BCE to 481 BCE with preparations his army is being restocked from parts of the Empire and is truly one of the most ethnically diverse armies the world had yet seen Xerxes generals and their engineers designed pontoon bridges for the hell spawned to accommodate the supplies his massive invasion force will require supplies are stationed along the length of the route at weigh stations in addition to the pontoon bridges the engineers build a two kilometer long canal that bisects Peninsula at the base of mount athos with everything in place Xerxes and his army begin their march towards the Hellespont a day out and the weather takes a turn for the worse a massive thunderstorm whips the bridge they had built and within hours the flax and papyrus cables weaken and begin to fray snapping completely before the troops are able to cross Dirk's ease is furious and it is said that he ordered the Strait itself lashed 300 times in 480 BCE Xerxes sets out again from Sardis with an estimated 60,000 troops most sources agree that 10,000 elite immortals accompanied Xerxes for this campaign some accounts though like that of Herodotus should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt his writing state that Xerxes oversaw the crossing of his army of five million and almost 1,000 ships over the course of seven days this was perhaps egregiously overstated to make the end result all the more appealing and heroic modern estimates while still very high lower the totals to some eighty to a hundred thousand soldiers while supporting the number of ships at around a thousand accompanying Xerxes was Artemisia the first of Karia a Greek queen of Halle Canarsie and several generals including mardonius and hide our knees who led the Immortals the Greek side was led by Sparta and Athens and only a few other Greek city-state allies as most remain neutral or joined the Persian side they totaled approximately 80,000 soldiers and had about half the number of Persian ships at 400 the Persian army next marches through Thrace and Macedonia Lea a Greek general by the name of Themistocles proposes that the Allies block the advance of the Persian army at the past of Thermopylae while their navy blocks the Persians at the streets of Artemisium the other generals agree and a Greek force of 7,000 men led by the spartan king leonidas heads towards the past to fortify a position the Persian army arrives in either late August or early September the resulting battle has been the focus of many movies including the woefully inaccurate 300 what was true is that for seven days Leonidas and his force of 7,000 held off the Persians in the process the Persians lost 20,000 men and the Greeks over half of their force it is said that a Greek trader informed the Persians of a means to flank the Greeks King Leonidas had scouts that informed him of the impending flank and he ordered the remaining bulk of the force to withdraw retaining 300 Spartans 700 thespians and some sources indicate also 900 helots and 400 Thebans Leonidas and his remaining forces were able to hold out for an additional two days before being overrun the Persian army was an army built for tactical warfare on native open plains where cavalry could be used secondly the Persian light infantry did have lighter armor for example rather the metallic shields they tended to use predominantly wicker shields again and this was an army designed to take advantage of open plains via masses of Archer arrow volleys and flanking cavalry attacks what the Greeks were able to do with less numbers is nullify the Persian advantages and enhance the Persian negatives while this was all playing out on land the Greek and Persian fleets met at what is now known as the Battle of Artemisium while the battle was considered a tactical stalemate the Greeks were able to down four hundred Persian ships and only lose a hundred effectively balancing the numbers between them shipped wise the Greeks now aware of what transpired on land make the decision to tactfully withdraw to Salamis in the process of withdrawing the Athenians abandon Athens Xerxes and his army overrun Phocis and then butea before sacking the now abandoned Athens Xerxes came very close to having the Greek city-states capitulate however the tides would begin to turn the Greek city-states moved their armies further south to fortify the Isthmus of Corinth as the Persians now held all the territory north of the Isthmus the Greek allies were then persuaded by Themistocles to attack the Persian fleet again now that the numbers were more equal and the terrain favored the Greeks the Persian army rode into the Straits of Salamis where their superior numbers would turn out to be a hindrance the Persians unable to organize whereas the Greeks were lined up and able to score a victory Xerxes makes the decision to leave mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece as he feared the Greeks destroying the bridges of the Hellespont and stranding his armies on the Greek side of the divide Xerxes with a large contingent heads back to perch in 479 BCE the two sides would fight in the final land battle of the second Persian invasion of Greece the Greek side as stated earlier had better armor and shields and an argument could be made for them also having a better quality of forged weapon however the cavalry which was also mentioned earlier was still a definitive advantage that the Persians held and yet to date they had been unable to field them effectively they were truly the masters of their native terrain and designed as such on an open field with cavalry at the ready several of the battles may have played out much differently the Greek Spartan pisani as' leading the Allies of course knew this all too well and purposely worked to keep the armies apart until the cavalry would be of insignificance and the terrain at their advantage the Spartans in particular were able to send the largest army they had ever fielded consisting of almost a hundred thousand soldiers when the dust settled the Greeks were victorious as again their superior tactics and weaponry would win the day the battle not only marked the end of Xerxes plans for Greece it would mark the turning point for the Greek city-states with regard to naval superiority after this point their ships would rule the Mediterranean however Xerxes and the Persian leadership learned from these tough and bitter lessons as well after this disaster they ensured that Greek mercenaries would make up a much larger percentage of their total fighting forces this would ensure that they retain superiority on their native terrain types but also along the borders and into foreign lands considering Xerxes had not been a proponent for the invasion he was now able to work on what he considered much more vital objectives for the empire and that includes completion of several construction projects one of these was the building of the gate of All Nations another the Hall of a hundred columns at Persepolis both or massive and prominent portions of his palace he also completed his father's palace at Takara and the Treasury Darius had started perhaps the most significant construction project however was the completion of upgrades to the Royal Road which was the main artery of communication through the heart of the ecumenical to traverse the 2,700 kilometers in nine days whereas foot traffic took approximately ninety of note is the praise Herodotus had for the couriers saying neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the Swift completion of their appointed rounds now if that sounds a little familiar it's because it's the inscription for the USPS building in New York City in August of 465 BCE art a bonus the commander of Xerxes royal bodyguard assassinates Xerxes with assistance from a eunuch by the name of Aspen matriz there are a few different versions of what transpired one version according to the Greek historian Tessie as' has art a bonus accusing the crown prince darius of the murder which prompts revenge by another of Xerxes children artaxerxes to kill Darius what we know is that our desert seas would take the throne not the heir apparent dirk seized our tab anise then leaves the historical records after doing so suggesting he may have been killed to avenge Xerxes death in the next episode we're gonna follow the life and reign of artaxerxes it is 465 BCE and the mighty Persian I commended empires influence stretches across three continents across this twenty satrapies and various cultures but unlike many other empires to come retaining native cultural identities was encouraged the Persian Empire of the occupants was almost unique among the world's empires in that their form of administration relied heavily on the continued goodwill of the populations towards their administrative satrapy well maintained roads connected the various satrapies to the Empire's capital of Persepolis the Persians never imposed their language and culture upon those they conquered and/or assimilated the various satrapies communicated to their populations via whatever local language was in use in that region and often aided by the use of aramaic which local populations understood if the other languages in use were too numerous with no clear majority language spoken however their tolerance of language culture and religion should not be mistaken for weakness those who cross them could and would feel the full force of occupant of justice once crossed this tolerance could come to a very swift end and populations could aside from being acted upon militarily be forcibly deported elsewhere in the Empire while the actual number of troops were nowhere near as high as the Greeks would go on to claim in their version of history it was a formidable force the same force that grew the Empire could also if required police it and pass judgment of might upon it artaxerxes son of the now dead Xerxes is in posaga died at the royal residence surrounded by the elders or Austrian priests to initiate the coronation ceremony proclaiming him the new King of Kings he would be referred to in the history books to come by multiple names to the Rama no Jewish historian josephus he would be referred to by the same name as the founder cyrus the Greeks referred to him as long handed or long armed due to the fact his right arm was said to be longer than his left his ascension was tainted with bloodshed as both versions of the events that transpired after his father died have him killing to obtain his crown in one account it's his brother whereas in the other it is him killing one of his father's bodyguards the method of governance that Darius had put in place had proved it's worth and created an era of stability stability that artaxerxes would inherit and benefit from he would after the failures of his father and shah's before him however take a different strategy with Greece rather than confront Athens and her allies he would weaken the Athenians by directly funding their enemies in Greece in response the Athenians moved the treasury of the Delian League that they belonged to from the more neutral Delos to their capital in the Acropolis this did not paint the Athenians in the greatest of light among the Delian allies and it would become a source of contention in the future artaxerxes would also lend assistance to his father's most notable enemy Themistocles the very Themistocles who was the Athenian hero at the Battle of Salamis would see his popularity eroded through a series of events culminating in his exile from Greece it was said that after Salamis he became increasingly arrogant and his prestige and power grew but much of this could have come from those who envied his stature and the resulting power that came with it he would be implicated in a treason plot and though acquitted his building of a statue near his home that espoused his glory as Athens and by extension Greek hero was for many the last straw and he found himself ostracized for a short time he found sanctuary with Alexander the first of Macedon but he would continue on to the heart of his previous enemy's capital where he gained an audience with artaxerxes artaxerxes who had adopted the alternate strategy with regards to greece not only accepted Themistocles but made him a governor a governor of magnesia as well as myosin lamp circus - it was said maintain him in bread meat and wine things those cities were notable for in addition he was given skep --ss to provide him with clothes and per coat to provide him with bedding in return Themistocles would govern and take on the Persian language and customs as he lived out his final years as with those who came before him artaxerxes would be dealing with unrest in the Empire however as mentioned previously Darius's reforms would mostly help quell these however Egypt as it had in the past would again attempt to displace the Persians from their rule between 460 and 454 the Libyan King interrupts the second like his grandfather santak the third would take up arms against Persia in arose would be aided by Persia sworn nemesis the Athenians the very Athenians who now dominated the Mediterranean shipping lanes were led by Admiral Hyman the Persian forces led by the satrap of Egypt and either the brother or uncle of an Arras the second eye cominius it was said that in arose overthrew his uncle on land while the Athenians won triumphantly over the persian fleet just off of egypt's coast artaxerxes attempted at first to gain an alliance with the spartans but failing this he sent a relieving force under megabases megabytes who's first laid siege to what the egyptians called the white wall of memphis he did this as many of the Persians were being held captive inside those walls he was patient and within a year defeated in arose and his Athenian allies forcing them both to flee to Bible as' which stood in the Nile Delta showing yet even more patience mega boys who's managed to secure their surrender and eventual retreat out of this a new order would arise with the signing of a treaty called the Peace of Callias negotiated between the Persians and an Athenian politician whom the treaty is named after kaaya it provided autonomy to the Ionian states and enforced Geographic limitations upon both Persia and the Greek city-states of the de Lyon League with regards to where they could and could not go in the shared frontier between the powers artaxerxes was also known for improving the situation for the Jewish population in Israel he appointed an Orthodox scribe by the name of Ezra to act as a court official for Jewish affairs which essentially became an almost autonomous entity and after seven years Ezra would along with 1500 exile Jewish families enter Jerusalem where they were authorized to resume restoration of the temple and its walls that had previously been ordered by Cyrus artaxerxes would have 17 sons to various concubines and as with previous Kings would resume the massive construction projects including the completion of the Hall of 100 columns in Persepolis started by his father in 424 artaxerxes joined his predecessors death leaving the crown to one of his sons Xerxes ii of persia unfortunately his reign would not see the passing of two moons before he too would be dead initiating a period of instability that we will cover in part 6 of the series we pick up part 6 of the Persia rises series in 424 BCE the Ottoman Empire of the Persians is now passed at Zenith this great and mighty empire which Cyrus the Great had founded and successors like camp Isis and Darius the great expanded still for now stretches into three continents almost half of the world's population of just over 100 million professed fealty to the kings of Kings the mighty Roman Empire while claiming 65 million a half millennium later by comparison only ruled over one-fifth of the world however the sands of time are ever shifting and the only permanence is that there is no permanence the greatest of empires will eventually fall no matter how unlikely that may seem at the height of their greatness artaxerxes the first died in 424 leaving his son Xerxes the second as the new king of kings of the mighty I commanded Empire however his ascension was not without contention both of his illegitimate brothers okis and sog Diana's also claimed the throne for themselves accounts of this interim period are not only vague but they vary considerably one theory is that all three were for a time declared rulers and recognized by various regions Xerxes the second recognized in the Persian heartland Darius in here Konya media Babylonia and Egypt and Saudi Dianna's in Alam it is surmised that 45 days into the reign of Xerxes ii he the Persian heartland he was assassinated by his half-brother saag Dianna's saw Dianna's was supposedly the child of artaxerxes the first and queen de mass pia after a longer rule but still short at just over six months he's said to have been suffocated in ash by his brother okis the reason claimed for ash it is said was because he had sworn that his brother would not be killed by the sword by poison or by hunger now with the crown going to okis the third of artaxerxes many children okis took the name darius to become known by historians as darius the second the greeks however were not as kind with their nickname for him of darius novice or darius the bastard prior to his ascension darius was sat trap of her Kania which was the area of land around the southeast of the Caspian Sea Darius lacked the autonomy of previous Kings and was said to have been dominated by a handful of court eunuchs as well as his mother and wife his wife Perry satis was said to have been both cruel and overly ambitious complicating matters but explaining much of her ambition was being a half-brother to her husband so rather than marrying into power she had already belonged to one of the most powerful families in the empire as with other kings darius faced revolts and rebellions too early such revolts occurring in his former satrapy of her Kania and one in media darius managed to suppress these in fairly short order however no sooner were they quelled then the hotbed of revolts egypt revolted yet again this time in 411 under a Mateus who was related to a general who assisted in roasts the second during the rule of artaxerxes the first their revolt took the form of a guerilla uprising with the rebels striking the Persians around the Nile Delta only to melt back into the Delta after the strike making them a difficult for to put down we know also that during Darius's rule the Persians managed to reclaim tracks of Ionia this was initiated when the satraps of Asia Minor to suffer knees and Varna basis were mandated to collect long overdue tributes an alliance was formed with Sparta against Athens one of Darius's last actions saw him appoint his son Cyrus the younger as commander-in-chief of Asia Minor replacing two Safra knees the previous commander he also poured the Empire's resources into rebuilding the Spartan fleet which was critical in the Spartan victory over the Athenians in 405 at the battle of egos bottom a Darius the second however would die the following year in 404 succeeding Darius was his son arse amis whom he had fathered with his half-sister Perry satis arse amis was crowned in prasada died and took the name artaxerxes becoming artaxerxes the second just after his father's death a morte use of Egypt who had started his revolt in 411 managed to secure victory over the Persians in Egypt after the seven-year guerrilla campaign another common theme of the a commended rulers would impact the newly crowned King of Kings a brother with a counter claim to the throne his half-brother Cyrus the younger who had been appointed as satrap of Asia Minor by their father started his claim and said it was based on being born after their father and his mother took to the throne or as he argued artaxerxes ii was born prior to their father sitting on the throne artaxerxes had hoped to resolve this peacefully but negotiations with his half-brother fell through Cyrus took up arms backed by an army of mercenary Greeks called the 10,000 with this army he planned to take the throne the first major battle would see Cyrus his army win a tactical victory but the expense of his own life rendering it a moot point it is said that Cyrus fell at the hands of Mithradates a young Persian soldier who it was said killed Cyrus accidentally not even realizing what he had done until later in the battle the story goes that Cyrus knowing the victory was his passed through his enemy's lines yelling clear the way villains clear the way which many Persians many even kneeling to him acknowledging however during this his crown dropped off his head and mithra date he's running by struck him in the temple with a dart Cyrus would bleed out and die within minutes and mithra deus was treated as a hero by artaxerxes and given much riches on the condition that he and others maintained that it was artaxerxes who scored the killing blow for the same reason men boast of things they have done or wish they had Mithridates began to boast at the party as he got progressively more drunk eventually yelling that it was he who scored the killing blow and not artaxerxes this turned out to be a fatal mistake as artaxerxes would have him executed in a ghastly and McCobb way by pinning him between stacked boats with his arms and legs dangling out the sides his face covered in honey to attract flies and he would be force-fed this would of course lead to bodily functions that would go uncleaned and the same flies that have been feasting on the honey would procreate and lay their eggs in the fecal matter which eventually saw eggs being laid in his gastrointestinal tract and died the top boat would then be removed to the squishy sound of fly larvae hungrily devouring what was left of his flesh all in all definitely not a kingly way to go as with his last few predecessors the King of Kings had learned their lessons well against the Greeks rather than gauged directly they would fight via proxies this proved not only much more effective it also had the side benefit of sparing Persian lives as the Greeks were left to fight amongst themselves mostly to real Sparta in they subsidized Sparta's enemies the Persians providing massive subsidies to the Athenians Thebans Corinthians in the form of tens of thousands of acumen at Derek's the resulting political fallout of this was the Corinthian war which would last between 396 and 387 in the wars major naval battle at Caen itís in 394 the akka minutes and their proxy allies managed to destroy the Spartan fleet in its entirety however artaxerxes ii would slyly and stealthily reverse course almost immediately after this victory and come to terms with sparta he would give them control of the greek mainland in return for the cities of Ionia and Aeolus on an Anatolian coast what many history books often overlook is the political master class the Persians delivered with the peace of antalcidas all those Greek victories came at a cost to the Greeks the losses forced the Persians to adapt and adapt they did the Persians would fight Greece by pitting Greeks against themselves not only did the Persians assist in initiating the Corinthian war they spelled out the terms of its peace terms that would restore the status quo of Ionia back to the Persians and with only Greek blood spilled to write those terms artaxerxes next had to deal with an internal threat the caduceus and Iranian people who lived in the land to the immediate south-west of the Caspian Sea were in the process of revolting having refused the of tribute artaxerxes personally led the campaign into the caduceus territory which was extremely mountainous at first it appeared to be not so wise a strategy as food for his massive army of what we are told was 300 thousand infantry and 10,000 cavalry was in short supply even if we conservatively assumed the actual numbers were much lower there's no doubt that food was scarce for tens of thousands of people and animals however as he had done with the Greeks artaxerxes was able to rely on political maneuvers rather than having to spill Persian blood thanks to the idea of one of his generals tribe a sous tribe a sous whose plan was to speak to one of the opposing - kaduche Ian's chieftains while the other general data Me's did the same they would each convince their chief that the other was suing for peace with the occu Mentats the end result was complete capitulation of both and a bending of the knee to the alcaman 'it's what would an a commended king's reign be without conflict in egypt artaxerxes attempted to regain control of egypt and sent far no basis the satrap of Hellespont in fear Ghia far 'no basis had proven his mettle against the spartans and wishing to repeat his past successes spent four methodical years in the Levant practicing his military response to Egypt historical records state that a force of 200,000 Persian troops was raised along with 300 triremes 200 galleys and 12,000 Greek mercenaries under a Fikret ease a Greek general renowned for his contributions to tactical warfare of the period while these forces were being prepared our desert seizes inner-circle had been attempting to convince athens to summon back one of their generals by the name of Chabria who was assisting the egyptians however the athenians did not comply the end result is that while the Persians had 12,000 Greek mercenaries the Egyptians likewise had a Greek mercenary presence while the Persians had been training for contingencies they had not factored in the variable of deployment speed when they landed near Mendez in 373 their forces were too slow giving the Egyptians the benefit of that critical variable of time the Egyptians under Pharaoh nected Nebo not only strengthened their defenses but they flooded areas of the Nile Delta to further slow the Persian advance the other thing the variable of time allowed for was dissension and by the time the persians and their mercenary Allies had neared memphis there was substantial infighting and disagreement between far no basis and the greek general affinities to make matters even more dire helping the egyptian flood efforts was nature itself which served to expand the scope of the flooding to such an extent that the egyptian morale had gone from one of certain defeat to overwhelming victory while that of the Persians abdomen with the very flow of the waters around them Varna basis who was no young man at 70 years of age called off their plans and headed back to Persia the Persians were able to contain the Egyptians however as they had attempted to invade Phoenicia by this time the aging Varna Basu's had been replaced by dat amis dat amis then attempted a second expedition to Egypt but this too failed before gaining the required traction the failures in Egypt resonated with many of the satrapies in Asia Minor and they too began to rebel against artaxerxes in what history recorded as the great satraps revolt the satrapies of data meas REO Barn Aziz and Orontes of Armenia directly and a handful of others indirectly support of the rebellion pharaoh necked an ebow of egypt backed the rebelling satraps directly with monetary funds and he reestablished ties with both Sparta and Nathan's artaxerxes made this his main focus and by three-sixty to was able to quash the revolt during the latter years of this revolt artaxerxes again tried to mediate in conflicts between the Greek city-states however as have been his policies he ensured that Persia would get the most out of any mediations so this time he secretly threw his support behind the Thebans who were at war with Sparta he sent Phil ACCA's of Abydos who was a military commander of the satrap REO Barzani's to Delphi where the negotiations were taking place however the Thebans were stubborn and when asked to return Messalina to the Spartans they refused messenia in the southwest was viewed as being too strategical location by the Thebans and of course an extension of the homeland to the Spartans philic us used funds to finance additional troops for the Spartans prior to leaving the Peace Conference this allowed Sparta to continue the conflict and result in war it said he may have also offered and provided funds to the Athenians in the autumn of 367 the Spartans Athenians Arcadians archives elion and Thebans along with a handful of other city-states sent their diplomats to Susa to obtain a commendeth support in the ongoing conflict diplomats that were to ensure the information was forwarded to artaxerxes in his capital in what was perhaps a diplomatic misstep artaxerxes responded to the city-states with a proposal that was obviously tipped towards the Thebans which the other city-states wasted no time in rejecting Sparta and Athens seemingly taking a page from the ah commended new playbook for Greek interference made a resolution to support the opponents of the acumen 'as the Athenians sent a large mercenary force to Egypt under Travis one of their generals artaxerxes would increasingly spend funds on building projects as a on older projects like the restoration of the palace of Darius the first at Sousa and other projects like defensive fortifications around at batana one enemy that no Empire Emperor or King has been able to outrun though was time and artaxerxes would prove no exception he would die either in his late 70s or 80s depending on which records you adhere to having lived a life ranging from harem intrigue and much conflict his son artaxerxes the third would succeed him as the last ruler of any significant length however a storm was already brewing and Macedon a storm that would threaten the very foundation of the occupants and their centuries-old empire the year is 358 BCE and the 11th King of Kings has taken the Persian Achaemenid throne he is artaxerxes the third born by the name okis to his father artaxerxes ii he had been a satrap as well as an army commander during his father's reign and he was already older than most of the previous kings being in his late 60s as with many of his predecessors his first act upon taking the throne was ensuring his siblings would not vie for what was now his he had 80 of them executed to remove the potential of this threat it is speculated via a few sources that he kept his father's death quiet for almost 10 months to build the infrastructure required for this massive purge unbeknownst to artaxerxes the third a shadow was rising in the north of the Greek city-states philip ii of macedon had taken the macedonian throne in the year prior to artaxerxes ascension the macedonian shadow would continue to rise and soon envelop all around it nothing and no one would be safe from its influence even if for now it was but a distant threat it has been surmised with the fur of the mighty kings of Kings would have known this shadow for what it was would have seen it rising even now and would have been able to shine a bright light upon it to diminish its potential even before its rise however the version of the occupied empire that existed in 358 BCE was not the vision Cyrus had breathed life into in many ways while it mirrored it in size it was not filled with the cohesion at once had and it suffered from weak petty jealous and bitter sad tramps who spent as much time fighting amongst themselves as they did with the King of Kings at its center oblivious to all but what impacted them directly a threat such as this was given space and more importantly time to gain momentum as they bickered the shadow and Macedon would grow only larger artaxerxes knew that for his central authority to have substance and meaning he would need to silence the rebellious at traps and put an end to their revolts first he entered the territory of the kuddusi the future last true King of Kings code a Manus known to us as Darius the third distinguished himself as a leader during this campaign artaxerxes came to terms with the leadership of the Cadoo see to lay down their arms he then turned his attention back to the other sat traps and forced them to dismiss any mercenary soldiers in their employ the king's piece of 387 BCE also referred to as the peace of antalcidas was guaranteed by his father artaxerxes ii it ended the Corinthian war and ensured high levels of autonomy from many of the Greek city-states in 357 the social war or war of the allies was fought until 355 Athens and their second Athenian League had fought against the allied city-states of Chios Rhodes costs and Byzantium artaxerxes forced the Athenians to accept a peace accord removing their troops from Anatolia and leaving rebel his Greek city-states to determine their own future next artaxerxes turned his attention towards Egypt which had been separated from the Empire now for 60 years not quite long enough for him to have forgotten however given he was a young man in his early 20s when they left he had not forgotten or forgiven the Egyptians for this transgression with Egyptian pharaoh necked enabled the second supporting rebellion and Asia Minor he had the excuse he needed he raised a massive army through a series of levees and marched into Egypt to engage nekton able at first artaxerxes had some minor successes but the Egyptians managed to hold out long enough to receive Greek mercenary support two Greek generals athenian diophantus and spartan lamia s-- joined nekton able they collided with the persians who suffered a massive defeat forcing artaxerxes to leave egypt and stay his ambitions for egypt at least for now the meddlesome Greeks as they had throughout the a comment history proved a worthy if annoying foil to the Persians and artaxerxes having now learned this lesson for himself firsthand went back to the tried and true recommended tactic of countering Greek soldiers and aggression with Greek soldiers and aggression of their own after his defeat in Egypt Phoenicia Anatolia and Cyprus all declared their independence in 343 artaxerxes countered by providing aid rias the Prince of Korea and Asia Minor with the necessary resources to return Persian order to the upstart satrapies andreas utilized 8,000 Greek mercenaries forty triremes and put at their head the Athenian war strategist Fosse on in addition he placed Eva Boris the son of the Cypriot monarch as co-leader beside Adria's the army deployed on Cyprus and forced to surrender but had little success elsewhere causing artaxerxes to personally lead a force into Babylon and then on into Syria where he restored order sit on which was the center for the unrest was betrayed by their monarch the sidonians in response adopted the scorched earth tactics of burning their own city to the ground this caused a domino effect of surrender first in Phoenicia then in Palestine an order was restored seeing his opportunity artaxerxes quickly turned back to Egypt where he besieged and took Pelusium and Bubastis and the rest by the last few months of 343 nekton able the second fled south to Nubia where he was able to prop up and maintain an independent kingdom but one that was cut off from the riches of the Nile Delta making it mostly symbolic artaxerxes was hated by the Egyptians prior to taking Egypt but he was now positively loathed Egyptians despised him identifying him as a bulls arse for his act of sacrificing the APIs bole artaxerxes did not view the Greeks with the same mutual loathing the Egyptians heaped on him but instead sought consistently to attempt for peace over war his first real encounter with philip ii of macedon was a peace accord of mutual understanding and friendship one which he seems to have observed even if the details are lost to us millennia later what we do know is that Greek delegations who sought help from artaxerxes against Macedon returned empty-handed however when philip ii attacked the strategic seaport location of parentheses motivations seemed to have been made clearer to artaxerxes who immediately sent troops into Thrace this is the point historians say Alexander would use as his main motivation to sack the a commended empire and not the Persian conflict with centuries earlier for now artaxerxes had managed to restore the Empire's territory to its gains under Darius and with it at least temporarily strengthening central power in his personal life he married his niece among others but given his age much of his actions seemed almost too late had he been a younger man his restlessness and ambition may have contributed to the occu menance with what would be needed to stave off the coming dark Macedonian storm alas it would prove too little too late and much of what he had accomplished would be quickly undone after his death in his 80s but the Empire most needed he could not provide in full and only full would assist with what was to come this ends part 7 of the Persia Rises series the AH commended Empire had existed for over 200 years under the capable rule of artaxerxes the third the Empire had even made a resurgence its borders and more importantly its influence was restored across its vast frontiers however change was on the doorstep the Empire that had experienced thousands of cuts over its long life but refused to bleed out was about to hemorrhage a perfect storm at the most inopportune time for the Persians was about to descend upon them for those 200 plus years the AH commended kings of kings and a stable of capable generals had protected the empire from both external and internal influences accounts as to artaxerxes the Third's cause of death very Greek sources say it was a poisoning and that he was assassinated by his own Vizier a court eunuch by the name of Bagoas Bhagu ass was a crafty and cunning politician who had shielded himself from scrutiny through a series of carefully architected a lion just prior to the supposed assassination he had allied himself with a Rodian mercenary general mentor who had played a pivotal role in bringing Egypt back into the Empire's fold another account the Cooney form tablet found in an archaeological dig sites natural causes for the death but the truth likely lies somewhere in between Bagoas likely had a hand given his positioning at the time of these various suppose at poisonings we know that artaxerxes death came at the worst time for the empire the empire needed artaxerxes strength and his ambition if it was to survive what was to come our seas took the throne upon his father's death and we know based on varied sources that Bhagu ass likely did have some involvement and that if he didn't do the poisoning he certainly had a vested interest in the outcome of that death Bhagu ass had likely also murdered many of our seized siblings and likely hoped to control our seize upon the throne to use him as a puppet upon taking the throne the events were already beginning to spin at a pace that our seas could not have anticipated he was approached by proxies of philip ii of macedon who demanded compensation from our seas for our desert see the Third's assisting the town of parentis our seas declined philip who then set an expedition of 10,000 Macedonian soldiers into Asia Minor in 336 BCE this was occurring while our seas was also aware and trying to free himself from Pegasus influence on him he attempted to use bag OS his own personal mo of poisoning but he failed miserably and bag OS returned the favor and instead poisoned him and most of his family bag OS then played a major role in placing a cousin of our C's our toccata on the throne it was a champion in individual combat under artaxerxes a thirds campaign against the kuddusi where he was known as code ominous what he was not however was a trained leader of men or armies and certainly not of empires as with our seas he immediately sought to distance himself from the influence of Bagoas upon taking the throne he also adopted the royal name Darius the third after his ascension Bhagu ass as he had done so many times before with the other Shahs sought to remove Darius via poisoning however well Darius was naive to the ways of Empire he was not naive to individual politics or power plays he was able to not only prevent bago as his poisoning attempt on him but to then force bago ass to drink the poison himself his left aureus the third on the throne by himself as stated he lacked all the traits of previous Shahs and he was effectively rudderless an oralist on a throne that was quickly about to enter whitewater rapids the Empire of Darius quickly began to suffer under his ineptitude the corruption which had experienced a resurgence after the death of artaxerxes the third was by now rampant with each satrap looking after his own best interests the Greek city-states meanwhile had increasingly turned towards philip ii and his promise to free the persian grip on them in their lands he had formed the League of Corinth and the members shared an oath of mutual protection amongst themselves the force of 10,000 Macedonians that Philip had sent to Asia to free Greeks living there from are commended influence they won several successes but then Philip was assassinated in October 336 at he died the ancient Macedonian capital Po sannyasis of our Estus the captain of his personal guard was found to be the culprit and during a marriage celebration of Philips daughter by his fourth wife he successfully killed Philip and tried to escape but Philips bodyguards caught him and immediately killed him at the death of their king Macedon mourned but even as they mourned his son Alexander would quickly pick up the mantle of leadership when he was in his young teens Alexander had led armies on his father's behalf one such expedition was into southern Thrace to subdue revolts there Alexander was said to even have saved his father's life during one such expedition but upon his father's assassination at the young age of twenty he was proclaimed king of Macedon on the very same grounds of the celebration of marriage while his father's body had not yet even turned fully cold 336 BCE was the pivotal year that would signal cataclysmic change in the known world of both the Greeks and the Persians Alexander taking a page from the Persian Shahs began his rule by purging those who could challenge his claim he would kill all rivals including his cousin the former a mentis the fourth whom he had executed Thebes Athens Thessaly and many Thracian tribes north of Macedon revolted after news of Philips death but Alexander wasted no time in mustering 3,000 macedonian cavalry and heading south towards Thessaly he prompted their surrender and had their forces join his and continued his way south towards the Peloponnese stopping only once he got to thermopylae Athens sued for peace the others quickly followed Alexander using his father style of troop formation and the Macedonian phalanx that he had been instrumental in creating to full effect at the Battle of the carts against the Thracians and 335 BCE he managed to rout them in their entirety in the spring of 334 Alexander now confirmed as hegemon by the League of Corinth as his father was invaded Asia Minor at the head of an army comprised of both Macedonian and Greek soldiers this action would mark the beginning of the Wars of Alexander meanwhile in Persia it's been surmised that Darius faced the familiar action of satrapy revolt in where else but Egypt in addition there was a pretender on the throne of Babylon long part of the Persian Empire the Darius who had received no training or tutoring to run an empire and certainly had no natural inclinations likely felt extremely uneasy with all these events happening near the borders with Greece and Asia Minor Darya says extreme mistrust of the current ruling elite even the few who supported him did the Empire no favours Alexander's army entered into Asia Minor and came to a stop at the river Granicus it was a much smaller Persian army and one that had leaders of not only differing strategic opinions but ones with no real track record of fighting battles on this scale that were there to meet him the exception was the Greek mercenary leader memnon who strongly urged the persians to not fight a direct face-to-face battle with Alexander and his troops instead he suggested they scorched the lands around Alexander deprived him of food to sustain his mobile army his tactics while sound were ignored as the sat traps present wanted no part in destroying portions of their own lands this most scholars agree was the pivotal battle that would decide the Empire's fate memnon had been loyal to the Persians for most of his life being a military general he knew Greek tactics better than anyone then in service to the Empire more importantly he knew Alexander and his father better than anyone in the Empire he had been exiled for a time and fled to Macedon where he met Philip the second and then young Alexander it was stated that they had many lengthy conversations sandir showing interest in persian tactics and memnon in turn able to get accurate measure of Philip as a leader in tactician as well as mastodons overall military capabilities before his death it even sought to ally with Greek city-states like Athens who had been preparing for possible revolt as with Henry the seventh in England Alexander benefited arguably more from his enemies missteps than his military strategy sound as it was the Persians in not unifying and following Memnon's lead with their self-interests ahead of the empire the Persian Empire was an empire built and sustained through cooperation they didn't know it yet but they were effectively handing it over to Alexander it was Alexander who made the first move sending one of his generals Nicanor and his cavalry along with some hip hospice to attack the extreme left of the Persian line as the Persian left flank weakened Alexander called on the entirety of his right flank beyond Nicanor to concentrate on this now weakened portion of the Persian left the Macedonians hit the Persians with such force they were forced back towards higher elevated grounds beside them unfortunately this put them out of range of the Greek failings instead they fell in behind Nika Knorr cavalry Alexander who was already extremely visible with the colorful plumage of his helmet was now in the fray pushing his saris ass into the Persian troops he would break several having them quickly replaced after each break the Persian commanders who were nearby on seeing Alexander so close and relatively unprotected attempted to attack him directly several times at one time coming up directly behind him was only the quick reaction of one of his leaders Gladys the black who saved him the Persians continued to fall back and Alexander had his troops continued to push the Persians away from the shore of the river after a short time they were successful and they broke through the Persian line near its center many Persians were killed as the Greeks continued their push and many Persians fled soon the Greek mercenaries supporting the Persians would be surrounded by their fellow countrymen under Alexander's control mercenary rules under the League of Corinth for these traders was clear any Greek soldiers supporting enemy armies were viewed as traitors and after a short battle most were killed and the rest shipped off to work labor in the Macedonian mines of their homelands mountains two years into their labor Alexander responding to the pleas of Athenian and other Greek city-state citizens would end up freeing them with the battle now one Persia's western border lay ripped open before the macedonian king and arias now fully aware of the Greek victory likely understood the urgency needed as he was quick to build an army in 334 and early 333 with which he hoped to meet Alexander and defeat him Alexander had the Persian capital of Sardis surrender shortly after his victory he was able to deplete its Treasury and continue south along the lands near the Ionian coasts as city after city fell he would grant them autonomy within the framework of the lands he was expanding the mountainous terrain of Lycia was next for Alexander's army and then all the coastal cities of the south to better deprive the Persians of any landing spots by the spring of 333 he had crossed the Taurus into Silesia but we fell ill after arrest of several months he began the march towards present-day Syria this time Darius was personally leading the Persian troops and morale was likely high as he had managed to flank Alexander from the rear and cut off his vital supply line Alexander on hearing of Darius and his army turned back towards Darius the two sides would meet near the town of Issus Darius at the behest of his advisers who felt victory was inevitable masked his troops on the small adjoining coastal plain Darius is like many previous Shahs would once again fight the Greeks on terrain that favoured the Greek enemy and mitigated the effectiveness of the fearsome Persian cavalry and this ends the first part of the finale so this is part 8 part 2 of the finale which is part 9 will be up next for over two centuries the Persian Empire had stretched across three continents where it existed and went it brought with it the benefits of a vast trading network a large set of laws that protected not only its citizens but those who visited and became part of the Empire this also extended to its citizens who practice various religions like Judaism they were able to practice those religions without fearing persecution Cyrus had founded the Empire by conquering what was left of the median Lydian and neo Babylonian empires the Empire had faced widespread corruptions and insurrection multiple times as well as multiple incursion attempts and yet throughout it all the Empire stood united however all empires have a zenith followed by a period of decline before joining other empires in the annals of history in our last episode Darius and Alexander neared each other's armies near the area of present-day southwestern Turkey Alexander had been marching along the coastline to capture as many coastal settlements towns and cities as he could with the strategy of depriving darius and his Persian fleet a landing spot darius meanwhile discovered he had effectively been shadowing alexander and cutting off his supply line alexander while in Tarsus heard arias was massing in Babylon and he reasoned correctly that if Darius was to reach the city of Issus he could receive the support of the Persian fleet there so he quickly began moving southward from gordium through the Sicilian gates to Issus and here at the port Alexander would set up camp he left wounded and sick troops at the camp to recover and he headed southwards toward an aeroplane located between the Mediterranean Sea and the ominous mountains Darius selected a northern route to advance the Persians then recaptured Issus and upon finding Alexander's wounded men there promptly cut off all their hands so that none of them could pick up weapons against the Persians in the future there's speculation about how each army moved and massed prior to the battle at Isis even numbers of troops on either side is disputed in the various accounts those estimates for the Persian army ranging from a quarter million to as high as six hundred thousand but revised modern estimates instead put that number conservatively at between 25,000 and a hundred and eight thousand maximum the Macedonian side historically and recently has been set at roughly forty thousand the Greek account states that Darius had entertained the notion of waiting for Alexander and Issus but instead hoped to separate him from that base Alexander marched south towards yuria but on hearing of daria sinesses turned back here is where most agreed arias made perhaps his biggest tactical blunders both strategies he had entertained could have been executed successfully however darius would move even further south reaching a narrow strip of land which would see his troops fighting yet again at a disadvantage during every Empire's existence there are brief moments capable of great change and upheaval this battle was such a moment Persia's very existence it's very survival hung in the balance it has been recorded in the same Greek sources that the weather on this day was cold and that it rained incessantly while the thin strip of land bisected by a river would prove disadvantageous to Darius it would prove a benefit for Alexander mobility wise Darius had formed his line with heavy cavalry troops concentrated nearest to the coast to his right and a contingent of Greek mercenary phalanx as well as his Persian infantry to his left he himself as was customary for the Persians was at its centre the sources say that placement was not Darius's only tactical mistake he was said to have been offered a strategy by his general carita mmus the strategy to split troops and allow Krita mmus to first engage alexander with half of the troops will never know whether it was pride or ego or neither or both that saw Darius decline this strategy we know simply that it was not executed Krita mas' was said to have uttered some words of contempt in greek under his breath at his offer being declined Darius who spoke Greek well and understood what was said had his general promptly executed unfortunately before the battle where he would offer no assistance Alexander for his part had spread his troops much thinner owing to his smaller numbers he stretched them to compensate across the length of the river in an attempt to match Darius in length but not in depth Darius sent his cavalry in against Parmenion who was able to hold them at bay long enough for Alexander to make a calculated strike with his own companion cavalry at first it didn't go well for Alexander as the cavalry had to not just cross the river but the defense's on its northern bank many of his best cavalry officers and men were killed however Alexander's men knew precisely when to feign retreat and re entrench themselves in alternating cycles all in an effort to buy additional time here was Alexander's moment 200 years of Persian history set to be run through in an instant Alexander at this point was on foot and he led the charge across the river punching a hole directly through the Persian line just as his right flank which was held by a grey anyons drove back a large group of Persian skirmishers once through Alexander mounted and immediately gathered his most trusted men and charged directly at Darius and his group of royal bodyguards the Greek account states that Darius turned and fled leaving his men to continue trying to hold the area's not punched through by the Greeks Alexander ever the tactician realized that his center and left flank were stressed and instead of continuing his pursuit of Darius turned back and punched another hole this time into the Persian Greek mercenaries from their rear this caused the mercenaries to break up and also flee word had now spread that Darius had fled the battlefield and his remaining troops abandoned their positions in a full all-out rout after the battle the sources say Darius had fled so fast that his own family of daughter's wife and in-laws were left behind and promptly captured Alexander moved along the Mediterranean coast capturing cities along the way south he passed through Jerusalem and Egypt both of which welcomed him and his troops there in Egypt he would make plans for his future city of Alexandria along the coast but all the while he planned for his next encounter with Darius he had planned to march to Babylon but on hearing Darius was at Gaugamela instead opted to go there he knew that a decisive battle would be necessary to finally end Darius and by extension the Empire would be his Darius had learned a valuable lesson in his first engagement with Alexander and thus chose this setting of Gaugamela where he hoped to control the variables in his favor starting with the clearing of a large area of battlefield Alexander's Center was composed of highly skilled and disciplined phalanx infantry hip aspis on each side of Center supported them in turn his flanks manned by cavalry units Thessalonians on his left and companion cavalry on his right his smaller second rank was held by Thracian and an alluring infantry as in the previous battle at Issus overall command would fall to Alexander on the right followed by Parmenion on the left flank in an attempt to ensure he had the flank advantage with his lower troop count Alexander stretched his right flank beyond the clear ground Darius had prepared for battle seeing this darius matched alexander by stretching his lines and then sending in his left flank to prevent Alexander from over stretching any further to do this he sent in his left cavalry to attack Alexander's far right the two sides collided again and again with the Macedonians gaining the upper hand and even causing some of the Persian cavalry to flee darius upon seeing the Macedonians gaining the upper hand on his left then sent in his chariots who propelled forward toward the Macedonian centre at breakneck speeds only to be sidestepped by the waiting Macedonian infantry as the chariots rode straight through with their tremendous momentum the Macedonian javelin ears and infantry closed in and made short work of them then mazayas left flank charged in with his cavalry towards Parmenion the Persians hit the Macedonians with thunderous force forcing them to give up previous ground Parmenion was outnumbered and as the fight went on was beginning to become slowly enveloped by messiahs and his cavalry who were slowly attempting to flank armenians men however were not prepared to surrender or be routed and they entrenched themselves as firmly as they could to withstand the repeated onslaught of mazayas troops however many of his men were lost in the process Darius then spotted what he believed was a weakness in the Macedonian formation with Alexander and Parmenion both engaged on their flanks the center looked ripe for the picking Darius could not resist this open invitation and he sent forth his immortal units however this was the move Alexander had been anticipating as Darius's immortals cleared the lines he and his remaining troops were left exposed and Alexander not wishing to repeat the previous battle sought to charge in and this time dispatched arias he and his companion cavalry charged towards Darius kicking up a large cloud of dust upon seeing Alexander bearing down upon them many of Darius as men now devoid of immortals to bolster their morale broke rank and were routed Darius in a repeat of his tactics at Isis saw this and decided to abandon the battlefield yet again what Darius may not have realized is how close his right flank had been to dealing a decisive blow to Parmenion and then possibly joining the Immortals at the center either way he chose to flee and at first Alexander gave chase however realizing that Parmenion and the center needed him he turned back to assist many of the remaining troops upon seeing Darius flee now began to abandon the battlefield themselves and the rout was on the Macedonians slaughtered all remaining enemy Persians and Greeks on the battlefield even with Darius gone Persia was effectively his however this time Darius's escape would not be successful his own general basis ended up killing him and ended two centuries of King of Kings rule upon hearing of this Alexander was furious he had Bess's captured and he would be executed the following year the ones cohesive and vast Persian Empire was effectively Alexander's one of the main reasons we are lacking Persian accounts of this mighty Empire is due to the destruction levied by the Macedonians Persepolis the bejeweled and majestic ceremonial capital of the Empire was raised so thoroughly that it would not ever rise again libraries architecture art all trampled underfoot and destroyed for all time countless volumes of Persian history much like the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria sake in Egypt lost to us forever it's an important thing to note because what survives is mostly the Greek account and while this is not about taking sides it is about bias and no effective counterweight exists for much of the Empire's history to balance events again because they were mostly Greek accounts Alexander's new empire would not last long after some initial success in India he would be forced to return West by a combination of his own troops and priests he would also not live long succumbing to what most believed was malaria at the still young age of 33 he left no official instructions for succession and the Empire would be splintered among his generals a new Empire would arise on Persian soil that was very different as it was now a Hellenistic led Empire the fragments of what was Alexander's this Empire would be called the Seleucid Empire and it would last for 200 years but for much of its existence it would get smaller and smaller as a new empire consisting of Iranian people again called the Parthian Empire would begin to swallow it up by 125 BCE all that remained of Alexander's legacy Empire was a small footprint of land well thanks everyone this ends the series I hope to continue with a new Persian series this one dealing with the Parthian Empire so look for that in the future guys really your viewership throughout this series as always and until the next video Cheers

Channel: Yore History

Views: 210,648

Rating: 4.7957559 out of 5

Keywords: Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great, Achaemenid Empire, Iranian Empire, Persian History, Persian Documentary, Historical Documentary, Darius the Great, Persia, Persians, Darius III, Ancient Greece, Ancient Persia, Iranian History

Id: 1-yGKmPhRqE

Length: 112min 37sec (6757 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 10 2020