Xerxes and the Fall of the Persian Empire
A historical essay by C. Nicholas Walker
After a trip to Iran, it’s hard to imagine vast empires of complex infrastructures, progressive agricultures and architecture, and powerful dynasties lasting hundreds of years. Many of the great cities have toppled, retracting back into the earth like a decomposing body. The dried sands of the Middle East tell a story, if you’re willing to listen. They tell about the rise of the Persians, one of the most powerful empires in human history, and about their eventual fall back into the land. What made the Persian Empire different from those city-states and kingdoms that came before was its aggressive, responsible focus on growth and conquering brought about by the ambitious natures of Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius and, finally, the shortsighted rule of Xerxes.
City-states were born from necessity. As groups gathered in a new place, particularly if their migrations were the result of poor agriculture or dried lands, they would develop to protect themselves as groups. The Sumerian city-states dominated public affairs for nearly a millennium . They sponsored building and irrigation, but a majority of their supplies and developments were based in the defense of the cities.
Even the earliest empires shared this defensive attitude. Sargon of Akkad was the result of a coup against the king of Kish; Sargon’s only real developments in fifty-five years were the seizing of trade routes and natural resources in defense against rebels. The Assyrians built large cities and defensive armies, but died out quickly due to rebellions as well. Even the New Babylonian Empire only lasted from 600-550 B.C.E. The Egyptians were very abiding, extraordinarily prosperous, but were also inevitably unable to gain new territories, eventually becoming the victims of several foreign conquests after the sixth century B.C.E.
The Persian Empire was a breath of fresh air. In a history of unsuccessful defensive postures in the region, as well as the failed outward growth of contenders like Sargon or the Egyptians, the Persians tackled the arena with ease. Cyrus the Achaemenid, an outsider who earned the moniker “the Shepherd”, became king of the Persian tribes in 558 B.C.E. and, within ten years, had all of modern-day Iran in his control. His son, Cambyses, continued that successful period of growth until they controlled from India to the Egyptian borders. Darius took control in 521 B.C.E., during the peak of the Achaemenid Empire, and used his skills as an administrator to forge a unity and diversity the older empires had lacked. Due to these sequential leaders all having a strong common vision and goal, the formation of Satrapies was allowed to take place, as well as a form of checks and balances between governing powers. The standardization of coins and the building of the Royal Road both allowed communications to increase for all the people within the empire.
Without a common sense of vision, however, the Persian Empire was destined to fall. When Xerxes took power in 486 B.C.E., he abandoned cultural tolerance and completely unraveled all the hard administrative work of Darius. This caused rebellions in Mesopotamia and Egypt, leading to a revolt of the Ionian Greeks that lasted for 150 years. When Alexander of Macedon invaded in 334 B.C.E., there was little Persia could do to defend itself. The capitol of Persepolis that Darius built nearly 200 years earlier was burned to the ground after the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C.E. The Persian Empire was no more.
Although the empires of Sargon, the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Egyptians were powerful in their own respect, their inability to forge a common unity with their people -- coupled with a lack of professional competence in growing their empires -- led to their quick downfalls. For as long as the Persians relied on the techniques of outward motion with inward loyalty, their empire grew without limits. It was only during the rule of Xerxes, a man who in hindsight seemed more interested in his own legacy than the legacy of the people, that one of the greatest empires the world has known fell into the ground forever.
After a trip to Iran, it’s hard to imagine vast empires of complex infrastructures, progressive agricultures and architecture, and powerful dynasties lasting hundreds of years. Many of the great cities have toppled, retracting back into the earth like a decomposing body. The dried sands of the Middle East tell a story, if you’re willing to listen. They tell about the rise of the Persians, one of the most powerful empires in human history, and about their eventual fall back into the land. What made the Persian Empire different from those city-states and kingdoms that came before was its aggressive, responsible focus on growth and conquering brought about by the ambitious natures of Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius and, finally, the shortsighted rule of Xerxes.
City-states were born from necessity. As groups gathered in a new place, particularly if their migrations were the result of poor agriculture or dried lands, they would develop to protect themselves as groups. The Sumerian city-states dominated public affairs for nearly a millennium . They sponsored building and irrigation, but a majority of their supplies and developments were based in the defense of the cities.
Even the earliest empires shared this defensive attitude. Sargon of Akkad was the result of a coup against the king of Kish; Sargon’s only real developments in fifty-five years were the seizing of trade routes and natural resources in defense against rebels. The Assyrians built large cities and defensive armies, but died out quickly due to rebellions as well. Even the New Babylonian Empire only lasted from 600-550 B.C.E. The Egyptians were very abiding, extraordinarily prosperous, but were also inevitably unable to gain new territories, eventually becoming the victims of several foreign conquests after the sixth century B.C.E.
The Persian Empire was a breath of fresh air. In a history of unsuccessful defensive postures in the region, as well as the failed outward growth of contenders like Sargon or the Egyptians, the Persians tackled the arena with ease. Cyrus the Achaemenid, an outsider who earned the moniker “the Shepherd”, became king of the Persian tribes in 558 B.C.E. and, within ten years, had all of modern-day Iran in his control. His son, Cambyses, continued that successful period of growth until they controlled from India to the Egyptian borders. Darius took control in 521 B.C.E., during the peak of the Achaemenid Empire, and used his skills as an administrator to forge a unity and diversity the older empires had lacked. Due to these sequential leaders all having a strong common vision and goal, the formation of Satrapies was allowed to take place, as well as a form of checks and balances between governing powers. The standardization of coins and the building of the Royal Road both allowed communications to increase for all the people within the empire.
Without a common sense of vision, however, the Persian Empire was destined to fall. When Xerxes took power in 486 B.C.E., he abandoned cultural tolerance and completely unraveled all the hard administrative work of Darius. This caused rebellions in Mesopotamia and Egypt, leading to a revolt of the Ionian Greeks that lasted for 150 years. When Alexander of Macedon invaded in 334 B.C.E., there was little Persia could do to defend itself. The capitol of Persepolis that Darius built nearly 200 years earlier was burned to the ground after the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C.E. The Persian Empire was no more.
Although the empires of Sargon, the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Egyptians were powerful in their own respect, their inability to forge a common unity with their people -- coupled with a lack of professional competence in growing their empires -- led to their quick downfalls. For as long as the Persians relied on the techniques of outward motion with inward loyalty, their empire grew without limits. It was only during the rule of Xerxes, a man who in hindsight seemed more interested in his own legacy than the legacy of the people, that one of the greatest empires the world has known fell into the ground forever.
