Persian Wars of Expansion
The Persian Wars of Expansion refer to a series of military campaigns initiated by the Achaemenid Empire under the leadership of Cyrus the Great and subsequent Persian rulers, which aimed at enlarging their territories across the Near East and into parts of Europe. Beginning with Cyrus's revolt against Media in 550 BCE, the Persian conquest swiftly dismantled previous powers, including Lydia and Babylon, through a combination of strategic military tactics and psychological warfare, such as the innovative use of cavalry and archery. Notably, Cyrus's campaigns resulted in significant political and cultural changes, including the return of Jewish exiles to Palestine after the fall of Babylon.
Following Cyrus's reign, his son Cambyses II continued these efforts, notably with the conquest of Egypt, although his rule was marked by instability and eventual downfall. Darius I the Great further expanded the empire, extending its reach into regions including the Indus River and Thrace, while facing setbacks such as the campaign against Scythia. The expansionist policies not only transformed Persia into a dominant world power for two centuries but also facilitated cultural exchanges between Persia, Greece, and neighboring regions, setting the stage for future interactions that would influence the course of history. The legacy of these expansions laid the groundwork for a complex interplay of cultures that persisted even after the eventual rise of Macedonian power under Alexander the Great.
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Persian Wars of Expansion
At issue: Political dominance in Western Asia
Date: 559-509 b.c.e.
Location: Persia, Media, Lydia, Babylon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Ethiopia, Thrace, Scythia
Combatants: Persians vs. Lydians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Spartans
Principal commanders:Persian, Cyrus the Great (601/590-530 b.c.e.), Cambyses II (fl. sixth century b.c.e.), Darius I the Great (550-486 b.c.e.); Babylonian, Nabonidus (d. 539?); Lydian, Croesus (c. 595-c. 547/525 b.c.e.); Egyptian, Amasis (fl. sixth century b.c.e.)
Principal battles: Sardis, Babylon, Egypt, Thrace, Scythia
Result:Persia establishes hegemony over Asia east to India, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt
Background
Assyria fell in 612 b.c.e. to a combined force of Medes under King Cyaxares and Babylonians under King Nabopolassar, and its lands were divided between the two conquerors. The kingdom of Lydia, which enjoyed friendly relations with Greece, and Media engaged in a war for supremacy that ended when both sides decided to suspend hostilities in the middle of a battle, for both were frightened by an eclipse, which has allowed the battle to be dated with a degree of accuracy remarkable in such ancient events: May 25, 585 b.c.e. As a result of the peace, Lydia was able to remain a buffer between the Greek world and Media.
Action
In 557 b.c.e., Cyrus the Great became king of Ansham, a Persian state subject to Media. In 550 b.c.e., he led a revolt against Media and defeated King Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, who had conquered Babylon. He captured the king alive and reduced his capital of Ecbatana. At first, Babylonia welcomed Cyrus’s victory, no doubt believing that a newly free Persia would present less of a threat than Media. However, the Babylonian king, Nabonidus, soon realized that a vibrant and spirited Persia was a greater threat than Media had been, and he participated in a coalition with Amasis of Egypt, Croesus of Lydia, and Sparta to preempt the Persian threat.
Persian armaments consisted of short daggers and bows. Archers knelt and attempted to overwhelm their enemy with a cloud of arrows, inducing one Persian to boast that the sky would grow dark from the number of Persian arrows. The object was to keep the enemy at a safe distance. While the enemy was confused from the hail of arrows, the Persian cavalry would attack the flanks, throwing the enemy into greater confusion still. The strategy was sufficient to defeat all comers until the Persians met the Greek phalanx.
The first to engage Cyrus was Croesus of Lydia, whose misadventure is recorded in dramatic detail by the historian Herodotus. Croesus received from the oracle at Delphi the ambiguous oracle that if he attacked Persia, he would “destroy a great empire.” He did not realize that the empire he would destroy was his own. Defeated first in Persian territory, Croesus withdrew to his capital of Sardis in 546 b.c.e. However, Cyrus immediately pursued him instead of waiting for Croesus to attack the following year. Herodotus reported that in a cavalry battle before the citadel of Sardis, Croesus’s horses were driven wild by the scent of Cyrus’s camels, to which they were unaccustomed, and, because Croesus’s hopes lay chiefly in his cavalry, a great Persian victory ensued. A successful assault on the citadel followed, and Lydia fell.
During the next few years, Cyrus followed his victory with conquest after conquest of the Greek cities on the west coast of the Aegean, then turned his attention east toward Babylon (539-538 b.c.e.). Herodotus recorded Cyrus’s stratagem for defeating Babylon with its difficult position and its impregnably thick wall. Cyrus diverted the Euphrates River, which ran through the city, upstream from Babylon. His soldiers then marched by night along the dry river bank under the wall and took the city. With the fall of the Babylonian Empire, Cyrus also became the master of the Chaldean lands, Syria, and Palestine. One of his policies was to allow Jews to return to Palestine—ending fifty years of Babylonian exile—and rebuild the temple that the Babylonians had destroyed in 587 b.c.e. when they seized Jerusalem. Cyrus continued east, always conquering the inhabitants until he came upon the nomadic Massagetae, by whose queen Tomyris he was defeated and his body insulted.
After Cyrus’s death, his son Cambyses II, who reputedly was insane, continued the wars against his father’s enemies, conquering Egypt in 525 b.c.e. An ambitious but poorly planned campaign into Ethiopia met disaster in the desert, when Cambyses’ army perished from starvation and thirst. After many psychotic actions duly alleged in detail by Herodotus, Cambyses died, by either suicide or injury when attempting to take measures against a usurpation of his throne by his servant Smerdis. Darius I the Great, a Persian noble who overthrew the usurpers, was chosen king by his fellow aristocrats in 521 b.c.e. and spent two years subduing various rebellions throughout his realm. Darius extended Persia east toward the Indus River and west into Thrace, which he conquered in 516 b.c.e. He encountered a reversal in Scythia (c. 512 b.c.e.), where his entire army was very nearly destroyed, largely because of the chicanery of his Greek allies. Darius spent the following years consolidating his power until his decision to push farther west to Greece.
Aftermath
The expansion of Persia resulted largely from the genius of one man, Cyrus the Great. His luck, intelligence, and strategic quickness turned his land into a world power for two centuries. The conquest of western Asia brought Persia to the doorstep of Greece and exposed a very different culture to Europe. The subsequent interaction of Greek rationalism and Oriental religion proved to be a dynamic intellectual catalyst. In general, Greeks and Jews greeted Persian dominance under Cyrus favorably. The political organization of Persia and its conquests provided subjects with stability until the cataclysm brought by Alexander the Great of Macedonia.
Bibliography
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1998.
Head, Duncan. The Achaemenid Persian Army. Stockport, England: Montvert, 1992.
Wiesehöfer, Josef. Ancient Persia: From 550 b.c. to 650 a.d. New York : I. B. Tauris, 1996.