Comparison Or Rome and Persia

Rome and Persia were both ancient empires with very many feuds of their own. Though they both still stand today, life in both empires was done differently back then versus how it is now. Both Rome and Persia have prospered, Persia is now called Iran and is no longer subjected to harsh laws. Though Rome is still the same place it was years ago, it has also prospered in the way it operates. Looking back years ago, about in the years of B.C.E, Rome and Persia both had faults over the years, they were taken over, or took over other civilizations. They both created items that humans still use to this day. The biggest question no one really ever answers too truthfully is why are Rome and Persia alike and how are they different. Firstly, to understand the comparison between both empires, the way both empire were controlled and how they prospered must be understood.

Rome was founded in the eighth century B.C.E, it survived 500 years under the republican constitution. Rome was named after a folk tale told of two twin boys named Romulus and Remus were born.

They were abandoned and nursed back to health by a she-wolf. As they grew older, they grew to create Rome and help it to grow. The original story was that Remus wanted to be king and took the throne himself. Romulus was not okay with the idea that his brother would soon grow to have more power than he did. So Romulus killed his brother Remus and took over. That is why Rome is called what is is, because Romulus named it after himself. Rome underwent many political and economic changes through the 500 years that it continued to stand, but in the end the many feuds that Rome created with other empires and civilizations would be it undoing.

Rome at one point in time was a monarchy and later turned into an aristocracy (an aristocracy involves rankings). Many people did not appreciate the way the aristocracy was running (specifically the plebeians), so they threatened to secede patricians (the ruling class of the Roman empire. So the patricians allowed them to elect a tribune, someone who could give them order to follow. After the arguments with the plebeians calmed down, Rome, over the course of a few years, ended up fighting 3 wars known as the Punic wars. This battle was between Rome and Carthage, Carthage was being led by general Hannibal Barca, the man who the Italian peninsula for fifteen years. Rome continued to fight Carthage and subjected them to a long siege (conquered the city, burned it down and forced fifty thousand survivors into slavery).

Rome wasn’t always a prospering empire, all good things come to an end, Rome was invaded by barbarian tribes that were called Goths, over time the Goths continued to do so until they sacked the city and then killed the emperor who was ruling at the time (Romulus), The last Roman ruler. After that, rome was taken over by the Germanic leader Odoacer. Rome also fell to a financial crisis because they relied too much on slave labor to make them money.

Persia didn’t exactly have the best undoing either. To start off, Persia was apart of 4 ruling dynasties, the Achaemenids, Seleucids, parthians, sassanids. Persia originated in central Asia before settling in present day Iran. 550 B.C. was the year Cyrus ii conquered the largest empire of Medes. This, evidently, gave Cyrus control of the ancient kingdom of Assyria, he then after feeling so powerful, brought under his command a large army of Persian and Median horseman skilled with bow and arrow so he could take over more land and expand his empire. Cyrus ii, better known as Cyrus the great, established the Persian empire in 550 B.C.E after he conquered Medes and took control of Assyria, this marked the beginning of the Achaemenid dynasty which ruled over persia for 200 years. This extended from Anatolia to the border of India.

After Cyrus died his son took over, Cambyses, but Cambyses didn’t live very long so very little was known about how he ruled over Persia. The next Persian ruler was Darius I. Darius, who was another emperor from the Achaemenid dynasty, continued to stretch the land out from the Indus river to the Aegean sea. As he did so, Darius realized that his empire was becoming too be. He was no longer able to give his empire instructions/ tell them what to do by riding through the land on horseback in a day. His reign as emperor was becoming harder because of this, so to make everything simple he split his land into 23 districts, and gave each district a satrap. A satrap is someone who is a governs in place of the Emperor with specific instructions from the Emperor. So instead of traveling from one place to another Darius simply told the satraps what to say to the people living in the district and he further eliminated the long trips he would have to make through his reign. As time went by Darius soon realized that he wanted something else, so he made the capital of Persia Persepolis. He also regularized tax levies, standardizing laws, and has regular tributes to him

When Darius died, his son Xerxes came to take the throne, but he was a cruel, weak leader who was defeated in the Persian wars against Greece. He fought through the battle of Marathon and Thermopylae with no real victories. The empire stood for another century, but continued to grow weaker due to revolts from the people in Persia. Persia was soon taken over by Alexander the Great, he took stole all of Persia’s wealth until they had nothing more to live off of.