Cyrus; also known as Cyrus the great as well as his predecessor Darius were amongst the

greatest rulers of Persia during their time. Cyrus created and maintained an empire due to his
military perceptive and political genius. Cyrus also believed in religious tolerance, he freed the
Jews from Babylon to return to Israel. Darius on the other hand was one of the greatest Persian
king and arguably the greatest builder of all time. The two great rulers had maintained a great
empire by implementing statecraft and policy, trade, and infrastructure. Under statecraft and
policy, Persia had a centralized government. They used an efficient bureaucracy and an elaborate
spy network to maintain order. They also made use of a regularized tax levies, centralized
coinage and an elaborate law code. Under trade, the Persians built a road that allowed them to
travel, communicate and trade to different parts of the empire; the road stretched approximately
1500 miles and was called the Persian royal road. Lastly, under infrastructure, the Persians built
a Qanat and was a system of underground canals. They also built one of the greatest capitals,
which became known as Persepolis. Persepolis had exemplified the Achaemenid style of
architecture because Persepolis had a number of colossal buildings that existed within terrace.
They also had a courier service that allowed for communication within the empires.
The one nation that had similar statecraft and policy to Persia was China. Just like Persia,
china had a form of centralized government. China employed Confucianism, legalism, and
Daoism. Emperor Qin brought unification to china and that led to the foundation for lasting
political success and cultural brilliance. The political chaos of the Zhou period led many Chinese
thinkers to reconsider the basic question of social and political order. They later turned to
Confucianism. Confucius believed that the proper balance and order in human relationships
would bring about social and political harmony. He worked to create superior individuals who
would possess the needed facilitated trade,education and dedication to staff governmental
position. The most influential of these post-Confucian thinkers was Mencius. He believed that
human nature was essentially good and therefore called for a government based on benevolence
and humanity to bring out this goodness.
Rome on the other hand had a very similar infrastructure to the Persians. The Romans
built coliseums and used them for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea
battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on classical
mythology. During the period of Pax Romana (Roman Peace), the romans facilitated trade and
communication, they built roads that had distances that exceeded the Persian royal roads,
drainage systems that surpassed the Persians Qanat system. They also built aquaducts,
sophisticated sewage and plumbing network, and had postal services that also allowed for
communication. The romans were also one of the first to incorporate cement/concrete on their
building structures that allowed it to stand stronger and longer.
On the side of trade, Greece had a similarity with Persia. Societies within a huge area
ranging from china through the Mediterranean basin were linked by long-distance trade along the
silk roads. The silk roads linked Eurasia and northern Africa. From the eastern terminus at the
Han capital of Changan the trade routes ran to the Mediterranean ports of Antioch and tyre. Just
like Persia, trade amongst Asia and the Greeks introduced wealth and new products to societies
and encouraged economic specialization. The trade routes also helped spread of different types
of religion such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and the Christian religion. However, the trade routes
were not all good. With that, trade came also the spread of disease, which ended classical
societies.