Mediterranean Empires

-Persian Empires
● Achaemenid Empire(550-330 BCE)
-Cyrus the Great built the largest empire in the world
-Zoroastrianism
-Royal Road System(1600 miles)
-Strong Military
-Conquered by Alexander the Great

● Parthian Empire(247-224 CE)

-Center of trade on Silk Road, fought with Romans

● Sassanid Empire(224-651 CE)

-Last Pre-Islamic Empire
-Considered world power with Rome and Byzantine

-Greece
-City States, not unified, many types of government
-Mountainous, sea was important for trade
-Athens(Democracy, philosophy) vs. Sparta(Totalitarian Oligarchy, war)
-Wars weaken Greece and make way for Philip II of Macedon

-Hellenistic Empire(740-146 BCE)

-Alexander the Great
-Conquered Greece, Egypt, Persia, Northern India
-Golden Age(Libraries, Cities, Geometry in Alexandria)
-Syncretism: Greco-Buddhism in South Asia
-Died at 33
-Empire broke up into 3 pieces

-Roman Republic/Empire
-Republic(citizens have a say in government) with Plebeians vs. Patricians and the
Senate
-Punic Wars vs. Carthage
-Julius Caesar assumed dictatorship in 48 BCE and made Rome an Empire
-Octavian and Pax Romana(Golden Age)
-Law(12 tables), engineering, Silk Road, slaves
-Christianity becomes official religion in 380 CE

-American Empires
● Mayan Empire(250-900 CE)
-City States in Mesoamerica
-Achievements: Calender, step pyramids, glyphs, astronomy, terrace farming
● Teotihuacan
-One of the biggest cities in classical era
-Traded with Mayan
-Human sacrifice
-Complex Bureaucracy
● Moche(100-800 CE)
-Gold, agriculture, irrigation, terrace farming, human sacrifice