Political and Economic Persian and Greek Comparison Essay Example
Political and Economic Persian and Greek Comparison Essay Example

Political and Economic Persian and Greek Comparison Essay Example

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  • Pages: 3 (686 words)
  • Published: February 15, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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Persia and Greece were beautiful and prosperous empires and where the most influential of their time. In this essay I will talk about the two main empires’ political structures and their economy and I will also state similarities and differences between the two empires. The two empires’ political structures might have varied greatly but their economies were very similar. Even though they had differences and had major battles they were still the ideal empires of their time. The Persians had a very good government. Before Persia became known as the largest empire in the world in its time period they were not unified.

It wasn't until 522 B. C. that the Persian Empire became unified. Emperor Darius accomplished the real unification of this empire. Darius set up a government that wa

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s then used as a template for later rulers. He then divided the Persian Empire into section; a government official called a satrap headed each of these sections. The satraps were usually Persian and the people inside the local government were non-Persians. His government was a monarchy (kings/queens) and it was a centralized government. According to the economy and the wealth of each province, determined how much taxes would cost for that year.

Like the great King Hammurabi, Darius adopted rules and laws from the people in which he conquered. Darius then drew a single code of laws in which the people within the empire had to abide by. ”He did not abolish the existing laws of individual lands or peoples, nor did he impose a uniform law code on his entire empire. ”(Bentley and Ziegler 170) . Since the Persians

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also had a great government they had a equally as great economy. Since the Persians were very big on agriculture, Darius ordered the construction of better roads, hoping to communicate and link the empire with the more distant parts of the region.

The Persians set up a new system of weights and measures. Persian civilians adopted the use of coins; this idea was adopted from the Lydians. Most other civilizations were still using a barter economy, exchanging one thing for another, but using coins now gave them the opportunity to become merchants and traders. Therefore replacing barter with the exchange of money. Greece was a very high-class civilization, where the government was based on city-states. Perhaps their greatest invention of all was the form of government they came up with, which we still use today-democracy.

However these Greek democracies are nothing like our democracy today. The probably most well known ruler of Greece was Alexander the Great. He was the leader of Macedonia, the city-state that took control over Greece, and he eventually gained control over Greece as a whole. Alexander the Great was probably the best leader of all time in Greece. He conquered new lands, but he was the first person to adopt the new land's customs, instead of forcing his customs on the new territory. This is why many of the civilizations he conquered actually were glad he took them over.

He also encouraged his soldiers to marry the women from the new territories to show cultural involvement. The Greek economy was based off of agriculture. They were also colonized to somewhat like the states we have in America.

Their main crops and trade products were grapes, olives, and wine. The Greek commerce and trade by sea is what made all of the Greek city-states as wealthy and important as they were. The Greeks were often called “The Masters of the Mediterranean” because of their skillful seafaring.

The Greek and Persian civilization had a lot of similarities and differences. They were similar in the sense that they had very well-organized governments and as a result well organized economies. They were both also very big on agriculture. The differences are that Persia was unified when Greece was divided into city-states. Another major difference was that Greece was very big with their warfare and their army but Persia was not as big as an army enforcer as Greece. In conclusion, we can conclude that Persia and Greece were similar and different in many ways. ?

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