Chapter 7: The Empires of Persia
The king who failed to follow the normal Persian governing policy of toleration was
Xerxes
The Gathas were
Zarathustra's compositions.
The words "good words, good thoughts, good deeds" were used to sum up the view of morality of the
Zoroastrians.
The major early turning point in the rise of the Persian empire was the
victory of Cyrus over Lydia.
The leader of the Lydians who fell to Cyrus was
Croesus.
The emperor of the Achaemenid empire at its greatest extent was Cyrus.
False
In organizing their empire, Persian rulers relied heavily on techniques of administration from the
Mesopotamians.
Which of the following empires normally displayed the greatest degree of toleration toward its subject peoples?
Achaemenid
Which of the following lists of Persian empires is correct, chronologically?
Achaemenids, Seleucids, Parthians, Sasanids
Zarathustra talked about the battle between the "wise lord" Ahura Mazda and the evil spirit
Angra Mainyu.
The Sasanids were defeated in 651 C.E. by
Arab warriors.
The social structure of the Medes and Persians was originally very similar to the
Aryans.
The founder of the Achaemenid empire was
Cyrus.
The Persian king who regularized tax levies and standardized laws was
Darius.
The greatest of the Achaemenid emperors was
Darius.
In 525 B.C.E. the Persian emperor Cambyses captured
Egypt.
The decisive victory of Alexander of Macedon over the Persians was called the battle of
Gaugamela.
Who used the words, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds," to describe the Persian courier service?
Herodotus
The Medes and Persians were originally
Indo-European tribes
For his decision to allow them to return to their capital city and rebuild their temple, Darius received high praise from these people. Who were they?
Jews
Darius picked up the idea of a standardized government-issued coinage from the
Lydians.
The greatest Parthian ruler was
Mithradates I.
Which Iranian state followed the Achaemenids and rivaled the Seleucids in greatness?
Parthian
The magnificent capital of the Persian empire constructed by Darius was
Persepolis
Satrapies were
Persian administrative units.
The qanat were
Persian underground canals.
The Seleucids were finally defeated in 83 B.C.E. by the
Romans.
The center of the Persian communications network was the
Royal Road.
The empire comprising most of the old Achaemenid state that was taken by a general of Alexander the Great was the
Seleucid empire.
Cambyses was the Persian emperor who captured Egypt.
True
Shapur I was the greatest Sasanid ruler.
True
The Achaemenid empire was founded by Cyrus.
True
The Parthians were a powerful Iranian empire that extended into Mesopotamia.
True
The Persian loss to the Greeks in 490 B.C.E. was at Marathon.
True
The Sasanids claimed direct descent from the Achaemenids and that ruled from 224 to 651 C.E.
True
The Seleucid empire was founded by one of Alexander's generals.
True
The greatest Parthian ruler was Mithradates I.
True
The religious prophet who brought about a transformation of Persian religion was Zarathustra
True
The battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.E. proved to be
a Persian loss.
Gimillu was
a slave associated with the temple in Uruk.
Zoroastrianism was
allowed to spread through its own merits.
Zarathustra viewed the material world
as a gift from Ahura Mazda that should be enjoyed.
The Persian legal code was designed to
codify the laws of the subject peoples.
The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanid empires
employed a form of imperial administration copied from the Achaemenids.
Ctesiphon was
the capital of the Parthian and Sasanid empires.
Pasargadae was
the capital of the Persian empire before Persepolis.
Shapur I was
the greatest Sasanid king.
Which of the following basic tenets of Zoroastrianism did NOT influence later religions?
the view of the material world as a place of temptation that had to be ignored
The population of the Achaemenid empire under Darius was
thirty-five million.
The Persian "eyes and ears of the king"
were spies
