Chapter 4

In years 500 B.C.E. to 500 C.E., the first Eurasian empires were formed by the first civilizations. Before I begin to elaborate on chapter four called, Eurasian Empires, I would like to inform you on the meaning of B.C.E. and C.E. (B.C.E. stands for: Before Common Era, and C.E. stands for: Common Era). Now that we are all clear on meanings, I would like to begin on what an empire is really based on. Empires are states or political systems that force power within their land or people. The earliest empires were created by the Middle East, known as, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian.

Two of the most well known empires are the Persian Empires and the Greeks. The Persian Empire is an Indo-European, civilization right off of the Persian Gulf near Mesopotamia. They originated in 500 B.C.E. and consisted of an imperial system, which means the people could only speak to authorities through a trial. Cyrus and Darius were the rulers in this early empire, Cyrus, however, won the peoples appreciation due to the fact that he let the Babylonians back to their land. The empire had a structure that used imperial spies to force the authorities power on the people. They called it satraps. This helped the kinship keep everything in order over their lands. The Persian Empire created a coinage system, which included taxing the people, so that money will be able to keep the city going. Also, a canal running 1,700 miles down the Nile connecting to the Red Sea that provided communication and trade along the people. It served as a form of postal service for them, since it sent informal messages to different regions. The empire had palaces, halls, monuments, carvings that Darius, the emperor, built. The Persians established a firm empire that mostly consisted of having one ruler. The Greeks, on the other hand, were composed of several small city-states that established themselves in 750 B.C.E. The Greeks often called themselves Hellenes. Located on the southeastern part of Europe, near the Mediterranean and Black sea, caused the political shape of the empire to be based around their geographic landscape. The geography that the empire was on had numerous valleys and steep mountains that created small cities to scatter across the land; therefore, expanding their region power, yet still having one language shared throughout the empire. I almost seemed as if they had a democratic government because the people were all equal. The book states that the people governed each other. Another character that resembled a democratic government is that they had a tyrant, one who dictated for the people. They were transforming from an aristocratic family to a democratic system.

Being the most developed empires, the two began tension between each other when Ionia ruled by the Greeks was taken over by the Persians. Shortly after their power over the city, the Greeks defeated their rule and reclaimed it back as theirs. This occurrence enhanced the Greeks pride by thinking they are the most powerful empire to rule. With such power that the empire’s owned, created many controversies over land and people, just like how it is now in the world.