History and Social Science, Part 94
Question 1: What is Persia?
Answer 1: Persia is the European name for the region that is now Iran. This area has been the site of a number of vibrant cultures. The Medes were the first to develop there, lasting from approximately 700 to 549 B.C., when they were expelled by the army of Cyrus. This great king then established the Achaemenid dynasty, which itself was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C. After this, a succession of peoples including the Parthians—rivals to Rome—inhabited the region, until a durable Sasanian dynasty was established in A.D. 224. Persia was in constant conflict with the Byzantine Empire, and would eventually be overtaken by the Arabs in the seventh century A.
There are lots of good resources about History that you can find available.
Question 2: Discuss and describe Zoroastrianism.
Answer 2: Zoroastrianism was the state religion of Persia during the Sasanian dynasty between the years A.D. 224 and 651. It is based upon the prophecies of Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra, c. 628-551 B.C.), a Persian who claimed to have encountered the divine being Ahura Mazdah. Zoroastrians believed that the world was composed of good and evil spirits, who are in constant conflict. Fire was sacred to the Zoroastrians. Many of the concepts of Zoroastrianism would be included in Christianity, especially by the Manichean sect, who also saw the world as a struggle between absolute good and absolute evil. Zoroastrianism receded in popularity with the rise of Islam.
Question 3: Describe the city-state of Athens in ancient Greece.
Answer 3: Ancient Greece was dominated by two city-states, Athens and Sparta. These two had very distinct cultures. Athens was a coastal city with a democratic form of government which amassed wealth by trading overseas. Athens is also known as the city that gave life to philosophy and the arts. Socrates engaged in his famous dialogues in the streets of Athens, and though he was eventually executed by the Athenian government for supposedly corrupting the youth, his thoughts achieved immortality in the writings of his student Plato. In turn, Plato’s student Aristotle developed a strict form of reasoning that has formed the basis of much subsequent Western thought. Athens is also renowned for the architectural marvel that is the Parthenon.
Previous: History and Social Science, Part 93 - Next: History and Social Science, Part 95
|
