Ancient Persia

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the life and customs of the Ancient Persians from 490-425 BCE. It describes their history according to the history recorded by the ancient historian, Herodotus. The paper then compares the account of Herodotus with that of another ancient historian, Xenophon. The paper concludes that the ancient Persians were a good and intelligent people; social, religious and interested in their society and how it was governed.

From the Paper:

"What each of these works serves to do is to inform the modern historian and help to reconstruct the culture and life of the ancients. What we know when we bring together these vital pieces of historical observations and documents, is that the Persians were very much an open society. They were a society that embraced diversity, learned from the cultures that they welcomed into and amongst their own, and that, like the rest of the ancient world, held religious beliefs and put those beliefs into religious practice; but, as Herodotus noted, not so similar as did the rest of the world because they did not put the celebration into their worship of Zeus as did they the celebration of society."
"This does not mean that they were without faith, indeed they were very faithful, but their faith was one that encompassed the well being of society, they prayed for all Persians, rather than that which they wanted or needed for themselves."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Horne, Charles F., ed., The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, (New) York: Park, Austin and Lipscomb, 1917), Vol. I: Babylonia and Assyria, The Bible, Old Testament (Douai-Rehims Version) (Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1914).
• Rawlinson, George, The History, trans, (New York: Dutton & Co, 1862). Stearns, William Davis, Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Scources, Vol. 2: Greece and the East (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912).
• Tappan, Eva March, ed., The World's Story: A History of the World in Story, Song and Art, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1914), Vol. II, India, Persia, Mesopotamia, and Palestine.

More papers on Ancient Persia:

• Essay # 48314 : "Ancient Persia"
• Essay # 60368 : "Ancient Athens: Delian League To An Empire"
• Research Paper # 54483 : "Ancient State Systems"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: