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Compare And Contrast Classical Persia And Greece

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Classical Persia and Greece are two civilizations that both paralleled and differed from each other. Similarities between the two classical Empires include aspects of their social structure. Differences between classical Persia and Greece comprise of their approaches to politics and their religious practices. Though the two empires were bitter rivals for much of their existences, they still share certain common factors that linked their cultures and histories. It is important to compare and contrast these two societies in order to see where one succeeded where the other failed, and how these factors ultimately contributed to their triumphs as well as their downfalls. Learning from both their mistakes and achievements may help us to shape our own civilizations now and in the future. Classical Persia and Greece were both empires with highly stratified social structures. There was a pyramid style class structure in either civilization; the upper class were the small tip, while the peasantry …show more content…

One of these major differences was their political systems. Though both classical Persia and Greece were comprised of a number of divided regions, their government sought to control these regions in different ways. While Persian rulers attempted to unify these regions through infrastructure, Greece’s mountainous landscape contributed to the empire’s overall lack of connectedness. Greek city-states (or polis’) varied in terms of the way in which they were governed: some were monarchies, while others were oligarchies. Other polis’ were ruled by tyrants. In addition, Persia had a system of dynastic rule, in which a central government controlled by a small number of nobles would control the goings-on within the empire. Greece on the other hand, had no centralized government (and subsequently: no system of dynastic rule). In Classical Greece, polis’ governed themselves through whatever means they saw

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