Cyrus The Great Compare And Contrast Essay

Throughout ancient history, there have been many ancient battles in which had two great and powerful empires were fighting due to control over land, one’s belief system, and wanting an abundance of resources. Of these empires, two of them, the Greek and the Persian, were at enmity with each other. These empires were about as similar as the moon and the son, in fact, they were almost polar opposites. Although in many instances the Persian and the Greek empires have an abundance of differences, there are also some similarities.

Persia was founded by Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Great was born some time in between 580 to 590 B.C.E., but information about him did not emerge until 550 B.C.E. (Stockdale) Cyrus originally took over Medes, but several years later, he conquered and joined together Lydia, Cilicia, Croesus and Media to create the Achaemenid period of Persia. One of Cyrus’ greatest gestures that he performed was when he took over Babylon. Babylon at the time was ruled by a cruel king, and after Cyrus took over, he set free about 40,000 Hebrew slaves. Each empire was founded by different people and in

One of the biggest similarities is that the men were played the dominant role. Men were the only ones who can hold a position in office. In the Greek empire men were the only citizens that could vote. Another similarity that the Persians and the Greeks shared is their love for wine. In Greece they had a God for wine named Dionysus. Dionysus was a demigod, for half mortal and half immortal, and his father was the King of the gods, Zeus. He was made immortal by his father, for which Dionysus was mortal before he became an adult. Zeus thought his son was worthy, so he turned his immortal, and so Dionysus became the god of wine. It is said that wine making and drinking has been in Persia since the Achaemenid period, which was the first Persian “dynasty”