Exercises on the formation of the Persian Empire

(Unifesp-SP) “I have never feared men who have in the center of their city a place to meet and deceive one another with oaths.” With these words Cyrus insulted all the Greeks, for they have their agoras [squares] where they meet to buy and sell; the Persians completely ignore the use of agoras and have no place for this purpose.”

Herodotus, Stories , 19th century V a.C.

Text expresses:

1. the inferiority of the Persians who, unlike the Greeks, did not yet know life in cities.
2. the inequality between Greeks and Persians, despite the same uses that both made of urban space.
3. the Greek character, based on the specific use of civic space, constructed in opposition to others.
4. the author's inability to look objectively at the Persians and describe their different customs.
5. the complacency of the Persians towards the Greeks, arising from the superiority of their economic and military power.

Cyrus was the first great Persian emperor who promoted the expansion of the then Persian Kingdom. The first peoples subjugated by Cyrus, who before him dominated the Persian Kingdom, were the:

1. Hebrews
2. Mesopotamians
3. Phoenicians
4. Fears
5. Greeks

Under the command of Cyrus the Great, the Persian Empire knew its first period of expansion, having as its East-West limit a territorial strip that stretched from western India to the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Despite the expansion and conquests, there was a practice of the Persians with the dominated peoples, which can be characterized as a:

1. respect for the cultural and religious differences of the conquered peoples.
2. disrespect for cultural and religious differences.
3. imposition of Zoroastrianism as a religion to be followed by all peoples.
4. refusal to ally with the local elites of the dominated territories.

When Cyrus the Great conquered the city of Babylon for the Persian Empire, he freed him from captivity imposed by Nebuchadnezzar, a well-known ancient people inhabiting the Palestinian region. What was this people freed:

1. The Phoenicians.
2. The Syrians
3. The Lebanese.
4. The Hebrews.
5. The Philistines.

Letter C . The use of urban spaces, such as the agora, was a characteristic of Greek polis, not being known in the cities of the East.

Letter D . The Medes, inhabitants of the Kingdom of Media, inhabited a region close to Persia, exercising domination over the Persian Kingdom until around 550 BC, when Cyrus the Great conquered the Kingdom of Media.

Letter A . Respect for the culture and religion of the dominated peoples was one of the characteristics of Cyrus the Great, which provided him with stability in the administration of the Persian Empire.

Letter D . The Hebrews were freed from Babylonian captivity by Cyrus' Persian troops in 539 BC.