The Persian Empire, Part II Trivia Quiz

Answer: Syria and Palestine

The Persians were looked at as benevolent liberators by the native peoples of these areas. In particular, the Jews who had been exiled to Babylon, were able to make their way back to Jerusalem where their temple was rebuilt. Again, Persian tolerance created the atmosphere that made these things possible.

Answer: Massagetai

The Massagetai dwelled in the area now occupied by Afghanistan, a place where many a great power has found itself bogged down in dangerous warfare. Cyrus was unable to overcome the Massagetai who were led by Queen Tomyris, and he perished in battle.

Answer: Smerdis

Cambyses was the eldest son of Cyrus and was chosen by Cyrus to be the successor to the Persian throne, but this did not prevent Cambyses from secretly having his brother killed so that no challenge could be mounted to his reign.

Answer: Conquest of Egypt

The conquering of Egypt was not difficult for the army of Cambyses, within a year (from 526-5 B.C.) they entered Memphis where Cambyses was made Pharaoh. Unfortunately, it appears that the priests of Egypt were somehow offended by Cambyses and slandered him, while at the same time a revolt against Cambyses began back in Persia.

The combination of these factors probably led to his suicide in 525 B.C.

Answer: Gaumata

Gaumata (a priest, or 'magi'), taking advantage of the fact that Cambyses was busy conquering Egypt, impersonated Cambyses' dead brother Smerdis (remember, his death was a secret) and laid claim to the Persian throne. Following the death of Cambyses, the Immortals (imperial bodyguard), remaining loyal to Cambyses, threw their lot in behind another successor, Darius. Though Darius was a distant relative of Cambyses, he immediately gained the loyalty of the Persian army and put down Gaumata's revolt by 522 B.C.

Answer: Marathon

Despite his conquests of Thrace and Macedonia, and his moderately successful campaigns against the Scythians, Darius could not overcome the united Greeks at Marathon, led by the commander Miltiades. Darius's army was badly defeated on the plain of Marathon in 490 B.C. and he died 4 years later without ever having been able to follow up his attack.

Answer: Nile River

The Persians controlled all of Egypt, on both sides of the Nile, hence it did not form a border for the empire. The Jaxartes river formed part of the Persian border to central Asia, while the Indus in part formed the border with India. The Persians stopped at the Danube in their conquest of Thrace. Most of these rivers also formed the boundaries for Alexander the Great's empire after he conquered Persia.

Answer: Xerxes I

Xerxes continued unsuccessfully his father's campaigns to conquer Greece and met with several embarrassing defeats.

Answer: True

This is true! With an army of some 180,000 men and 600 ships (estimates of these numbers do vary), Xerxes' army crossed the Hellespont (Dardanelles) over a pontoon bridge and crossed through Thrace and Macedonia towards the Greek peninsula. The Greeks were defeated at the naval battle of Artemisium and at the pass at Thermopylae in 480 B.C., but not before having inflicted heavy losses on the Persian fleet and army, respectively. Soon the Persians took an essentially deserted Athens and burned it...things looked dire for the Greeks.

However, the naval victory at Salamis later in the year was the turning point for the Greeks, and they were able to inflict a crushing defeat of the Persians in 479 B.C. at Plataea, under the commander Pausanias.

The Greeks were able to overcome seemingly overwhelming odds and their own disunity to turn back the great Persian Empire, which was never the same again.

Answer: Darius III

Following a long decline, which included the remainder of Xerxes' reign, and the reigns of Artaxerxes I, II and III and Xerxes II, Darius III rose to the throne in 336 B.C. His empire was soon lost though to the army of Alexander the Great, who would eventually conquer the entire territory of the Persian Empire at its greatest extent.