Ancient Greek and Persian Identity

The city-states of Greece and the Persian Empire were the same politically in that they both wanted to be the greatest in the world. They were different in that Persia had one Emperor and an aristocracy ruling over all of the Persian Empire, while each city-state of Greece was independently maintained. Greece and Persia were the same militarily because they both had good armies that wanted to conquer the world. They were different in that Greece had water power while Persia had land power. Economically speaking, both Greece and Persia depended on imports, while still having some exports. The difference between them was that Persia had land trade routes while Greece traded by water. Each of these characteristics of the Greek and Persian cultures had an influence on their own identity.

The city-states of Greece and the Persian Empire were the same politically in that they both wanted to be the greatest in the world. The Persian Empire was already enormous, but they wanted to make it larger. The Emperor wanted total power over the entire world. Identity comes into play here because they wanted to world to view them as the best. They wanted everyone to want to be Persians. In Greece, with Alexander the Great, their goal was to spread the Greek culture to the rest of the world. They wanted a legacy to be left behind that would never let anyone forget who the Greeks were. This deals with identity because they wanted a legacy to be left behind. Greece and Persia were also very different though. The Persians had an Emperor that ruled over the entire Empire, while the Greek city-states were each independently governed. This deals with Identity because the world could look on the Persians and say they were a united nation, while they would look at Greece and say that it was an area of land that was diverse and not united as one.

Greece and Persia were the same militarily because they both had good armies that wanted to conquer the world. Greece was very powerful under Alexander the Great, one of the greatest rulers of all time. Alexander changed the identity of Greece by leaving a legacy on the world as one of the greatest military leaders of all time. The Persian Empire was very powerful and dominated all of Europe during its height of power. The status in the world was very great because everyone knew who the Persians were. Everyone feared them. This status helped the identity of Persia. The military of Greece and Persia were very different in terms of fighting style. Greek military controlled the sea while the Persian military had land control. This could greatly affect the military outcomes of the Empires. If the armies had to get to a place very quickly, the Greeks would obviously get there first because ships are fast and don't need to rest. If the armies suffered a lot of losses, the Persian Empire could just recruit more people, but if the Greek ships were destroyed, they could take a while to be repaired.

Economically speaking, both Greece and Persia depended on imports, while still having some exports. Greece needed to import timber, gold, copper, iron, and grain. The metals were necessary for military weapons. The grain was needed as a food source. Despite the amount needed to import, the Greeks also had some important exports. Building stone (including some fine marble), and clay for pottery were abundant. This gave the Greeks a small advantage with their buildings because they had the material to make them. The Persians also relied on imports while still having some exports. The Persians had to import most of their goods, except for minerals and crafted goods. The minerals gave the Persians a huge advantage. The people of the world already looked on them with power, but now they have minerals such as copper, tin, and gold. These resources were very expensive and a sign of wealth. The copper and tin could be used to make weapons, making their armies ever stronger. This affected the identity of Persia because the people only looked upon Persia as being stronger by having resources needed by other nations.

The Greek city-states and the Persian Empire both had an identity based upon their politics, military, and economics. Even though their identities were different, they still were very good ones. The Greek and the Persian empires were two of the best ancient empires the world has ever seen. The empires still have a lasting identity to this day.