Middle East (909 BCE – 819 CE) Early Iron and Antiquity — Urartu, Achaemenids, Parthians, Sasanian Frontiers

Geographic and Environmental Context

• Anchors: the Tigris–Euphrates alluvium and marshes; the Zagros (Luristan, Fars), Alborz, Caucasus (Armenia–Georgia–Azerbaijan); northern Syrian plains and Cilicia; Khuzestan and Fars lowlands; the Arabian/Persian Gulf littoral (al-Ahsa–Qatar–Bahrain–UAE–northern Oman); northeastern Cyprus and the Lebanon coastal elbow (north).

Climate & Environment

• Continental variability; oases survived by canal upkeep; Gulf fisheries stable; Caucasus snows fed headwaters.

Societies & Political Developments

• Urartu (9th–6th c. BCE) fortified Armenian highlands;

• Achaemenid Persia (6th–4th c. BCE) organized satrapies across Iran, Armenia, Syria uplands, Cilicia; Royal Road linked Susa–Sardis through our zone.

• Hellenistic Seleucids, then Parthians (3rd c. BCE–3rd c. CE) and Sasanians (3rd–7th c. CE) ruled Iran–Mesopotamia; oases prospered under qanat/karez and canal regimes.

• Transcaucasus (Armenia, Iberia/Georgia, Albania/Azerbaijan) oscillated between Iranian and Roman/Byzantine influence; northeastern Cyprus joined Hellenistic–Roman networks.

• Arabian Gulf littoral hosted pearling/fishing and entrepôts (al-Ahsa–Qatif–Bahrain).

Economy & Trade

• Irrigated cereals, dates, cotton, wine; transhumant pastoralism; Gulf pearls and dates.

• Long-haul Silk Road and Royal Road flows; qanat irrigation expanded in Iran.

Technology & Material Culture

• Iron plowshares, tools, and weapons; fortifications; qanat engineering; road stations (caravanserais earlier variants).

• Arts: Urartian bronzes; Achaemenid stonework; Sasanian silver; Armenian and Georgian ecclesiastical arts (late).

Belief & Symbolism

• Zoroastrianism, Armenian/Georgian Christianity, local cults; Jewish and early Christian communities in oases/ports; syncretism in frontier cities.

Adaptation & Resilience

• Canal/qanat redundancy, pasture–oasis integration, distributed entrepôts (northeastern Cyprus, Gulf) hedged war and drought.

Transition

By 819 CE, the Middle East was a layered highland–oasis–Gulf system under Sasanian–Byzantine frontiers giving way to Islamic polities.

Near East (549–538 BCE): Persian Expansion and Greek Displacement

Croesus, Cyrus, and the Fall of Lydia

Lydia, under King Croesus, initially appears poised for continued prominence. Seeking to limit the expanding Persian influence and avenge the deposition of his Median brother-in-law, Astyages, Croesus consults the oracle of Delphi, which cryptically proclaims that attacking Cyrus the Great will result in "a great empire" falling. Mistaking this prophecy as favoring Lydia, Croesus crosses the Halys River to confront Cyrus in 547 BCE. After an inconclusive battle, Croesus retreats to Sardis, presuming the fighting season concluded. Cyrus, employing innovative tactics including skilled mounted archers, swiftly marches against Sardis and captures it within two weeks. Croesus's "great empire" collapses, and he is taken prisoner, his life reportedly spared by Cyrus who appoints him an advisor at the Persian court until his death around 546 BCE.

Revolt in Lydia and Persian Consolidation

Following Croesus’s defeat, Pactyes, a Lydian entrusted with transferring the royal treasury to Persia, instigates an uprising in Sardis. Cyrus dispatches the commander Mazares, who swiftly subdues the revolting cities, including Magnesia and Priene, and captures Pactyas—who likely faces execution after extradition. Upon Mazares’s sudden death, Cyrus sends his general Harpagus to complete the conquest of Asia Minor. Harpagus extends Persian control over Lycia, Cilicia, and Phoenicia, notably capturing the Lycian stronghold of Xanthos around 540 BCE. Facing inevitable defeat, the Xanthians resort to mass suicide, destroying their city rather than submitting.

Phocaean Exodus and Greek Colonization

The Ionian city of Phocaea, renowned for its extensive maritime voyages, particularly in the Adriatic, Spain, and the western Mediterranean, faces Persian siege around 545 BCE. Rather than submit, most Phocaeans abandon their homeland, scattering to colonies such as Alalia in Corsica and Massalia (modern-day Marseille) in France, with some eventually founding Elea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy) around 540 BCE. This exodus highlights the significant displacement caused by Persian expansion into Ionian territories.

Persian Domination of Ionia and Caria

The Persian conquest dramatically reshapes the political landscape of Anatolia. While Miletus strategically aligns with Persia, other Ionian cities, including Ephesus, fiercely resist but ultimately succumb around 546 BCE. Cyrus imposes Persian-friendly tyrants to maintain order and swiftly incorporates Ionia into his expanding empire. Similarly, Caria, a culturally mixed region comprising Ionian cities such as Myus and Priene, falls under Persian rule, reflecting the broader consolidation of Persian authority over Anatolia.

Submission of Cnidus, Halicarnassus, and Chios

In southwestern Anatolia, the city of Cnidus unsuccessfully attempts to resist Persian advances by transforming its peninsula into an island. Unable to achieve this, Cnidus submits shortly after 546 BCE. Likewise, Halicarnassus, previously a member of the Doric Hexapolis, comes under Persian control around 540 BCE, as does the strategically significant island of Chios. These submissions further solidify Persian dominance across the Aegean region.

Cultural Displacement and Xenophanes of Colophon

The Persian conquest prompts significant cultural and intellectual displacement. Xenophanes of Colophon, a prominent poet and philosopher, becomes a wandering minstrel in response to the Persian takeover of Ionia, exemplifying the broader disruptions caused by Persian hegemony.

Legacy of the Era

The decade between 549 and 538 BCE is characterized by rapid Persian territorial expansion and profound geopolitical shifts. The fall of Lydia and subjugation of Ionia under Persian rule displaces Greek populations and reshapes cultural dynamics across the region. This period lays crucial groundwork for subsequent Greek-Persian conflicts, significantly influencing the historical trajectory of the Near East.

The Carthaginian empire, founded by the Phoenicians but now only nominally under Tyrean control, continues to expand throughout the western Mediterranean, colonizing western Sicily and parts of North Africa, Sardinia, the Balearics and Spain.

Judahites compose a significant proportion of the Canaanite settlement at Carthage (Kart Hadash, or “New City”).

Carthage concludes treaties with several powers, but the one with Rome is the most famous.

In 509 BCE, a treaty is signed between Carthage and the fledgling Roman Republic indicating a division of influence and commercial activities.

This is the first known source indicating that Carthage has gained control over Sicily and Sardinia, as well as Emporia and the area south of Cape Bon in Africa.

Carthage may have signed the treaty with Rome, at this time an insignificant backwater, because Romans have treaties with the Phocaeans and with Cumae, who are aiding the Roman struggle against the Etruscans at this time.

Carthage has similar treaties with Etruscan, Punic and Greek cities in Sicily.

A Carthaginian expedition to explore the west coast of Africa is launched, according to Herodotus, probably between 500 and 480, carrying thirty thousand men and women in sixty ships.

Carthage has dispatched Hanno, called the Navigator, to explore and colonize the northwestern coast of Africa.

He sails through the straits of Gibraltar, founds or repopulates seven colonies along the African coast of Morocco, and explores significantly farther along the Atlantic coast of the continent.

Hogan cites the visit of Hanno to Mogador, where the Phoenicians establish an important dye manufacturing plant using a marine gastropod found in the local Atlantic Ocean waters.

The core mission probably included the intent to found Carthaginian (or in the older parlance Libyophoenician) towns as well as the consolidation of the route to the gold market.

Carthage has conquered most of the old Phoenician colonies—e.g., Hadrumetum, Utica and Kerkouane—subjugated some of the Libyan tribes, and taken control of parts of the North African coast from modern Morocco to the borders of Cyrenaica by the end of the sixth century BC.

It is also fighting wars in defense of Punic colonies and commerce, however, only the details of her struggle against the Greeks have survived—which often makes Carthage seem "obsessed with Sicily".

The island of Sicily, lying at Carthage's doorstep, becomes the arena on which this conflict plays out.

From their earliest days, both the Greeks and Phoenicians have been attracted to the large island, establishing a large number of colonies and trading posts along its coasts.

Small battles have been fought between these settlements for centuries.

Carthage has had to contest with at least three Greek incursions, including those in 580 BCE, in 510 BCE, and a war in which the city of Heraclea was destroyed.

Gelo, ruler of Gela and Syracuse, had fought in the last war and had secured terms for the Greeks.

…Citium, the principal Phoenician city in Cyprus, leads the side loyal to Persia.

Carthage, always trying to rid itself of its opponent, the Greeks, might even have entered into an alliance with the Persian Xerxes (the accounts are unsure) in order to defeat the joint foe.

Its further expansion in Sicily thwarted by the Greeks, Carthage turns its attention to North Africa, consolidating control over the Phoenician colonies from west of Cyrene to Gibraltar.

Most Athenians think that the danger is past after Marathon, but Themistocles sees that Marathon—a victory for Athens' spearmen, middle-class men who can afford the costly bronze panoply—cannot be repeated if the enemy, strong in archers and cavalry, comes again in much greater force.

The only hope is to exploit the invader's supply difficulties, which will be great if Persia's naval allies, including the formidable Phoenicians, can be beaten at sea.

To carry out this strategy, however, Greece needs far more warships—the newly developed, specialized triremes—than it then has.

Themistocles urges that the Athenian fleet, seventy strong, be doubled or trebled, but he is opposed.

The opposition is not without political overtones.

Building a strong navy will require the wealthy to pay higher taxes to purchase new ships while giving political weight to the men who row the galleys, the poorer voters.

Maintaining a land-oriented defense, by comparison, will cost less and will increase the status of the infantry, whose ranks are drawn primarily from the middle class.

Darius’ death has left to his son the task of punishing the Athenians, Naxians, and Eretrians for their interference in the Ionian Revolt, the burning of Sardis and their victory over the Persians at Marathon.

From 483 BCE, Xerxes had begun preparing his expedition: A channel is dug through the isthmus of the peninsula of Mount Athos, provisions are stored in the stations on the road through Thrace, two pontoon bridges later known as Xerxes' Pontoon Bridges are built across the Hellespont.

Soldiers of many nationalities serve in the armies of Xerxes, including the Assyrians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Egyptians and Judahites.

Among the Phoenician naval contingents of the Persian fleet are the sailors of Sidon.

Xerxes concludes an alliance with Carthage, and thus deprives Greece of the support of the powerful monarchs of Syracuse and Akragas.

Many smaller Greek states, moreover, take the side of the Persians, especially Thessaly, Thebes and Argos.