35095PFtsr3b Underpinning the Commercial Common-

WEALTH AN
AGGRESSIVE MILITARY THAT
HELPED EXTEND THE FRONTIERS,
BUT WAS ALSO NEEDED TO DEFEND THEM!
Persia faced even thèn & there already persistent problems from the north
'a new world' dominated by nomads who lived with their livestock on semi-arid grassland belts,
known as steppes, stretching from the Black Sea all across Central Asia as far as Mongolia?! These
nomads were even then thus famed for their ferocity - they were said to drink the blood of their e-
nemies & make clothes of their scalps, and in some cases to eat the flesh of their own fathers......
Interaction with all these different nomads was already complex enough though, for despite stock
descriptions of them as chaotic & unpredictable, they were important partners in the supply of ani-
mals, & especially fine horses! But these nomads could be the cause of disaster, such as when CY-
RUS the Great, the architect of the Persian Empire in the 6th century BC, was killed trying to subju-
gate the SCYTHIANS; his head was then carried around in a skin filled with blood, said one writer, so
that the thirst for POWER that had inspired him could now be quenched. Nevertheless, this was quite
a rare setback that did not stall Persia's expansion. Greek commanders looked east with a combinati-
on of fear and respect, seeking to learn from the Persians' tactics on the battlefield and to adopt their
technology! Authors like Aeschylus used successes against the Persians as a way of celebrating military
prowess and demonstrating the 'favour of the gods', commemorating heroic resistance to attempted in-
vasions of Greece in epic plays & literature!
10 jul 2019 - bewerkt op 13 jul 2019 - meld ongepast verhaal
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Asih, man, 80 jaar
   
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