The Persians (c. 539- 332BC)

The Persians (c. 539- 332BC)

History of Palestine

Up to now it seemed as though the whole-civilized world was to be dominated by Semitic rulers. Thus, when Cyprus the Great of Persia destroyed Babylon in 539 BC, he marked an important turning point; the Persians put an end to the Semitic supremacy until some 1,200 years later when the tribes of Arabia began spreading Islam.

Nevertheless the Canaanite ships and sailors became indispensable to the Persians in their wars against Greece. The Canaanites welcomed the opportunity to weaken Greece, their ancient maritime rival, and the wars between Persia and Greece were actually a contest between the sea powers of Greece and Canaanite Phoenicia.

In 481 BC, the Persian king Xeras launched the greatest attack ever on Greece. The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484- 425 BC), often called the 'Father of History', estimated (no doubt overgenerously) the Phoenician fleet as having been manned by about half a million oarsmen, sailors and marines. He also tells us that 674 vessels were used to support two bridges constructed over the narrows of the Hellespont (today the Dardanelles in Turkey) to permit the passage of the Persian army.

The chief architects were the men of Tyre and Sidon, who proved to have more advanced knowledge of marine architecture and of rope and cable work than any other nation in the Mediterranean. They also built landing craft vessels, designed to land horses for the Persian army. The Greeks were able to repulse the Persian attack, which, if successful, may have given the Western world the Persian religion of Zoroaster in place of the Greek gods and Greek philosophy and literature.

Cyrus the Great permitted the exiled Jews to return to Judah- now called 'Judaea'- though many Jews remained in Babylon, unwilling to leave their possessions. Those who returned to Jerusalem built the Second Temple on the place where Solomon's Temple once stood.

But the number of Jews in Palestine was now small, estimated as between 20,000 to 40,000. The Samaritans, regarding Judaea and Samaria as theirs, resented the influx of strangers claiming Jerusalem as their own on the grounds that their fathers had been banished some fifty years before. Thus began a long and drawn out hostility between Jews and Samaritans.

During the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxas II (404- 358 BC), Egypt and Palestine revolted. The Persians moved into Palestine and ruthlessly crushed all opposition.