"I'm Not Interested"

Hey guys,

I think you all make great points when you say that Greece was probably not that interesting to the Persian's because Persia was the bigger power at the time.
I agree with this, and it makes sense. Because Persia had more land, and more people under it's control, and because Persia was succeeding and surpassing Greece in trade and economics, Greece was not anything interesting, or, in my personal opinion, Greece was not a THREAT to the Persians.

Because Greece was no threat, there was no desire to mimic or learn much about Greece. Emma also pointed out in her blog post, that the Greeks clearly did not look up to the Persians, either. The Persians became especially disinterested when the Greeks misunderstood their culture, and made little attempt to understand it correctly. Perhaps, it was that both societies thought that their culture was superior to the other, and had little interest in finding out which was actually true.

Something no one has mentioned yet, but I thought was just an interesting side note, is the idea of religion. I think the Zorastronism (sorry, don't know how to spell that), faith plays a huge role in the identity of the Persians. Darius I made it his duty to see to it that the entire empire was following this religion, he used religion to unify such a vast control of different peoples and places. More so, this religion held people to high ethical standards, which also kept people in line, without having to create a strict set of laws. (Side Note: This religion was actually one that may have been the foundation for Judaism and Christianity). Perhaps this was one of the contrasting elements to the disinterest, and maybe even possible conflicts to the Persians and the Greeks in the future. (Maybe not, just musing here).

Thanks for reading,
Nat