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VVillyD t1_ixhzsfp wrote

I'd assume it's much more likely the Persians knew Greek than the Greeks knew Persian. There were Greek colonies/cities on the Anatolian coast within territory the Persians claimed. Persia exerting influence over the Ionian coast and mainland Greek city-states supporting the Ionians is what sparked the Persian invasion of Greece in the first place.

It's a fallacy to think of the ancient world as disconnected entities. There was a huge amount of trade and diplomacy between different cultures even well before the Persian/Greek wars. The leaders and scholars knew about each other's customs, traditions, culture, and language quite well.

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aaronupright t1_ixlbguv wrote

Some Western bias in your post. Persia was a superpower, the Greek city states were a border irritant. (Until some guy called Alexander showed up). It's much more likely the Greeks had Persian speakers.

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NordWithaSword t1_ixlh92m wrote

Realistically both had plenty of people fluent in the language of the other, because they were neighbouring peoples with trade relations. Most people in the ancient world were multilingual and some languages were established as the main one for regional trade. For example during the Roman empire, any Roman officer/educated person spoke Latin and Greek, and all the peoples under them spoke their native language plus Latin or Greek.

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