Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire, cried the First Persie Empire^[10] an aw, wis an empire based in Wastren Asie, foondit bi Cyrus the Great, notable for embracin various ceevilisations an acomin the lairgest empire o the auncient history, spannin at its maximum extent frae the Balkans an Eastren Europe proper in the wast, tae the Indus Valley in the east. It wis lairger nor ony previous empire in history, spannin 5.5^[11][12] (or 8^[13]) million squerr kilometers. Incorporatin various fowks o different oreegins an faiths, it is notable for its successfu model o a centralised, bureaucratic admeenistration (throu satraps unner the Keeng o Keengs), for biggin infrastructur sic as road systems an a postal seestem, the uise o an offeecial leid athort its territories, an the development o ceevil services an a lairge perfaisional airmy. The empire's successes inspired seemilar seestems in later empires.^[14]

Achaemenid Empire امپراطوری بزرگ هخامنشیان
550 BC–330 BC
Banner
Greatest territorial extent o the Achaemenid Empire Hauldin warld record for reignin ower nearly hauf of the population o the warld at the time.
Caipital	Babylon[1] (main caipital), Pasargadae, Ecbatana, Susa, Persepolis
Common leids	Persie[a] Aramaic[b] Akkadian[2] Median Greek[3] Elamite Sumerian[c]
Releegion	Zoroastrianism, Babylonian[4]
Govrenment	Feudal Monarchy
xšāyaϑiya (Keeng) or xšāyaϑiya xšāyaϑiyānām (Keeng o Keengs)
• 559–529 BC	Cyrus the Great
• 336–330 BC	Darius III
Historical era	Clessical antiquity
• Persie Revolt	550 BC
• Conquest o Lydia	547 BC
• Conquest o Babylon	539 BC
• Conquest o Egyp	525 BC
• Greco-Persie Wars	499–449 BC
• Seicont conquest o Egyp	343 BC
• Faw tae Macedonie	330 BC
Aurie
500 BC	8,500,000 km2 (3,300,000 sq mi)
Population
• 500 BC[5]	50000000
Currency	Daric, Siglos
Precedit bi Succeedit bi Median Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire Lydia Twenty-saxt dynasty o Egyp Macedonia (ancient kingdom) Gandhara kingdom Sogdia Massagetae Macedonian Empire Twenty-aicht Dynasty o Egyp
The day pairt o	Countries today  Abkhazie (de facto)  Afghanistan  Armenie  Azerbaijan  Bahrain[6]  Bulgarie  Cyprus  Egyp  Eritrea  Georgie  Greece  Iran  Iraq  Israel  Jordan  Kazakhstan  Kuwait  Kyrgyzstan  Lebanon  Libie  Macedonie  Oman[7][8]  Nagorno-Karabakh (de facto)  Northren Cyprus (de facto)  Pakistan Palestine  Qatar  Romanie  Roushie  Saudi Arabie  Sooth Ossetie (de facto)  Sudan  Sirie  Tajikistan  Turkey  Turkmenistan  Unitit Arab Emirates[7][8]  Ukraine  Uzbekistan  Yemen
a. ^ Native leid. b. ^ Offeecial leid an lingua franca.[9] c. ^ Leeterary leid in Babylonie.

Bi the 7t century BC, the Persies haed settled in the sooth-wastren portion o the Iranian Plateau in the region o Persis,^[15] that cam tae be thair hertland.^[16] Frae this region, Cyrus the Great advanced tae defeat the Medes, Lydia, an the Neo-Babylonian Empire, establishin the Achaemenid Empire. Alexander the Great, an avid admirer o Cyrus the Great,^[17] conquered maist o the empire bi 330 BC.^[18] Upon Alexander's daiath, maist o the empire's umwhile territory cam unner the rule o the Ptolemaic Kinrick an Seleucid Empire, in addeetion tae ither minor territories that gained unthirldom at that time. The Iranian elites o the central plateau reclaimed pouer bi the seicont century BC unner the Parthian Empire.^[16]

The Achaemenid Empire is notit in Western history as the antagonist o the Greek ceety-states in the Greco-Persie Wars an for the emancipation o the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The historical merk o the empire went far ayont its territorial an militar influences an includit cultural, social, technological an releegious influences as weel. Despite the lastin conflict atween the twa states, mony Athenians adoptit Achaemenid customs in their daily leeves in a reciprocal cultural exchynge,^[19] some bein employed bi or allied tae the Persie kings. The impact o Cyrus's edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, an the empire wis instrumental in the spread o Zoroastrianism as far east as Cheenae. The empire set the tone for the politics, heritage an history o Iran (forby official-like kent as Persie) an aw.^[20]