c. 550–330 BC Iranian (Persian) empire From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Achaemenid Empire, or Persian Empire,[3] (550–330 BC) was the first Persian Empire to rule over significant portions of Greater Persia (or Iran). It followed the Median Empire as the second great empire of the Iranian peoples.[4] At the height of its power, the Achaemenid Empire had about 7.5 million square kilometres and was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity.
Achaemenid Empire شاهنشاهی هخامنشی ایران | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 550-330 BCE | |||||||||
.svg) | |||||||||
 Achaemenid Empire. | |||||||||
| Capital | Ecbatana, Susa | ||||||||
| Recognised regional languages | Persian, Elamite, Aramaic, Hebrew | ||||||||
| Religion | Zoroastrianism | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Persian | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
• first King | Cyrus II, the Great | ||||||||
• last King | Darius III Codomannus | ||||||||
| |||||||||
The empire was forged by Cyrus the Great. It spanned three continents, including parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan; parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor, Thrace; much of the Black Sea coastal regions; Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria; and all of the significant population centres of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya. The empire was the foe of the Greek city-states of the Greco-Persian Wars. It freed the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity and instituted Aramaic as the its official language. Because of the empire's vast extent and long endurance, Persian influence upon the language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law, and government of nations around the world has lasted ever since.
The empire began as a tributary state of the Medes but ended up conquering and enlarging them and including Egypt and Asia Minor. Under Xerxes, it came very close to conquering Ancient Greece. The Achaemenids were overthrown by Alexander the Great, who conquered it in 330 BCE.
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