The Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE)

Founded by Cyrus the Great around 550 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from Egypt and the Aegean to the Indus. These pages follow its kings, wars, roads, cities and religion, from Cyrus to the defeat of Darius III by Alexander in 330 BCE.

Pages in this era

1. Achaemenes, Teispes and the Early Persian Kings of Anshan
2. Cyrus the Great: Birth, Legends and Rise to Power
3. Cyrus Conquers Lydia: Croesus and the Battle of Thymbra
4. The Persian Conquest of Ionia and Asia Minor
5. Cyrus Takes Babylon (539 BCE)
6. The Cyrus Cylinder
7. Cyrus and the Return of the Jews
8. The Death of Cyrus and the Massagetae
9. Pasargadae: Cyrus’s Capital and Tomb
10. The Tomb of Cyrus through History
11. Cambyses II
12. Cambyses Conquers Egypt: The Battle of Pelusium
13. Bardiya and Gaumata: The Usurper Question
14. Darius the Great Takes the Throne
15. The Great Revolts of 522–521 BCE
16. The Behistun Inscription
17. The Persian Conquest of the Indus Valley
18. Darius’s Scythian Campaign
19. Darius’s Canal from the Nile to the Red Sea
20. Darius’s Reforms: Satrapies, Taxes and Law
21. The Royal Road and the Persian Postal System
22. The Daric: Achaemenid Coinage and Economy
23. The Ionian Revolt (499–493 BCE)
24. The Greco-Persian Wars: An Overview
25. Mardonius and the First Persian Expedition to Greece (492 BCE)
26. The Battle of Marathon (490 BCE)
27. The Death of Darius I and the Succession of Xerxes
28. The Royal Tombs of Naqsh-e Rostam
29. Xerxes I: King of Kings (486–465 BCE)
30. Xerxes’ Invasion of Greece (480–479 BCE)
31. The Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE)
32. The Battle of Artemisium (480 BCE)
33. The Persian Capture of Athens (480–479 BCE)
34. The Battle of Salamis (480 BCE)
35. The Battle of Plataea and the End of the Invasion (479 BCE)
36. The Palace of Darius at Susa
37. Building Persepolis: How Darius and Xerxes Built Parsa
38. The Persepolis Fortification and Treasury Tablets
39. Herodotus and the Persians
40. The Apadana Reliefs: Nations Bringing Gifts
41. The Achaemenid Paradise Gardens
42. The Persian Immortals and the Achaemenid Army
43. The Achaemenid Navy
44. Religion of the Achaemenid Kings
45. Women of the Achaemenid Court
46. Old Persian Language and Cuneiform
47. Egypt under Persian Rule
48. Babylon under Persian Rule
49. Artaxerxes I
50. The Peace of Callias
51. Darius II and the Peloponnesian War
52. Famous Satraps of the Persian Empire
53. Artaxerxes II Mnemon
54. Cyrus the Younger and the Battle of Cunaxa
55. The King’s Peace (387 BCE)
56. The Great Satraps’ Revolt
57. Artaxerxes III and the Reconquest of Egypt
58. Darius III, the Last Achaemenid King
59. The Battle of the Granicus (334 BCE)
60. The Battle of Issus (333 BCE)
61. Alexander Takes Tyre, Gaza and Egypt (332 BCE)
62. The Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE)
63. Ariobarzanes and the Battle of the Persian Gate
64. The Burning of Persepolis (330 BCE)
65. The Death of Darius III and Bessus
66. The Legacy of the Achaemenid Empire