Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire, was the largest empire the ancient world had yet seen and a landmark in the history of imperial governance.

It was founded by Cyrus the Great, who around 550 BCE overthrew his Median overlord and then conquered Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, uniting the Near East under Persian rule with remarkable speed. Cyrus became renowned for a relatively tolerant policy toward conquered peoples, allowing local customs and religions to continue; the Cyrus Cylinder, recording his treatment of Babylon, is often cited as an early statement of such principles, and his permission for exiled Judeans to return to Jerusalem is recorded in the Hebrew Bible. His successors expanded the realm further: Cambyses II conquered Egypt, and Darius I reorganised the empire into provinces called satrapies, each governed by a satrap and monitored by royal inspectors. Darius built an extensive network of roads, including the famous Royal Road, established a standardised coinage and tax system, and constructed the great ceremonial capital of Persepolis. At its height the empire stretched from the Balkans and Egypt in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, governing tens of millions of people across diverse cultures, and it promoted the Zoroastrian religion and the Aramaic language as an administrative lingua franca. The Achaemenids' attempts to expand into mainland Greece were checked in the Greco-Persian Wars of the early fifth century BCE. The empire endured for over two centuries before falling to Alexander the Great of Macedon, who defeated Darius III in a series of battles and burned Persepolis around 330 BCE. The Achaemenid model of multicultural, administratively unified empire profoundly influenced later states across the region.

Key figures