Origins of empire When crowned king of Persia in 559 B.C., Cyrus II was little more than a tribal leader of the Parsua (Persian) people who lived in the south of present-day Iran.

Archaeologists in Turkey have just identified the site of Alexander the Great's first victory over the Persian Empire. This particular site had been unclear for 150 years.

The so-called Royal Road is often associated with the Persian Empire, which started off in 539 BCE, but it existed already in Assyrian times. I think it is important to stress that, unlike later ...