The Persian Empire, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great, became one of history’s most powerful and influential empires. At its height, it spanned three continents,covering parts of ...

Iran, one of the world’s oldest and most influential civilizations, has a rich history that spans over 5,000 years. Located ...

The Persian Empire existed at a unique time in history, when most of the oikumene, or civilized, settled, populated world was concentrated in or near the Middle East. As a result, the Persian ...

The Persian Empire existed at a unique time in history, when most of the oikumene, or civilized, settled, populated world was concentrated in or near the Middle East. As a result, the Persian ...

Iran wasn't always like this. It has a long and venerable history as the center of the famed Persian Empire, which goes all the way back, virtually unbroken, to 550 B.C. under Cyrus the Great.

The Persian Empire under ruler Xerxes was a land power, but it also possessed the era’s largest navy, composed of mariners from conquered seafaring nations – Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cypriots ...

It was achieved later, between 521-516 BCE, when the Persian king Darius I rebuilt the Second Temple (paid by the Persian empire’s treasury) and sent back the articles taken from the Temple.

The surprise defeat of the mighty Persian Empire in 490 B.C. began the Golden Age of Athens and the Greco-Persian wars. A well-armed Greek hoplite (right) slays a Persian soldier in a detail from ...

The archer was a key signature of the Persian daric, issued by the Persian Empire and potentially minted during the fifth century B.C. about 60 miles northeast of Notion in the ancient city of Sardis.