Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire (/kimnd/; Old Persian:[9]

<PA-A-RA-SA> Prsa;[10][11] New Persian:
c. 550330 BC), also called the First Persian
Empire[12] or Medo-Persian Empire, was an empire
based in Western Asia in Iran, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great.[12] The dynasty draws its
name from a hypothetical king Achaemenes, who would
have ruled the Persis region between 705 BCE and 675
BCE. The empire expanded to eventually rule over signicant portions of the ancient world, which at around
500 BCE stretched from parts of the Balkans and ThraceMacedonia in the west, to the Indus valley in the east.[13]
The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt
as well. It was ruled by a series of hereditary monarchs
who found a way to help unify its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.

The delegation of power to local governments is thought

to have eventually weakened the kings authority, causing
resources to be expended in attempts to subdue local rebellions, and leading to the disunity of the region at the
time of Alexander the Great's invasion in 334 BCE.[13]
This viewpoint, however, is challenged by some modern scholars who argue that the Achaemenid Empire was
not facing any such crisis around the time of Alexander, and that only internal succession struggles within
the Achaemenid family ever came close to weakening
the empire.[13] Alexander, an avid admirer of Cyrus the
Great,[19] would eventually cause the collapse of the empire and its disintegration around 330 BCE into what later
became the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire, in
addition to other minor territories which gained independence at that time. However, the Persian population of
eventually re[14]
By the 600s BCE, the Persians (prsa)
had settled the central plateau continued to thrive and
[13]
claimed
power
by
the
2nd
century
BCE.
in the region in the southwestern portion of the Iranian
plateau, in what came to be known as Persis (city of The historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far
Persians) bounded on the west by the Tigris River and beyond its territorial and military inuences and included
on the south by the Persian Gulf; this region came to cultural, social, technological and religious inuences as
be their heartland.[13] It was from this region that Cyrus well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in
the Great would advance to defeat the Kingdom of Me- their daily lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange,[20] some
dia, the Kingdom of Lydia, and the Babylonian Empire, being employed by, or allied to the Persian kings. The
to form the Achaemenid Empire. At the height of its impact of Cyrus the Greats Edict of Restoration is menpower after the conquest of ancient Egypt, the empire en- tioned in Judeo-Christian texts and the empire was incompassed approximately 8 million square kilometers[15] strumental in the spread of Zoroastrianism as far east as
spanning three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa. At China. Even Alexander the Great adopted some of its
its greatest extent, the empire included the modern terri- customs, venerating the Persian kings including Cyrus
tories of Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Great, and receiving proskynesis as they did, dePalestine, Lebanon, all signicant population centers of spite Macedonian disapproval.[21][22] The Persian Empire
ancient Egypt as far west as Libya, Thrace and the an- would also set the tone for the politics, heritage and hiscient kingdom of Macedonia, much of the Black Sea tory of modern Persia (now called Iran).[23]
coastal regions, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, much of
Central Asia, Afghanistan, China, northern Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, and parts of Oman and the UAE.[6][7]
1 History
In 480 BCE, it is estimated that 50 million[4] people lived
in the Achaemenid Empire.[16] According to Guinness 1.1 Achaemenid timeline
World Records, the empire at its peak ruled over 44%
of the worlds population, the highest such gure for any Astronomical year numbering
empire in history.[17] It is noted in Western history as the
antagonist of the Greek city states[13] during the GrecoDates are approximate,
Persian Wars, for emancipation of slaves including the
consult particular article
Jewish exiles in Babylon, and for building infrastructure
for details
such as a postal system and road systems, and the use of
Due to the short duration
an ocial language, Aramaic, throughout its territories.
of their reigns, Smerdis
The empire had a centralised, bureaucratic administra(522 BCE), Xerxes II and
tion under a king and a large professional army and civil
[18]
Sogdianus (both in 424
services, inspiring similar systems in later empires.
BCE) are not shown.

1.2

HISTORY

Origin

rising to power at the end of the 7th century BC and incorporating the Persians into their empire. The Iranian peoMain articles: Achaemenes, Teispids and Achaemenid ple had arrived in the region circa 1000 BCE[25] and had
initially fallen under the domination of the Assyrian Emfamily tree
pire (911-609 BCE). However, the Medes and Persians
(together with the Scythians and Babylonians) played a
major role in the defeat of the Assyrians and establishment of the rst Persian empire.
The term Achaemenid is in fact the Latinized version of
the Old Persian name Haxmani (a bahuvrihi compound
translating to having a friends mind[26] ), meaning in
Greek of the family of the Achaemenis. Despite the
derivation of the name, Achaemenes was himself a minor 7th-century ruler of the Anshan (Ansham or Ann)
located in southwestern Iran.[24] It was not until the time
of Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia), a descendant of
Achaemenes, that the Achaemenid Empire developed the
prestige of an empire and set out to incorporate the existing empires of the ancient east, becoming the vast Persian
Empire of ancient legend.

Relief of Cyrus the Great.

At some point in 550 BCE, Cyrus the Great rose in rebellion against the Median Empire (most likely due to
the Medes mismanagement of Persis), eventually conquering the Medes and creating the rst Persian empire. Cyrus the Great utilized his tactical genius,[27] as
well as his understanding of the socio-political conditions
governing his territories, to eventually incorporate into
the Persian Empire the neighbouring Lydian and NeoBabylonian empires, also leading the way for his successor, Cambyses II, to venture into Egypt and defeat the
Egyptian Kingdom.

Cyrus the Greats political acumen was reected in his

management of his newly formed empire, as the Persian
The Persian nation contains a number of
Empire became the rst to attempt to govern many diftribes as listed here. ... : the Pasargadae,
ferent ethnic groups on the principle of equal responsiMaraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other
bilities and rights for all people, so long as subjects paid
tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae
their taxes and kept the peace.[28] Additionally, the king
are the most distinguished; they contain the
agreed not to interfere with the local customs, religions,
clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the
and trades of its subject states,[28] a unique quality that
Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei,
eventually won Cyrus the support of the Babylonians.
Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached
This system of management ultimately became an issue
to the soil, the remainder -the Dai, Mardi,
for the Persians, as with a larger empire came the need
Dropici, Sagarti, being nomadic.
for order and control, leading to expenditure of resources
Herodotus, Histories 1.101 & 125
and mobilization of troops to quell local rebellions, and
weakening the central power of the king. By the time of
Darius III, this disorganization had almost led to a disThe Persian Empire was created by nomadic Persians united realm.[13]
who originally referred to themselves as parsua. The
The Persians from whom Cyrus hailed were originally
name Persia is a Greek and Latin pronunciation of the
nomadic pastoral people in the western Iranian plateau
name Parsua, referring to people originating from Persis
and by 850 BC were calling themselves the Parsa and
(or in Persian, Pars), their home territory located north of
their constantly shifting territory Parsua, for the most
the Persian Gulf in south western Iran.[24]
part localized around Persis (Pars).[13] As Persians gained
Despite its success and rapid expansion, the Achaemenid power, they developed the infrastructure to support their
Empire was not the rst Iranian empire, as by 6th cen- growing inuence, including creation of a capital named
tury BCE another group of ancient Iranian peoples had al- Pasargadae and an opulent city named Persepolis.
ready established the Median Empire.[24] The Medes had
originally been the dominant Iranian group in the region,

1.3

Formation and expansion

Begun during the rule of Darius the Great (Darius I) and

completed some 100 years later,[29] Persepolis was a symbol of the empire serving both as a ceremonial centre
and a center of government.[29] It had a special set of
gradually progressive stairways named All Countries[29]
around which carved relief decoration depicted scenes
of heroism, hunting, natural themes, and presentation of
the gifts to the Achaemenid kings by their subjects during the spring festival, Nowruz. The core structure was
composed of a multitude of square rooms or halls, the
biggest of which was called Apadana.[29] Tall, decorated
columns welcomed visitors and emphasized the height of
the structure. Later on, Darius the Great (Darius I) also The tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire
utilized Susa and Ecbatana as his governmental centres,
developing them to a similar metropolitan status.
Accounts of the ancestral lineage of the Persian kings
of the Achaemenid dynasty can be derived from either
documented Greek or Roman accounts, or from existing
documented Persian accounts such as those found in the
Behistun Inscription. However, since most existing accounts of this vast empire are in works of Greek philosophers and historians, and since many of the original Persian documents are lost, not to mention being subject to
varying scholarly views on their origin and possible motivations behind them, it is dicult to create a denitive
and completely objective list. Nonetheless, it is clear that
Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) and Darius the Great
(Darius I of Persia) were critical in the expansion of the
empire. Cyrus the Great is often believed to be the son of
Cambyses I, grandson of Cyrus I, the father of Cambyses
II, and a relative of Darius the Great, through a shared ancestor, Teispes. Cyrus the Great is also believed to have
been a family member (possibly grandson) of the Median
king Astyages through his mother, Mandana of Media. A
minority of scholars argue that perhaps Achaemenes was
a retrograde creation of Darius the Great, in order to reconcile his connection with Cyrus the Great after gaining Cyrus the Great king of Iran (ancient Persia) liberated the
Hebrew captives in Babylon to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem,
power.[24]
earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Ancient Greek writers provide some legendary information about Achaemenes by calling his tribe the Pasargadae and stating that he was raised by an eagle". Plato,
when writing about the Persians, identied Achaemenes
with Perses, ancestor of the Persians in Greek mythology.[30] According to Plato, Achaemenes was the
same person as Perses, a son of the Ethiopian queen
Andromeda and the Greek hero Perseus, and a grandson of Zeus. Later writers believed that Achaemenes and
Perses were dierent people, and that Perses was an ancestor of the king.[31] This account further conrms that
Achaemenes could well have been a signicant Anshan
leader and an ancestor of Cyrus the Great. Regardless,
both Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great were related,
prominent kings of Persia, under whose rule the empire
expanded to include much of the ancient world.

1.3 Formation and expansion

Further information: Battle of the Persian Border,
Persian Revolt, Battle of Pteria, Battle of Opis and Battle
of Pelusium (525 BCE)
The empire took its unied form with a central administration around Pasargadae erected by Cyrus the Great.
The empire ended up conquering and enlarging the Median Empire to include in addition Egypt and Asia Minor. During the reigns of Darius I and his son Xerxes I it
engaged in military conict with some of the major citystates of Ancient Greece, and although it came close to
defeating the Greek army this war ultimately led to the
empires overthrow.[32]
In 559 BCE, Cambyses I the Elder was succeeded as the
king of Ann by his son Cyrus II the Great, who also

HISTORY

succeeded the still-living Arsames as the King of Persia,

thus reuniting the two realms. Cyrus is considered to be
the rst true king of the Persian Empire, as his predecessors were subservient to the Medes. Cyrus the Great
conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon. Cyrus was politically shrewd, modeling himself as the savior of conquered nations, often allowing displaced people to return,
and giving his subjects freedom to practice local customs.
To reinforce this image, he instituted policies of religious
freedom, and restored temples and other infrastructure in
the newly acquired cities (Most notably the Jewish inhabitants of Babylon, as recorded in the Cyrus Cylinder and
the Tanakh). As a result of his tolerant policies he came
to be known by those of the Jewish faith, as the anointed
of the Lord.[33][34]

Darius the Great (Darius I) (Old Persian Dryavu Who

Holds Firm the Good, also known as Darayarahush or
Darius the Great). The Magi, though persecuted, continued to exist, and a year following the death of the
rst pseudo-Smerdis (Gaumata), saw a second pseudoSmerdis (named Vahyazdta) attempt a coup. The coup,
though initially successful, failed.[40]

According to Herodotus, Cambyses II had originally ventured into Egypt to take revenge for the pharaoh Amasiss
trickery when he sent a fake Egyptian bride whose family Amasis had murdered,[36] instead of his own daughter, to wed Cambyses II. Additionally negative reports of
mistreatment caused by Amasis, given by Phanes of Halicarnassus, a wise counsellor serving Amasis, further enforced Cambysess resolve to venture into Egypt. Amasis
died before Cambyses II could face him, but his successor Psamtik III was defeated by Cambyses II in the Battle
of Pelusium.

world view, established the greatness of the Achaemenids

and, in less than thirty years, raised them from an obscure
tribe to a world power. It was during the reign of Darius
the Great (Darius I) that Persepolis was built (518516
BC) and which would serve as capital for several generations of Achaemenid kings. Ecbatana (Hagmatna City
of Gatherings, modern: Hamadan) in Media was greatly
expanded during this period and served as the summer
capital.

Herodotus writes[41] that the native leadership debated

the best form of government for the empire. It was agreed
that an oligarchy would divide them against one another,
and democracy would bring about mob rule resulting in
a charismatic leader resuming the monarchy. Therefore,
they decided a new monarch was in order, particularly
since they were in a position to choose him. Darius I
was chosen monarch from among the leaders. He was
His immediate successors were less successful. Cyrus cousin to Cambyses II and Bardiya (Smerdis), claiming
son Cambyses II conquered Egypt in 525 BCE, but died Ariaramnes as his ancestor.
in July 522 BCE during a revolt led by a sacerdotal clan The Achaemenids thereafter consolidated areas rmly
that had lost its power following Cyrus conquest of Me- under their control. It was Cyrus the Great and Darius the
dia. The cause of his death remains uncertain, although Great who, by sound and farsighted administrative planit may have been the result of an accident.[35]
ning, brilliant military maneuvering, and a humanistic

While Cambyses II was in Egypt, the Zoroastrian priests,

whom Herodotus called Magi, usurped the throne for one
of their own, Gaumata, who then pretended to be Cambyses IIs younger brother Bardiya (Greek: Smerdis or
Tanaoxares/Tanyoxarkes[35] ), who had been assassinated
some three years earlier. Owing to the strict rule of Cambyses II, especially his stance on taxation,[37] and his long
absence in Egypt, the whole people, Perses, Medes and
all the other nations, acknowledged the usurper, especially as he granted a remission of taxes for three years
(Herodotus iii. 68). Cambyses II himself would not be
able to quell the imposters, as he died on the way back
from Egypt.

Darius the Great (Darius I) eventually attacked the Greek

mainland, which had supported rebellious Greek colonies
under his aegis; but as a result of his defeat at the Battle
of Marathon, he was forced to pull the limits of his empire back to Asia Minor. Some scholars argue that in the
context of history of the Near and Middle east in the rst
millennium, Alexander can be considered as the last of
the Achaemenids.[42] This is partly because Alexander
maintained more or less the same political structure, and
borders as the previous Achaemenid kings.

The claim that Gaumata had impersonated Bardiya

(Smerdis), is derived from Darius the Great and the
records at the Behistun Inscription. Historians are divided over the possibility that the story of the impostor
was invented by Darius as justication for his coup.[38]
Darius made a similar claim when he later captured Babylon, announcing that the Babylonian king was not, in fact, Achaemenid Empire around the time of Darius the Great and
Nebuchadnezzar III, but an impostor named Nidintu- Xerxes.
bel.[39]
By the 5th century BC the Kings of Persia were either
According to the Behistun Inscription, Gaumata ruled for
ruling over or had subordinated territories encompassing
seven months before being overthrown in 522 BCE by
not just all of the Persian Plateau and all of the territo-

1.5

The cultural phase

ries formerly held by the Assyrian Empire (Mesopotamia,

the Levant, Cyprus and Egypt), but beyond this all of
Anatolia and the Armenian Plateau as well as much of
the Southern Caucasus, Macedonia and parts of Greece
and Thrace to the north and west, parts of Central Asia as
far as the Aral Sea, the Oxus and Jaxartes to the north and
north-east, the Hindu Kush and the western Indus basin
(corresponding to modern Afghanistan and Pakistan) to
the east, parts of northern Arabia to the south and parts
of northern Libya to the south-west.[43][44]

5
rst phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. Asia Minor had
been brought back into the Persian fold, but Darius had
vowed to punish Athens and Eretria for their support of
the revolt.[45] Moreover, seeing that the political situation
in Greece posed a continued threat to the stability of his
Empire, he decided to embark on the conquest of all of
Greece. However, the Persian forces were defeated at the
Battle of Marathon and Darius would die before having
the chance to launch an invasion of Greece.

Xerxes I (485465 BCE, Old Persian Xayra Hero

Among Kings), son of Darius I, vowed to complete the
job. He organized a massive invasion aiming to con1.4 Greco-Persian Wars
quer Greece. His army entered Greece from the north,
meeting little or no resistance through Macedonia and
Main article: Greco-Persian Wars
Thessaly, but was delayed by a small Greek force for
The Ionian Revolt in 499 BCE, and associated revolts in
three days at Thermopylae. A simultaneous naval battle
at Artemisium was tactically indecisive as large storms
destroyed ships from both sides. The battle was stopped
prematurely when the Greeks received news of the defeat
at Thermopylae and retreated. The battle was a strategic
victory for the Persians, giving them uncontested control
of Artemisium and the Aegean Sea.
Following his victory at the Battle of Thermopylae,
Xerxes sacked the evacuated city of Athens and prepared
to meet the Greeks at the strategic Isthmus of Corinth and
the Saronic Gulf. In 480 BC the Greeks won a decisive
victory over the Persian eet at the Battle of Salamis and
forced Xerxes to retire to Sardis. The land army which
he left in Greece under Mardonius retook Athens but was
eventually destroyed in 479 BCE at the Battle of Plataea.
The nal defeat of the Persians at Mycale encouraged the
Greek cities of Asia to revolt, and marked the end of Persian expansion into Europe.
Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted ghting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

1.5 The cultural phase

Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions

by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 to 493 BCE. At the heart of the rebellion
was the dissatisfaction of the Greek cities of Asia Minor with the tyrants appointed by Persia to rule them,
along with the individual actions of two Milesian tyrants,
Histiaeus and Aristagoras. In 499 BCE, the then tyrant
of Miletus, Aristagoras, launched a joint expedition with
the Persian satrap Artaphernes to conquer Naxos, in an attempt to bolster his position in Miletus (both nancially
and in terms of prestige). The mission was a debacle,
and sensing his imminent removal as tyrant, Aristagoras
chose to incite the whole of Ionia into rebellion against
the Persian king Darius the Great.
The Persians continued to reduce the cities along the west
coast that still held out against them, before nally imposing a peace settlement in 493 BCE on Ionia that was
generally considered to be both just and fair. The Ionian
Revolt constituted the rst major conict between Greece
and the Achaemenid Empire, and as such represents the

Achaemenid golden bowl with lion imagery.

Xerxes I was followed by Artaxerxes I (465424 BCE),

who moved the capital from Persepolis to Babylon. It
was during this reign that Elamite ceased to be the language of government, and Aramaic gained in importance.

HISTORY

the Achaemenid kings and it was during this 45-year period of relative peace and stability that many of the monuments of the era were constructed. Artaxerxes moved
the capital back to Persepolis, which he greatly extended.
Also the summer capital at Ecbatana was lavishly extended with gilded columns and roof tiles of silver and
copper (Polybius, 27 October 2012). The extraordinary
innovation of the Zoroastrian shrine cults can also be
dated to his reign, and it was probably during this period
that Zoroastrianism was disseminated throughout Asia
Minor and the Levant, from Armenia. The construction
of temples, though serving a religious purpose, was however not a purely seless act: as they also served as an
important source of income. From the Babylonian kings,
the Achaemenids had taken over the concept of a mandatory temple tax, a one-tenth tithe which all inhabitants
paid to the temple nearest to their land or other source
of income (Dandamaev & Lukonin, 1989:361362). A
share of this income called the quppu a arri, kings
chestan ingenious institution originally introduced by
Ancient bracelet, Achaemenid period, part of Oxus Treasure, 500 Naboniduswas then turned over to the ruler. In retrospect, Artaxerxes is generally regarded as an amiable
BCE, Iran
man who lacked the moral bre to be a really successful
ruler. However, six centuries later Ardeshir I, founder of
It was probably during this reign that the solar calendar the second Persian Empire, would consider himself Arwas introduced as the national calendar. Under Artax- taxerxes successor, a grand testimony to the importance
erxes I, Zoroastrianism became the de facto religion of of Artaxerxes to the Persian psyche.
state, and for this Artaxerxes I is today also known as the
Constantine of that faith.
Artaxerxes I died in Susa, and his body was brought to
Persepolis for interment in the tomb of his forebearers.
Artaxerxes I was immediately succeeded by his eldest son
Xerxes II, who was however assassinated by one of his
half-brothers a few weeks later. Darius II rallied support
for himself and marched eastwards, executing the assassin and was crowned in his stead.

1.6 Fall of the empire

From 412 Darius II (423404 BCE), at the insistence

of the able Tissaphernes, gave support rst to Athens,
then to Sparta, but in 407 BCE, Darius son Cyrus the
Younger was appointed to replace Tissaphernes and aid
was given entirely to Sparta which nally defeated Athens
in 404 BCE. In the same year, Darius fell ill and died in
Babylon. At his deathbed, his Babylonian wife Parysatis The Battle of Issus, between Alexander the Great on horseback
pleaded with Darius to have her second eldest son Cyrus to the left, and Darius III in the chariot to the right, represented
in a Pompeii mosaic dated 1st century BCE Naples National
(the Younger) crowned, but Darius refused.
Darius was then succeeded by his eldest son Artaxerxes II
Memnon. Plutarch relates (probably on the authority of
Ctesias) that the displaced Tissaphernes came to the new
king on his coronation day to warn him that his younger
brother Cyrus (the Younger) was preparing to assassinate him during the ceremony. Artaxerxes had Cyrus arrested and would have had him executed if their mother
Parysatis had not intervened. Cyrus was then sent back as
Satrap of Lydia, where he prepared an armed rebellion.
Cyrus and Artaxerxes met in the Battle of Cunaxa in 401
BC, where Cyrus was killed.

Archaeological Museum.

According to Plutarch, Artaxerxes successor Artaxerxes

III (358 338 BCE) came to the throne by bloody means,
ensuring his place upon the throne by the assassination
of eight of his half-brothers.[46] In 343 BCE Artaxerxes
III defeated Nectanebo II, driving him from Egypt, and
made Egypt once again a Persian satrapy. In 338 BCE
Artaxerxes III died under unclear circumstances (natural
causes according to cuneiform sources but Diodorus, a
Greek historian, reports that Artaxerxes was murdered by
Bagoas, his minister),[47] while Philip of Macedon united
Artaxerxes II (404358 BCE), was the longest reigning of the Greek states by force and began to plan an invasion

1.7

Descendants in later Iranian dynasties

into the empire.

Artaxerxes III was succeeded by Artaxerxes IV Arses,
who before he could act was also poisoned by Bagoas.
Bagoas is further said to have killed not only all Arses children, but many of the other princes of the land.
Bagoas then placed Darius III (336330 BCE), a nephew
of Artaxerxes IV, on the throne. Darius III, previously
Satrap of Armenia, personally forced Bagoas to swallow
poison. In 334 BCE, when Darius was just succeeding in
subduing Egypt again, Alexander and his battle-hardened
troops invaded Asia Minor.
At two dierent times, the Achaemenids ruled Egypt
although the Egyptians twice regained temporary independence from Persia. After the practice of Manetho,
Egyptian historians refer to the periods in Egypt when the
Achaemenid dynasty ruled as the twenty-seventh dynasty
of Egypt, 525404 BC, until the death of Darius II, and
the thirty-rst dynasty of Egypt, 343332 BCE, which
began after Nectanebo II was defeated by the Persian king
Artaxerxes III.
Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) defeated
the Persian armies at Granicus (334 BCE), followed by
Issus (333 BCE), and lastly at Gaugamela (331 BCE). Afterwards, he marched on Susa and Persepolis which surrendered in early 330 BCE. From Persepolis, Alexander
headed north to Pasargadae where he visited the tomb of
Cyrus, the burial of the man whom he had heard of from
Cyropedia.
In the ensuing chaos created by Alexanders invasion of
Persia, Cyruss tomb was broken into and most of its luxuries were looted. When Alexander reached the tomb, he
was horried by the manner in which it had been treated,
and questioned the Magi, putting them on trial.[48][49] By
some accounts, Alexanders decision to put the Magi on
trial was more an attempt to undermine their inuence
and display his own power than a show of concern for
Cyruss tomb.[50] Regardless, Alexander the Great ordered Aristobulus to improve the tombs condition and
restore its interior, showing respect for Cyrus.[48] From
there he headed to Ecbatana, where Darius III had sought
refuge.
Darius III was taken prisoner by Bessus, his Bactrian
satrap and kinsman. As Alexander approached, Bessus
had his men murder Darius III and then declared himself Darius successor, as Artaxerxes V, before retreating
into Central Asia leaving Darius body in the road to delay Alexander, who brought it to Persepolis for an honorable funeral. Bessus would then create a coalition of
his forces, in order to create an army to defend against
Alexander. Before Bessus could fully unite with his confederates at the eastern part of the empire,[51] Alexander, fearing the danger of Bessus gaining control, found
him, put him on trial in a Persian court under his control, and ordered his execution in a cruel and barbarous
manner.[52]

7
able to oer a stable alternative.[53] When he died his empire was divided among his generals (the Diadochi), and
succeeded by a number of smaller states, the largest of
which was the Seleucid Empire, ruled by the generals of
Alexander and their descendants. They in turn would be
succeeded by the Parthian Empire.
Part of the cause of the Empires decline had been the
heavy tax burden put upon the state, which eventually
led to economic decline.[54][55] An estimate of the tribute
imposed on the subject nations was up to U.S. $180M
per year. This does not include the material goods and
supplies that were supplied as taxes.[56] After the high
overhead of government - the military, the bureaucracy,
whatever the satraps could safely dip into the coers
for themselves - this money went into the royal treasury. At Persepolis, Alexander III found some 180,000
talents, besides the additional treasure the Macedonians
were carrying that already had been seized in Damascus by Parmenio.[57] This amounted to U.S. $2.7B. On
top of this, Darius III had taken 8,000 talents with him
on his ight to the north.[56] Alexander put this static
hoard back into the economy, and upon his death some
130,000 talents had been spent on the building of cities,
dockyards, temples, and the payment of the troops, besides the ordinary government expenses.[58] Additionally,
one of the satraps, Harpalus, had made o to Greece
with some 6,000 talents, which Athens used to rebuild
its economy after seizing it during the struggles with the
Corinthian League.[59] Due to the ood of money from
Alexanders hoard entering Greece, however, a disruption
in the economy occurred, in agriculture, banking, rents,
the great increase in mercenary soldiers that cash allowed
the wealthy, and an increase in piracy.[60]
Another factor contributing to the decline of the Empire
after Xerxes was its failure to ever mold the many subject
nations into a whole; the creation of a national identity
was never attempted.[61] This lack of cohesion eventually
aected the eciency of the military.[62]

1.7 Descendants in later Iranian dynasties

Istakhr, one of the vassal kingdoms of the Parthian Empire, would be overthrown by Papak, a priest of the temple there. Papaks son, Ardair I, who named himself in
remembrance of Artaxerxes II, would revolt against the
Parthians, eventually defeating them and establishing the
Sassanid Empire or as it is known the second Persian Empire.

Both the later dynasties of the Parthians and Sasanians

would on occasion claim Achaemenid descent. Recently
there has been some corroboration for the Parthian claim
to Achaemenid ancestry via the possibility of an inherited
disease (neurobromatosis) demonstrated by the physical
descriptions of rulers and from evidence of familial disHaving conquered the Persian empire, Alexander was un- ease on ancient coinage.[63]

3 MILITARY

Government

soldiers[66] Cyrus also formed an innovative postal system throughout the empire, based on several relay stations
called Chapar Khaneh.[67]

Darius the Great reinforced the empire and expanded

Persepolis as a ceremonial capital;[68] he revolutionized
the economy by placing it on a silver and gold coinage and
introducing a regulated and sustainable tax system that
was precisely tailored to each satrapy, based on their supposed productivity and their economic potential. For instance, Babylon was assessed for the highest amount and
for a startling mixture of commodities 1000 silver talents, four months supply of food for the army. India was
clearly already fabled for its gold; the province consisting
of the sindh and western Punjab regions of ancient northwestern India traded gold dust equal in value to the very
large amount of 4680 silver talents for various commodiThe Behistun Inscription tells the story of Darius the Greats con- ties. Egypt was known for the wealth of its crops; it was to
be the granary of the Persian Empire (as later of Romes)
quests, with the names of twenty-three satrapys subject to him.
and was required to provide 120,000 measures of grain
in addition to 700 talents of silver. This was exclusively a
tax levied on subject peoples.[69] Other accomplishments
of Darius reign included codication of the data, a universal legal system, and construction of a new capital at
Persepolis.

Behistun Inscription, column 1 (DB I 115)

Under the Achaemenids, the trade was extensive and

there was an ecient infrastructure that facilitated the exchange of commodities in the far reaches of the empire.
Taris on trade were one of the empires main sources of
revenue, along with agriculture and tribute.[69][70]
The satrapies were linked by a 2,500-kilometer highway,
the most impressive stretch being the Royal Road from
Susa to Sardis, built by command of Darius I. The relays
of mounted couriers could reach the remotest of areas
in fteen days. Despite the relative local independence
aorded by the satrapy system, royal inspectors, the eyes
and ears of the king, toured the empire and reported on
local conditions.

The practice of slavery in Achaemenid Persia was generally banned, although there is evidence that conquered
Modern impression of Achaemenid cylinder seal. The use of and/or rebellious armies were sold into captivity.[71]
cylinder seals appears to have been restricted to ocials of the
Zoroastrianism, the de facto religion of the empire, exroyal administration during this period.[64]
plicitly forbids slavery,[72] and the kings of Achaemenid
Persia, especially the founder Cyrus the Great, followed
Cyrus the Great founded the empire as a multi-state
this ban to varying degrees, as evidenced by the freeing
empire, governed by four capital states; Pasargadae,
of the Jews at Babylon, and the construction of Persepolis
Babylon, Susa and Ekbatana. The Achaemenids allowed
by paid workers.
a certain amount of regional autonomy in the form of the
satrapy system. A satrapy was an administrative unit, usu- The vexilloid of the Achaemenid Empire was a gold
ally organized on a geographical basis. A 'satrap' (gover- falcon on a eld of crimson.[73][74]
nor) was the vassal king, who administered the region, a
'general' supervised military recruitment and ensured order, and a 'state secretary' kept the ocial records. The 3 Military
general and the state secretary reported directly to the
satrap as well as the central government. At diering Despite its humble origins in Persis, the empire reached
times, there were between 20 and 30 satrapies.[65]
an enormous size under the leadership of Cyrus the Great.
Cyrus the Great created an organized army including Cyrus created a multi-state empire where he allowed rethe Immortals unit, consisting of 10,000 highly trained gional rulers, called the 'satrap' to rule as his proxy over

3.1

Navy

9
was to change, as the empire came across Greek, and
Egyptian forces, each with their own maritime traditions
and capabilities. Darius the Great (Darius I) is to be credited as the rst Achaemenid king to invest in a Persian
eet.[76] Even by then no true imperial navy had existed either in Greece or Egypt. Persia would become the
rst empire, under Darius, to inaugurate and deploy the
rst regular imperial navy.[76] Despite this achievement,
the personnel for the imperial navy would not come from
Iran, but were often Phoenicians (mostly from Sidon),
Egyptians, Cypriots, and Greeks chosen by Darius the
Great to operate the empires combat vessels.[76]
At rst the ships were built in Sidon by the Phoenicians;
the rst Achaemenid ships measured about 40 meters in
length and 6 meters in width, able to transport up to 300
Persian troops at any one trip. Despite origin of the technique of the arsenal and ship construction in Sidon, soon
other states of the empire were constructing their own
ships each incorporating slight local preferences. The
ships eventually found their way to the Persian Gulf.[76]
Persian naval forces laid the foundation for a strong Persian maritime presence in the Persian Gulf. Persians were
not only stationed on islands in the Persian Gulf, but also
had ships often of 100 to 200 capacity patrolling the empires various rivers including the Shatt-al-Arab, Tigris
and Nile in the west, as well as the Indus.[76]

Median (left) and Persian (right) soldiers

a certain designated area of his empire called the satrapy.

The basic rule of governance was based upon loyalty and
obedience of each satrapy to the central power, or the
king, and compliance with tax laws.[28] Due to the ethnocultural diversity of the subject nations under the rule
of Persia, its enormous geographic size, and the constant
struggle for power by regional competitors,[13] the creation of a professional army was necessary for both maintenance of the peace, and also to enforce the authority of
the king in cases of rebellion and foreign threat.[18][66]
Cyrus managed to create a strong land army, using it
to advance in his campaigns in Babylonia, Lydia, and
Asia Minor, which after his death was used by his son
Cambyses II, in Egypt against Psamtik III. Cyrus would
die battling a local Iranian insurgency in the empire, before he could have a chance to develop a naval force.[75]
That task however would fall to Darius the Great, who
would ocially give Persians their own royal navy to allow them to engage their enemies on multiple seas of this
vast empire, from the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, to
the Persian Gulf, Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Achaemenid navy established bases located along the

Shatt-al-Arab, Bahrain, Oman, and Yemen. The Persian eet was not only used for peace-keeping purposes
along the Shatt al-Arab but also opened the door to trade
with India via the Persian Gulf.[76] Dariuss navy was
in many ways a world power at the time, but it would
be Artaxerxes II who in the summer of 397 BC would
build a formidable navy, as part of a rearmament which
would lead to his decisive victory at Knidos in 394 BC,
reestablishing Achaemenid power in Ionia. Artaxerxes II
would also utilize his navy to later on quell a rebellion in
Egypt.[77]
The construction material of choice was wood, but some
armored Achaemenid ships had metallic blades on the
front, often meant to slice enemy ships using the ships
momentum. Naval ships were also equipped with hooks
on the side to grab enemy ships, or to negotiate their position. The ships were propelled by sails or manpower.
The ships the Persians created were unique. As far as
maritime engagement, the ships were equipped with two
mangonels that would launch projectiles such as stones,
or ammable substances.[76]

Xenophon describes his eye-witness account of a massive military bridge created by joining 37 Persian ships
across the Tigris river. The Persians utilized each boats
buoyancy, in order to support a connected bridge above
3.1 Navy
which supply could be transferred.[76] Herodotus also
gives many accounts of Persians utilizing ships to build
Since its foundation by Cyrus, the Persian empire had bridges.[78][79] Darius the Great, in an attempt to subdue
been primarily a land empire with a strong army, but void the Scythian horsemen north of the Black sea, crossed
of any actual naval forces. By the 5th century BC, this

10

4 CULTURE

over at the Bosphorus, using an enormous bridge made

by connecting Achaemenid boats, then marched up to
the Danube, crossing it by means of a second boat
bridge.[80] The bridge over the Bosphorus essentially connected the nearest tip of Asia to Europe, encompasing
at least some 1000 meters of open water if not more.
Herodotus describes the spectacle, and calls it the bridge
of Darius":[81]
"Strait called Bosphorus, across which the
bridge of Darius had been thrown is hundred
and twenty furlongs in length, reaching from
the Euxine, to the Propontis. The Propontis is
ve hundred furlongs across, and fourteen hundred long. Its waters ow into the Hellespont,
the length of which is four hundred furlongs ..."
Years later, a similar boat bridge would be constructed by
Xerxes the Great (Xerxes I), in his invasion of Greece.
Although the Persians failed to capture the Greek city
states completely, the tradition of maritime involvement
was carried down by the Persian kings, most notably Artaxerxes II. Years later, when Alexander invaded Persia
and during his advancement into India, he took a page
from the Persian art of war, by having Hephaestion and
Perdiccas construct a similar boat-bridge at the Indus
river, in India in spring of 327 BC[82]

Culture

The ruins of Persepolis

Herodotus, in his mid-5th century BCE account of Persian residents of the Pontus, reports that Persian youths,
from their fth year to their twentieth year, were instructed in three things to ride a horse, to draw a bow,
and to speak the Truth.[83]
He further notes that:[83]
the most disgraceful thing in the world [the
Persians] think, is to tell a lie; the next worst,

The ruins of Tachara Palace located in Persepolis

to owe a debt: because, among other reasons,

the debtor is obliged to tell lies.
In Achaemenid Persia, the lie, druj, is considered to be
a cardinal sin, and it was punishable by death in some
extreme cases. Tablets discovered by archaeologists in
the 1930s[84] at the site of Persepolis give us adequate
evidence about the love and veneration for the culture
of truth during the Achaemenian period. These tablets
contain the names of ordinary Persians, mainly traders
and warehouse-keepers.[85] According to Professor Stanley Insler of Yale University, as many as 72 names of
ocials and petty clerks found on these tablets contain
the word truth.[86] Thus, says Insler, we have Artapana,
protector of truth, Artakama, lover of truth, Artamanah,
truth-minded, Artafarnah, possessing splendour of truth,
Artazusta, delighting in truth, Artastuna, pillar of truth,
Artafrida, prospering the truth and Artahunara, having
nobility of truth. It was Darius the Great who laid down
the ordinance of good regulations during his reign. King
Darius testimony about his constant battle against the lie
is found in cuneiform inscriptions. Carved high up in the
Behistun mountain on the road to Kermanshah, Darius
the Great (Darius I) testies:[87]
I was not a lie-follower, I was not a doer of
wrong ... According to righteousness I conducted myself. Neither to the weak or to the
powerful did I do wrong. The man who cooperated with my house, him I rewarded well;
who so did injury, him I punished well.
Darius had his hands full dealing with large-scale rebellion which broke out throughout the empire. After
ghting successfully with nine traitors in a year, Darius
records his battles against them for posterity and tells us
how it was the lie that made them rebel against the empire.
At Behistun, Darius says:
I smote them and took prisoner nine kings.
One was Gaumata by name, a Magian; he lied;

4.2

Customs
thus he said: I am Smerdis, the son of Cyrus ...
One, Acina by name, an Elamite; he lied; thus
he said: I am king in Elam ... One, Nidintu-Bel
by name, a Babylonian; he lied; thus he said: I
am Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabonidus.

11
was used by the capital government in Susa, it was not a
standardized language of government everywhere in the
empire. The use of Elamite is not attested after 458 BC.

Following the conquest of Mesopotamia, the Aramaic

language (as used in that territory) was adopted as a
vehicle for written communication between the dierKing Darius then tells us,
ent regions of the vast empire with its dierent peoples
and languages. The use of a single ocial language,
The Lie made them rebellious, so that these
which modern scholarship has dubbed Ocial Aramaic
men deceived the people.[88]
or Imperial Aramaic, can be assumed to have greatly contributed to the astonishing success of the Achaemenids
Then advice to his son Xerxes, who is to succeed him as in holding their far-ung empire together for as long as
they did.[89] In 1955, Richard Frye questioned the clasthe great king:
sication of Imperial Aramaic as an ocial language,
noting that no surviving edict expressly and unambiguThou who shalt be king hereafter, protect yourously accorded that status to any particular language.[90]
self vigorously from the Lie; the man who shall
Frye reclassies Imperial Aramaic as the "lingua franca"
be a lie-follower, him do thou punish well, if
of the Achaemenid territories, suggesting then that the
thus thou shall think. May my country be seAchaemenid-era use of Aramaic was more pervasive than
cure!
generally thought. Many centuries after the fall of the
empire, Aramaic script and as ideograms Aramaic
4.1 Languages
vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics
of the Pahlavi writing system.[91]
Although Old Persian also appears on some seals and
art objects, that language is attested primarily in the
Achaemenid inscriptions of Western Iran, suggesting
then that Old Persian was the common language of that
region. However, by the reign of Artaxerxes II, the grammar and orthography of the inscriptions was so far from
perfect[92] that it has been suggested that the scribes who
composed those texts had already largely forgotten the
language, and had to rely on older inscriptions, which they
to a great extent reproduced verbatim.[93]

4.2 Customs

The Persian queen Atossa, Darius the Great's wife and mother
of Xerxes I

During the reign of Cyrus and Darius, and as long as

the seat of government was still at Susa in Elam, the
language of the chancellory was Elamite. This is primarily attested in the Persepolis fortication and treasury
tablets that reveal details of the day-to-day functioning
of the empire.[85] In the grand rock-face inscriptions of
the kings, the Elamite texts are always accompanied by
Akkadian and Old Persian inscriptions, and it appears
that in these cases, the Elamite texts are translations of the
Old Persian ones. It is then likely that although Elamite

An Achaemenid drinking vessel

Herodotus mentions that the Persians were invited to

great birthday feasts (Herodotus, Histories 8), which
would be followed by many desserts, a treat which they
reproached the Greeks for omitting from their meals. He

12

4 CULTURE

also observed that the Persians drank wine in large quantities and used it even for counsel, deliberating on important aairs when drunk, and deciding the next day, when
sober, whether to act on the decision or set it aside.

4.3

Religion

Bas-relief of Farvahar at Persepolis, Iran

The image of a lioness used as a pendant, late 6th4th centuries

BCE, from Susa Department of Oriental Antiquities, Louvre.

It was during the Achaemenid period that Zoroastrianism

reached South-Western Iran, where it came to be accepted by the rulers and through them became a dening element of Persian culture. The religion was not
only accompanied by a formalization of the concepts
and divinities of the traditional Iranian pantheon but also
introduced several novel ideas, including that of free
will.[94][95]
Under the patronage of the Achaemenid kings, and by
the 5th century BCE as the de facto religion of the state,

Zoroastrianism reached all corners of the empire. The

Bible claims that Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return to their homeland after decades of captivity by the
Assyrian and Babylonian empires.
During the reign of Artaxerxes I and Darius II, Herodotus
wrote "[the Perses] have no images of the gods, no temples nor altars, and consider the use of them a sign of folly.
This comes, I think, from their not believing the gods to
have the same nature with men, as the Greeks imagine.
He claims the Persians oer sacrice to: the sun and
moon, to the earth, to re, to water, and to the winds.
These are the only gods whose worship has come down to
them from ancient times. At a later period they began the
worship of Urania, which they borrowed from the Arabians and Assyrians. Mylitta is the name by which the Assyrians know this goddess, to whom the Persians referred
as Anahita. (The original name here is Mithra, which
has since been explained to be a confusion of Anahita
with Mithra, understandable since they were commonly
worshipped together in one temple).
From the Babylonian scholar-priest Berosus, who
although writing over seventy years after the reign of
Artaxerxes II Mnemonrecords that the emperor had
been the rst to make cult statues of divinities and have
them placed in temples in many of the major cities of
the empire (Berosus, III.65). Berosus also substantiates
Herodotus when he says the Persians knew of no images
of gods until Artaxerxes II erected those images. On the
means of sacrice, Herodotus adds they raise no altar,
light no re, pour no libations. This sentence has been
interpreted to identify a critical (but later) accretion to
Zoroastrianism. An altar with a wood-burning re and
the Yasna service at which libations are poured are all
clearly identiable with modern Zoroastrianism, but apparently, were practices that had not yet developed in the
mid-5th century. Boyce also assigns that development to
the reign of Artaxerxes II (4th century BC), as an orthodox response to the innovation of the shrine cults.
Herodotus also observed that no prayer or oering can
be made without a magus present but this should not
be confused with what is today understood by the term
magus, that is a magupat (modern Persian: mobed), a
Zoroastrian priest. Nor does Herodotus description of
the term as one of the tribes or castes of the Medes necessarily imply that these magi were Medians. They simply
were a hereditary priesthood to be found all over Western Iran and although (originally) not associated with any
one specic religion, they were traditionally responsible
for all ritual and religious services. Although the unequivocal identication of the magus with Zoroastrianism
came later (Sassanid era, 3rd7th century AD), it is from
Herodotus magus of the mid-5th century that Zoroastrianism was subject to doctrinal modications that are today considered to be revocations of the original teachings
of the prophet. Also, many of the ritual practices described in the Avestas Vendidad (such as exposure of the
dead) were already practiced by the magu of Herodotus '

13
time.

erings (such as Zoroastrian temples), and mausoleums

erected in honor of fallen kings (such as the burial tomb
of Cyrus the Great). The quintessential feature of Persian
4.4 Art and architecture
architecture was its eclectic nature with elements of Median, Assyrian, and Asiatic Greek all incorporated, yet
Main article: Achaemenid architecture
maintaining a unique Persian identity seen in the nished
Achaemenid architecture refers to the architectural products.[96]
Achaemenid art refers to the artistic achievements of
the Achaemenid Persians manifesting in construction
of complicated frieze reliefs, crafting of precious metals (such as the Oxus Treasure), decoration of palaces,
glazed brick masonry, ne craftsmanship (masonry, carpentry, etc.), and gardening, and outdoor decoration. It
is critical to understand that although Persians borrowed
techniques from all corners of their empire, it was not
simply a combination of styles, but a synthesis of a new
unique Persian style.[97] Cyrus the Great in fact had an
extensive ancient Iranian heritage behind him; the rich
Achaemenid gold work, which inscriptions suggest may
have been a specialty of the Medes, was for instance in
the tradition of the delicate metalwork found in Iron Age
II times at Hasanlu and still earlier at Marlik.
One of the most amazing examples of both Achaemenid
architecture and art is the grand palace of Persepolis, and
its detailed workmanship, coupled with its grand scale. In
describing the construction of his palace at Susa, Darius
the Great records that:

Winged sphinx from the palace of Darius the Great at Susa,

Louvre.

Yaka timber was brought from Gandara

and from Carmania. The gold was brought
from Sardis and from Bactria ... the precious stone lapis-lazuli and carnelian ... was
brought from Sogdiana. The turquoise from
Chorasmia, the silver and ebony from Egypt,
the ornamentation from Ionia, the ivory from
Ethiopia and from Sindh and from Arachosia.
The stone-cutters who wrought the stone, those
were Ionians and Sardians. The goldsmiths
were Medes and Egyptians. The men who
wrought the wood, those were Sardians and
Egyptians. The men who wrought the baked
brick, those were Babylonians. The men who
adorned the wall, those were Medes and Egyptians.
This was imperial art on a scale the world had not seen
before. Materials and artists were drawn from all corners
of the empire, and thus tastes, styles, and motifs became
mixed together in an eclectic art and architecture that in
itself mirrored the Persian empire.

Lion on a decorative panel from Darius I the Great's palace, Louvre

5 Legacy

achievements of the Achaemenid Persians manifesting in The Achaemenid Empire left a lasting impression on the
construction of spectacular cities utilized for governance heritage and the cultural identity of Asia and the Middle
and habitation, temples made for worship and social gath- East, as well as inuencing the development and structure

14

8 SEE ALSO
and religion eastward and westward into the
world ... I need not rehearse for you again
the achievements of your Achaemenid period.
Then for the rst time in known history an empire almost as extensive as the United States received an orderly government, a competence
of administration, a web of swift communications, a security of movement by men and
goods on majestic roads, equaled before our
time only by the zenith of Imperial Rome.

Panoramic view of the Naqsh-e Rustam. This site contains the

tombs of four Achaemenid kings, including those of Darius I and
Xerxes.

of future empires. In fact the Greeks and later on the

Romans copied the best features of the Persian method of
governing the empire, and vicariously adopted them.[98]

6 Achaemenid kings and rulers

Georg W. F. Hegel in his work The Philosophy of History

introduces the Persian Empire as the rst empire that 6.1
passed away and its people as the rst historical people
in history. According to his account;[99]
The Persian Empire is an empire in the modern sense like that which existed in Germany,
and the great imperial realm under the sway of
Napoleon; for we nd it consisting of a number of states, which are indeed dependant, but
which have retained their own individuality,
their manners, and laws. The general enactments, binding upon all, did not infringe upon
their political and social idiosyncrasies, but
even protected and maintained them; so that
each of the nations that constitute the whole,
had its own form of constitution. As light illuminates everything imparting to each object
a peculiar vitality so the Persian Empire extends over a multitude of nations, and leaves to
each one its particular character. Some have
even kings of their own; each one its distinct
language, arms, way of life and customs. All
this diversity coexists harmoniously under the
impartial dominion of Light ... a combination of peoples leaving each of them free.
Thereby, a stop is put to that barbarism and ferocity with which the nations had been wont to
carry on their destructive feuds.
The famous American orientalist, Professor Arthur Upham Pope (18811969) said:[100] The western world has
a vast unpaid debt to the Persian Civilization!"
Will Durant, the American historian and philosopher,
during one his speeches, Persia in the History of Civilization, as an address before the Iran-America Society
in Tehran on 21 April 1948, stated:[101]
For thousands of years Persians have been creating beauty. Sixteen centuries before Christ
there went from these regions or near it ... You
have been here a kind of watershed of civilization, pouring your blood and thought and art

Unattested
Achaemenes of Persia
The epigraphic evidence for these rulers cannot be
conrmed and are often considered to have been invented by Darius I

Ariaramnes of Persia, son of Teispes and

co-ruler with Cyrus I
Arsames of Persia, son of Ariaramnes
and co-ruler with Cambyses I

6.2 Attested
Early in the reign of Artaxerxes II, in 399 BCE, the Persians lose control over Egypt. They regained control 57
years later in 342 BCE when Artaxerxes III conquered
Egypt.

7 Gallery
Panorama of Persepolis Ruins
Ruins of Throne Hall
Persepolis gifts
Apadana Hall, Persian and Median soldiers at Persepolis
Nowruz Zoroastrian
Lateral view of tomb of Cambyses I, Pasargadae,
Iran

8 See also
List of kings of Persia
Achaemenid family tree

15

Notes

[1] Yarshater, Ehsan (1993). The Cambridge History of

Iran, Volume 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 482.
ISBN 978-0-521-20092-9. Of the four residences of
the Achaemenids named by Herodotus Ecbatana,
Pasargadae or Persepolis, Susa and Babylon the last
[situated in Iraq] was maintained as their most important capital, the xed winter quarters, the central oce
of bureaucracy, exchanged only in the heat of summer
for some cool spot in the highlands. Under the Seleucids
and the Parthians the site of the Mesopotamian capital
moved a little to the north on the Tigris to Seleucia
and Ctesiphon. It is indeed symbolic that these new foundations were built from the bricks of ancient Babylon,
just as later Baghdad, a little further upstream, was built
out of the ruins of the Sassanian double city of SeleuciaCtesiphon.
[2] Harald Kittel, Juliane House, Brigitte Schultze; Juliane
House; Brigitte Schultze (2007). Traduction: encyclopdie internationale de la recherche sur la traduction.
Walter de Gruyter. pp. 11945. ISBN 978-3-11-0171457.
[3] Boiy, T. (2004). Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon. Peeters Publishers. p. 101. ISBN 978-90-429-14490.
[4] Yarshater (1996, p. 47)
[5] Security and Territoriality in the Persian Gulf: A Maritime
Political Geography by Pirouz Mojtahed-Zadeh, page 119

Parsa (Prsa) as the area of the Persians. Radhakumud

Mookerji (1988). Chandragupta Maurya and His Times
(p. 23). Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 81-208-0405-8.
[15] Aedeen Cremin (2007). Archaeologica: The Worlds Most
Signicant Sites and Cultural Treasures. Global Book
Publishing Pty Ltd. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-7112-2822-1.
[16] While estimates for the Achaemenid Empire range from
1080+ million, most prefer 50 million. Prevas (2009,
p. 14) estimates 10 million. Strauss (2004, p. 37) estimates about 20 million. Ward (2009, p. 16) estimates at
20 million. Scheidel (2009, p. 99) estimates 35 million.
Daniel (2001, p. 41) estimates at 50 million. Meyer and
Andreades (2004, p. 58) estimates to 50 million. Jones
(2004, p. 8) estimates over 50 million. Richard (2008,
p. 34) estimates nearly 70 million. Hanson (2001, p. 32)
estimates almost 75 million. Cowley (1999 and 2001, p.
17) estimates possibly 80 million.
[17] Largest empire by percentage of world population.
Guinness World Records. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
[18] Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty)
[19] Ulrich Wilcken (1967). Alexander the Great. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-393-00381-9.
[20] Margaret Christina Miller (2004). Athens and Persia in
the Fifth Century BCE: A Study in Cultural Receptivity.
Cambridge University Press. p. 243. ISBN 978-0-52160758-2.
[21] Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri VII, 11

[6] http://www.livius.org/maa-mam/maka/maka.html

[22] Plutarch, Alexander, 45

[7] Behistun Inscription

[8] Josef Wiesehfer, Ancient Persia, (I.B. Tauris Ltd, 2007),
119.

[23] Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Sarah Stewart (2005). Birth of the

Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-84511062-8.

[9] Unicode:
http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/
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[24] Jamie Stokes (2009). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of

Africa and the Middle East, Volume 1. Infobase Publishing. pp. 23. ISBN 978-0-8160-7158-6.

[10] http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/
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EXTERNAL LINKS

11 Further reading
Wiesehfer, Josef; Azizeh Azodi (translator)
(2001). Ancient Persia. London, New York: I.B.
Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-675-1. There have been a
number of editions since 1996.
Curtis, John E.; Nigel Tallis (editors) (2005). Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
ISBN 0-520-24731-0. A collection of articles by
dierent authors.
Pierre Briant (January 2002). From Cyrus to
Alexander: a history of the Persian Empire. ISBN
978-1-57506-031-6.
The Greco-Persian Wars, Peter Green
Philip Souza (2003-01-25). The Greek and Persian
Wars 499-386 BC. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781-84176-358-3.
The Heritage of Persia, Richard N. Frye

10

References

Briant, Pierre. Alexander. Encyclopaedia Iranica.

vol. 3. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
A. Sh. Shahbazi. ARIARAMNEIA. vol. 2. Encyclopaedia Iranica (Routledge & Kegan Paul).

History of the Persian Empire, A.T. Olmstead

The Persian Empire, Lindsay Allen
The Persian Empire, J.M. Cook
Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle
for the West, Tom Holland
Pictorial History of Iran: Ancient Persia Before Islam
15000 B.C.625 A.D., Amini Sam

Schmitt, Rdiger. Achaemenid dynasty. Encyclopaedia Iranica. vol. 3. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Timelife Persians: Masters of the Empire (Lost Civilizations)

Schlerath, Bernfried (1973). Die Indogermanen.

Inst. f. Vergl. Sprachwiss. ISBN 3-85124-516-4.

M. A. Dandamaev (1989). A Political History of

the Achaemenid Empire. Brill Academic Pub. ISBN
978-90-04-09172-6.

Tavernier, Jan (2007). Iranica in the Achaemenid

Period (ca. 550-330 B.C.): Linguistic Study of Old
Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in
Non-Iranian Texts. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 90429-1833-0.

Hallock, R., Persepolis Fortication Tablets

Stronach, David Darius at Pasargadae: A Neglected Source for the History of Early Persia,
Topoi
Stronach, David Anshan and Parsa: Early
Achaemenid History, Art and Architecture on the
Iranian Plateau. In: John Curtis, ed., Mesopotamia
and Iran in the Persian Period: Conquest and Imperialism 539331, 3553. London: British Museum
Press 1997.
Wiesehfer, Josef. History in pre-Islamic period.
Encyclopaedia Iranica.

Chopra, R.M., an article on A Brief Review of

Pre-Islamic Splendour of Iran, INDO-IRANICA,
Vol.56 (1-4), 2003.
Sideris, A. Achaemenid Toreutics in the Greek Periphery, in Darabandi S. M. R. and A. Zournantzi
(eds.), Ancient Greece and Ancient Iran. CrossCultural Encounters, Athens 2008, pp. 339-353.

12 External links
Persian History
Livius.org on Achaemenids
Swedish Contributions to the Archaeology of Iran
Artikel i Fornvnnen (2007) by Carl Nylander

19
IPI
The Behistun Inscription
Livius.org on Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions
Achaemenid art on Iran Chamber Society (www.
iranchamber.com)
Persepolis Fortication Archive Project
Photos of the tribute bearers from the 23 satrapies
of the Achaemenid empire, from Persepolis
medals and orders of the Persian empire
Ancient Iran
Dynasty Achaemenid
Iran, The Forgotten Glory Documentary Film
About Ancient Iran (achaemenids & Sassanids)
Achemenet The major electronic resource for the
study of the history, literature and archaeology of
the Persian Empire
Persepolis Before Incursion (Virtual tour project)
Muse achmnide virtuel et interactif (Mavi) a vast
Virtual Interactive Achemenide Museum of more
than 8000 items, dedicated to the inheritance of the
Persian Empire, from Cyrus the Great to Alexander,
is now accessible on the Internet thanks to the initiative of a College de France professor, Pierre Briant.

20

13

13
13.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Achaemenid Empire Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid%20Empire?oldid=656944877 Contributors: Andre Engels,

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Polylerus, Ogress, IonNerd, Bob rulz, Alansohn, Gary, Anthony Appleyard, Ricky81682, Sade, Snowolf, Wtmitchell, Cromwellt, Jguk,
Sleigh, SteinbDJ, Mikenassau, Zereshk, Zosodada, Kazvorpal, Dejvid, Woohookitty, Sburke, Kurzon, Briangotts, Je3000, -Ril-, Twthmoses, Dangerous-Boy, Damicatz, Mayz, Palica, BD2412, Amir85, Zzedar, SouthernComfort, Ryan Norton, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Tombseye,
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Equitor, Str1977, Mehrshad123, Codex Sinaiticus, Chobot, Shauni, YurikBot, Maziargh, Sortan, Alma Pater, Hairy Dude, Khirad, RussBot, Fabartus, Eupator, Kirill Lokshin, Krstajic, Gaius Cornelius, CambridgeBayWeather, Giro720, Cunado19, Thane, Knyght27, Shanel,
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Nika 243, ArthurBot, LilHelpa, Xqbot, Nexeuitas, Drilnoth, Lenin96, Ellipi, Khruner, Pinkypedia, Xashaiar, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT,
Tigernose, , Kabcsi, Mattis, Xenocidic, WebCiteBOT, Strider11, Moodi999, SD5, Batman2010, Amerana, Yellowweasel,
FrescoBot, Orijentolog, Bobbobbob12345, Tobby72, Spider 2200, Scoobycentric, Alarics, Wmj193, nforas, Jack Bornholm, Oghuz turkish, Jjupiter100, Kwiki, Citation bot 1, Emperor 2345, Chae jung, Alexpoorman, HRoestBot, Edderso, R1000R1000, Jschnur, RedBot,
MastiBot, Jamesinderbyshire, Boobarkee, Turcopole new, Pagetools, Nora lives, Jauhienij, Jugni, FoxBot, Trappist the monk,
, Lotje, Callanecc, Fox Wilson, Vrenator, Jafargholi, , SeoMac, Manoj Verman, Andarkan, Theo10011, Farhikht, Diannaa, Tbhotch, Persia2099, Minimac, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Nederlandse Leeuw, RjwilmsiBot, RepliCarter, AirplanePro, Mackay 86,
Kamran the Great, DASHBot, EmausBot, Aghvank, John of Reading, Eirione, Sinazita, Mrmakemakkara, Look2See1, Armaiti, Ibbn,
IncognitoErgoSum, RA0808, Rarevogel, AlanSiegrist, Vanished user zq46pw21, ZxxZxxZ, Wikipelli, Jmgariepy, Italia2006, Werieth,
Aakriti drake, F, DragonTiger23, Anir1uph, Nicolas Eynaud, Moto53, Medeis, EddieDrood, Greyshark09, Enikazemi, HammerFilmFan, Demiurge1000, Y-barton, Doug Shaver, L Kensington, Anastasia.Bukh, Alborzagros, Theadermagos, Sashhenka, Donner60, Khodabandeh14, Chewings72, Kianush irani, John Smith 104668, Zeta1127,89thLegion, Crown Prince, Kharmagas, Armundo bokan, LikeLakers2, Ordibehesht22, Wikiknowledgesource, Kaveh94, TRAJAN 117, Petrb, ClueBot NG, GoetheFromm, Lhimec, Gareth Grith-Jones,
Hirvelaid, Dr. Persi, Buxh, Jacsam2, Qara xan, , Itisonlyone, Piast93, Dillon quick, Peskypix, Devoidcypher, Navops47, Alphasinus,
Primergrey, Xythianos, Mileswilliams94, Seair21, MerlIwBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, Lionhead99, TehraniPersian, Soroush90gh, BG19bot,
Dietrichtj, Ryanbrady33, Logos112, MusikAnimal, Canada10wi, Xshayathia, Davidiad, Marcocapelle, TruthPosterIrani, Razzo90, Irnshahr, CitationCleanerBot, Hinger25, Joshua Jonathan, Writ Keeper, Account.ka.naam, NooVaEman, LegionSniperz, Above00100, Srwadia, Wjk7, ThanMore, BattyBot, M'encarta, Jdluns13, KhabarNegar, Ashkaan Parveez, AEM795, Tech77, Fhjmi54, Parvanehbanu,
Diako Zandi, Mtheory1, TruthBeethoven, JYBot, Kelvinsong, Ars2520, Dexbot, Hmainsbot1, IranZiba, Delljvc, Naderbami, Lugia2453,
Frosty, Zyma, The honest1, Cs770, Farzan Marzbani, Ichangehejir, Epicgenius, TejDham, MaJoK, Ybmjtmk845, CiprianAgapi, Zmav-

13.2

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ius, HistoryofIran, Soorena000, Technark-1, SamoaBot, DavidLeighEllis, LouisAragon, Bubills7701, Mikey123Mikey, HistorNE, Sam
Sailor, Keeby101, Innite Lore, Bladesmulti, Stamptrader, Morriec4233, Pktlaurence, Hjaltland Collection, Scot5929, Jyemjhutomjio,
Monkbot, Filedelinkerbot, 32, Rye-96, Josh122334445555666, Trackteur, Burklemore1, Cyntiamaspian, Rajatantra, Asiapersia23,
DanielTheGreat, Mehri.k2000, Titanic25, SoSivr, Issac Watson, Billybowden211, JJ4427, Artin Mehraban and Anonymous: 747

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Images

File:Achaemenid_empire_map_expansion.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Achaemenid_empire_

map_expansion.png License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: On Microsoft Paint Original artist: Javierfv1212
File:Amulet-pendant_Louvre_Sb3906.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Amulet-pendant_Louvre_
Sb3906.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Marie-Lan Nguyen
File:Anatolia_Ancient_Regions_base.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Anatolia_Ancient_Regions_
base.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors:
Asia_Minor_Political_500BC.svg Original artist: Asia_Minor_Political_500BC.svg: *Mysia.svg: Emok
File:Ancient_Egypt_map-en.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Ancient_Egypt_map-en.svg License:
GFDL Contributors: Own work. See [#References #References] for references used creating the map.
Original artist: Je Dahl
File:Babylonlion.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Babylonlion.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Behistun_DB1_1-15.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Behistun_DB1_1-15.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Blank.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Blank.png License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Cylinder_Seal,_Achaemenid,_modern_impression_05.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/
Cylinder_Seal%2C_Achaemenid%2C_modern_impression_05.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist:
Hjaltland Collection
File:Cyrus_II_le_Grand_et_les_Hbreux.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Cyrus_II_le_Grand_et_
les_H%C3%A9breux.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://expositions.bnf.fr/fouquet/grand/f063.htm Original artist: Jean Fouquet
File:Cyrus_II_of_Persia.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Cyrus_II_of_Persia.jpg License: CC BYSA 3.0 Contributors: Cropped from File:Olympic Park Cyrus.jpg Original artist: Original: Siamax
Cropped: TRAJAN 117
File:Cyrus_tomb.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Cyrus_tomb.jpg License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: en.wikipedia Original artist: Behrad18n
File:Darius_I_the_Great{}s_inscription.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Darius_I_the_Great%
27s_inscription.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Original artist:
Original uploader was Aryobarzan at en.wikipedia
File:Farvahar001.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Farvahar001.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Roodiparse
File:Flag_of_Abkhazia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Flag_of_Abkhazia.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work , see URL http://www.abkhaziagov.org/ru/state/sovereignty/flag_b.jpg Original artist: Drawn by User:
Achim1999
File:Flag_of_Afghanistan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Flag_of_Afghanistan.svg License: CC0
Contributors: http://openclipart.org/detail/24112/flag-of-afghanistan-by-anonymous-24112 Original artist:
User:Zscout370
File:Flag_of_Armenia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_Armenia.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: SKopp
File:Flag_of_Azerbaijan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Flag_of_Azerbaijan.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: http://www.elibrary.az/docs/remz/pdf/remz_bayraq.pdf and http://www.meclis.gov.az/?/az/topcontent/21 Original
artist: SKopp and others
File:Flag_of_Bahrain.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Flag_of_Bahrain.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://www.moci.gov.bh/en/KingdomofBahrain/BahrainFlag/ Original artist: Source: Drawn by User:SKopp, rewritten by
User:Zscout370
File:Flag_of_Bulgaria.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Flag_of_Bulgaria.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: The ag of Bulgaria. The colors are specied at http://www.government.bg/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001&p=0034&n=
000005&g= as: Original artist: SKopp
File:Flag_of_Cyprus.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Flag_of_Cyprus.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Vzb83
File:Flag_of_Egypt.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Flag_of_Egypt.svg License: CC0 Contributors:
From the Open Clip Art website. Original artist: Open Clip Art

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TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:Flag_of_Eritrea.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Flag_of_Eritrea.svg License: CC0 Contributors:

From the Open Clip Art website. Original artist: user:
File:Flag_of_Georgia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Flag_of_Georgia.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work based on File:Brdzanebuleba 31.pdf Original artist: User:SKopp
File:Flag_of_Greece.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Flag_of_Greece.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: own code Original artist: (of code) cs:User:-xfi- (talk)
File:Flag_of_Iran.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Flag_of_Iran.svg License: Public domain Contributors: URL http://www.isiri.org/portal/files/std/1.htm and an English translation / interpretation at URL http://flagspot.net/flags/ir'.html
Original artist: Various
File:Flag_of_Iraq.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Flag_of_Iraq.svg License: Public domain Contributors:
This image is based on the CIA Factbook, and the website of Oce of the President of Iraq, vectorized by User:Militaryace Original artist:
Unknown, published by Iraqi governemt, vectorized by User:Militaryace based on the work of User:Hoshie
File:Flag_of_Israel.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Flag_of_Israel.svg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern%20History/Israel%20at%2050/The%20Flag%20and%20the%20Emblem Original artist: The Provisional Council of State Proclamation of the Flag of the State of Israel of 25 Tishrei 5709 (28 October 1948) provides
the ocial specication for the design of the Israeli ag.
File:Flag_of_Jordan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Flag_of_Jordan.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Kazakhstan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Flag_of_Kazakhstan.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: own code, construction sheet Original artist: -x File:Flag_of_Kuwait.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Flag_of_Kuwait.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: SKopp
File:Flag_of_Kyrgyzstan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Flag_of_Kyrgyzstan.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: Drawn by User:SKopp, construction sheet. Redo by: cs:User:-xfi- Original artist: Made by Andrew Duhan for
the Sodipodi SVG ag collection, and is public domain.
File:Flag_of_Lebanon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Flag_of_Lebanon.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: Traced based on the CIA World Factbook with some modication done to the colours based on information
at Vexilla mundi.
File:Flag_of_Libya.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Flag_of_Libya.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: File:Flag of Libya (1951).svg Original artist: The source code of this SVG is <a data-x-rel='nofollow' class='external text'
href='http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fcommons.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%3AFilepath%2FFlag_of_
Libya.svg,<span>,&,</span>,ss=1'>valid</a>.
File:Flag_of_Macedonia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Flag_of_Macedonia.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:SKopp, rewritten by User:Gabbe
File:Flag_of_Nagorno-Karabakh.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Flag_of_Nagorno-Karabakh.svg
License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Oman.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Flag_of_Oman.svg License: CC0 Contributors:
? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Pakistan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Flag_of_Pakistan.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: The drawing and the colors were based from agspot.net. Original artist: User:Zscout370
File:Flag_of_Palestine.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Flag_of_Palestine.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work. Based on Law No. 5 for the year 2006 amending some provisions of Law No. 22 for the year 2005
on the Sanctity of the Palestinian Flag Original artist: Orionist, previous versions by Makaristos, Mysid, etc.
File:Flag_of_Qatar.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Flag_of_Qatar.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Drawn by User:SKopp Original artist: (of code) cs:User:-xfi File:Flag_of_Romania.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Flag_of_Romania.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: AdiJapan
File:Flag_of_Russia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Flag_of_Russia.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia.svg License:
CC0 Contributors: the actual ag Original artist: Unknown
File:Flag_of_South_Ossetia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Flag_of_South_Ossetia.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: The law on State ag of South Ossetia Original artist: Various
File:Flag_of_Sudan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Flag_of_Sudan.svg License: Public domain Contributors: www.vexilla-mundi.com Original artist: Vzb83
File:Flag_of_Syria.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Flag_of_Syria.svg License: Public domain Contributors: see below Original artist: see below
File:Flag_of_Tajikistan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Flag_of_Tajikistan.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Turkey.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Flag_of_Turkey.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Turkish Flag Law (Trk Bayra Kanunu), Law nr. 2893 of 22 September 1983. Text (in Turkish) at the website of the
Turkish Historical Society (Trk Tarih Kurumu) Original artist: David Benbennick (original author)

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File:Flag_of_Turkmenistan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Flag_of_Turkmenistan.svg License:

Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Ukraine.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Flag_of_Ukraine.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: 4512:2006 - .
SVG: 2010
Original artist:
File:Flag_of_Uzbekistan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Flag_of_Uzbekistan.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Ozbekiston Respublikasining Davlat bayrogi. The ocially dened colours are Pantone
313C for blue and 361C for green (source: [1], [2]). Drawn by User:Zscout370.
File:Flag_of_Yemen.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Flag_of_Yemen.svg License: CC0 Contributors:
Open Clip Art website Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_the_Turkish_Republic_of_Northern_Cyprus.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Flag_
of_the_Turkish_Republic_of_Northern_Cyprus.svg License: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Flag_of_the_United_
Arab_Emirates.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Gold_cup_kalardasht.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Gold_cup_kalardasht.jpg License: CCBY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Greek-Persian_duel.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Greek-Persian_duel.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: , Original artist:
File:Iran-bracelet.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Iran-bracelet.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: en.wikipedia.org Original artist: User:Zereshk
File:Iranian_queen.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Iranian_queen.jpg License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Perspolis rock reliefs Original artist: Unknown
File:Lion_Darius_Palace_Louvre_Sb3298.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Lion_Darius_Palace_
Louvre_Sb3298.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Jastrow (2005) Original artist: Unknown
File:Map_achaemenid_empire_en.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Map_achaemenid_empire_en.
png License: CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Median_Empire.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Median_Empire.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: This image is a copy or a derivative work of oriental_empire.jpg, from the map collection of the Perry-Castaeda Library
(PCL) of the University of Texas at Austin. Original artist: William Robert Shepherd
File:Naghshe_Rostam_ZPan.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Naghshe_Rostam_ZPan.jpg License:
CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Transfered to Commons by Alagos. Original artist: Amir Hussain Zolfaghary
File:Napoli_BW_2013-05-16_16-25-06_1_DxO.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Napoli_BW_
2013-05-16_16-25-06_1_DxO.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Berthold Werner
File:Neo-Babylonian_Empire.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Neo-Babylonian_Empire.png License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist:
File:OldPersian-A.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/OldPersian-A.svg License: Public domain Contributors: from http://persian.ir/images/7/70/Xerxes.ttf , dual licence GFDL, CC font Original artist: Ebraminio
File:OldPersian-PA.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/OldPersian-PA.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: from http://persian.ir/images/7/70/Xerxes.ttf , dual licence GFDL, CC font Original artist: Ebraminio
File:OldPersian-RA.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/OldPersian-RA.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: from http://persian.ir/images/7/70/Xerxes.ttf , dual licence GFDL, CC font Original artist: Ebraminio
File:OldPersian-SA.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/OldPersian-SA.svg License: Public domain Contributors: from http://persian.ir/images/7/70/Xerxes.ttf , dual licence GFDL, CC font Original artist: Ebraminio
File:People_icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: OpenClipart Original artist: OpenClipart
File:Persepolis001.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Persepolis001.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Persepolis_24.11.2009_11-12-14.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Persepolis_24.11.2009_
11-12-14.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work: Hansueli Krapf (User Simisa (talk contribs)) Original artist: Hansueli
Krapf
File:Persepolis_Apadana_noerdliche_Treppe_Detail.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Persepolis_
Apadana_noerdliche_Treppe_Detail.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Happolati
File:Persia_-_Achaemenian_Vessels.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Persia_-_Achaemenian_
Vessels.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Contributors: Flickr Original artist: Rosemanios from Bejing (hometown)
File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Question_book-new.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007

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TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:Sphinx_Darius_Louvre.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Sphinx_Darius_Louvre.jpg License:

Public domain Contributors: Jastrow (2005) Original artist: ?
File:Standard_of_Cyrus_the_Great_(Achaemenid_Empire).svg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/
Standard_of_Cyrus_the_Great_%28Achaemenid_Empire%29.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work, Based on: [1]
Original artist: Sodacan
File:Tachar-Persepolis-Iran.tif Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Tachar-Persepolis-Iran.tif License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Alborzagros
File:Vergina_Sun_-_Golden_Larnax.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Vergina_Sun_-_Golden_
Larnax.png License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: SilentResident
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on original logo tossed together by Brion Vibber

13.3

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