Ancient Persia

The early history of man in Iran goes back well beyond the Neolithic period, it begins to get more interesting around 6000 BC, when people began to domesticate animals and plant wheat and barley. The number of settled communities increased, particularly in the eastern Zagros mountains, and handmade painted pottery appears. Throughout the prehistoric period, from the middle of the sixth millennium BC to about 3000 BC, painted pottery is a characteristic feature of many sites in Iran.

The prehistoric past of Iran is far older than the earliest Iranian dynasty, the Achaemenid. There is evidence of human habitation in Iran as long ago as the ninth millennium B.C. Ruled much later by the Achaemenids, the Parthians, and the Sassanids, Iran eventually hosted the Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great at the dawn of recorded history. Waves of invaders throughout the country's long history-the Greeks accompanying Alexander, Arab armies, the Turkish tribes that forced their way westward from Central Asia, and finally the Mongols, all left their mark upon the people of Persia.

Sites covering the empires that rule Persia:

Early Civilization in Persia
The Achaemenid Empire (550-330 B.C.)
The Seleucid Period (320-141 BC)
The Parthian Empire (250 BC- AD 225)
The Sassanian Dynasty (A.D. 224-642)
- Chronology of Ancient Persia

Other Links

Early Civilization
The first known civilization in Persia was that of the Elamites, who settled in the region sometime before 1200 B.C. Tribes of Medes and Persians wandered into Persia beginning about 900 B.C. The medes created the first state on the Persian plateau about 700 B.C., and reached the height of their powers in the late 600's B.C. The Persians, led by Cyrus the Great, overthrew the Medes in 549 B.C.

The Achaemenid Empire (550-330 B.C.)
The Achaemenid Persian empire, founded by Cyrus II, centered on southwest Iran and lower Mesopotamia. Cyrus enlarged the empire by seizing the kingdom of Lydia in 547 BC and gradually adsorbing Greek colonies in Ionia, in western Asia Minor. He called this the Achaemenid Empire, after his ancestor, Achaemenes. Under Darius I (521-486) it reached its greatest extent, stretching from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River, from Egypt to the modern Central Asian Republics. The empire was vast and its people diverse. The twenty-six different subject peoples of the land spoke different languages, worshiped different deities, lived in different environments and had widely differing social customs. The Achaemenid kings had to devise a system of empire strong enough to keep themselves in control and flexible enough to provide for the needs of all their subjects. The art and architecture of the period both reflect the diversity of the empire and proclaim a single central theme: a harmonious world order thanks to a benevolent and beneficent king. After the death of Xerxes (Darius I's son) Persia declined. The empire continued to exist in spite of revolts until 331 BC, when Alexander the Great defeated a huge Persian army at the Battle of Gaugamela. This ended the Achaemenid Empire, and Persia became part of Alexander's empire.

An Overview of The Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenids acheivements
Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions - The aim of the Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions project is to create an electronic study edition of the inscriptions of the Achaemenid Persian kings in all of their versions--Old Persian, Elamite, Akkadian, and, where appropriate, Aramaic and Egyptian.
Cyrus attacks the Kingdom of Lydia
- About Croesus - King of the Lydian Empire
Cyrus the Great takes Babylon
The Fall of Babylon
Egypt and the rising Persian empire
Persians in Egypt
Alexander invades Persia
- Alexander's Campaign against the Persians
- Persia under Alexander's rule

The Seleucid Period (320-141 BC)
More than 10 years after Alexander's death in 323 BC, one of his generals, Seleucus, started a dynasty that ruled Persia and nearby areas. The Seleucids founded many cities and introduced Greek culture into western and central Asia.

The Parthian Empire (250 BC- AD 225)
The Parthians built a large empire across eastern Asia Minor and southwest Asia. In about AD 224, a Persian named Ardashir overthrew the Parthians and seized control of the Parthian Empire. After more than 550 years under other rulers, Persians again ruled Persia.

The Sassanian Dynasty (A.D. 224-642)
In the beginning of 224 AD, a local ruler, one Ardashir Papakan, began a revolution that overthrew the last of the Parthians and established the Neo-Persian Empire of the Sassanids.

The new dynasty of the Sassanids was a more genuine representative of the civilized Iranian race than the Parthian Arsacidae, especially as far as religion was concerned. The Sassanids claimed descent from a great ancestor, Sassan, and were therefore of the priestly caste. Papak, the father of Ardashir, seems to have founded a small kingdom at Persis, and to have annexed the territories of other lesser princes, thus gradually encroaching on various Parthian provinces. Vologeses V, the last king of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia, declared war against the rising chief, but was defeated and put to death by Ardashir in 227. Thus the Parthian Empire passed into the hands of the Sassanid dynasty. The surviving Arsacids fled to India, and all the provinces accepted Ardashir's rule without resistance. It was in fact the beginning of a new religious movement, the new dynasty being looked upon as the true and genuine successor of the old and noble Achaemenid dynasty, and of the Zoroastrian religion.
Of major importance were the victories of Shapur IV against the Eastern Roman Empire in the 530's. He was able to re-conquer Syria and Lebanon and give Persia, for the first time in over 850 years, a port on the Mediterranean.

The rise of Islam, a new religion in Arabia, brought a sudden end to the Sassanian dynasty in the mid-600's. Arabs invaded Persia and defeated the Persians in 641.