Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire , was an <a href="/facts/Iranian_peoples/gnzfoI8h">Iranian</a> empire founded by <a href="/facts/Cyrus_the_Great/0gB7KwSA">Cyrus the Great</a> of the <a href="/facts/Achaemenid_dynasty/avlzWxF0">Achaemenid dynasty</a> in 550 BC. Based in modern-day <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Iran</a>, it was the <a href="/facts/List_of_largest_empires/zudjlgmV">largest empire by that point in history</a>, spanning a total of 5.5 million square kilometres (2.1 million square miles). The empire spanned from the <a href="/facts/Balkans/5Hy8ly0d">Balkans</a> and <a href="/facts/Ancient_Egypt/BDsEGK4g">Egypt</a> in the west, most of <a href="/facts/West_Asia/xXM15vIz">West Asia</a>, the majority of <a href="/facts/Central_Asia/rB8k0CyT">Central Asia</a> to the northeast, and the <a href="/facts/Indus_Basin/7vTRHA4t">Indus Valley</a> of <a href="/facts/South_Asia/7gTqe3hY">South Asia</a> to the southeast.
Around the 7th century BC, the region of <a href="/facts/Persis/wsxckzc9">Persis</a> in the southwestern portion of the <a href="/facts/Iranian_plateau/qIVWN4aH">Iranian plateau</a> was settled by the <a href="/facts/Persians/4GhM3jl2">Persians</a>. From Persis, Cyrus rose and defeated the <a href="/facts/Medes/T0ym7KJ2">Median Empire</a> as well as <a href="/facts/Lydia/zlta9sIJ">Lydia</a> and the <a href="/facts/Neo-Babylonian_Empire/GfIPHmzs">Neo-Babylonian Empire</a>, marking the establishment of a new imperial polity under the <a href="/facts/Achaemenid_dynasty/avlzWxF0">Achaemenid dynasty</a>.
In the modern era, the Achaemenid Empire has been recognised for its imposition of a successful model of centralised bureaucratic administration, its multicultural policy, building complex infrastructure such as <a href="/facts/Royal_Road/laBsSHRu">road systems</a> and an <a href="/facts/Chapar_Khaneh/t2umMBH4">organised postal system</a>, the use of official languages across its territories, and the development of civil services, including its possession of <a href="/facts/Achaemenid_Army/avlzWxF0">a large, professional army</a>. Its advancements inspired the implementation of similar styles of governance by a variety of later empires.
By 330 BC, the Achaemenid Empire was conquered by <a href="/facts/Alexander_the_Great/8N3gLElj">Alexander the Great</a>, an ardent admirer of Cyrus; the conquest marked a key achievement in the then-ongoing campaign of his <a href="/facts/Macedonia_(ancient_kingdom)/g0F1DEgc">Macedonian Empire</a>. <a href="/facts/Death_of_Alexander_the_Great/IhsKqgPL">Alexander's death</a> marks the beginning of the <a href="/facts/Hellenistic_period/q6BgQsaF">Hellenistic period</a>, when most of the fallen Achaemenid Empire's territory came under the rule of the <a href="/facts/Ptolemaic_Kingdom/sAg88Lvs">Ptolemaic Kingdom</a> and the <a href="/facts/Seleucid_Empire/NSYMLBYa">Seleucid Empire</a>, both of which had emerged as successors to the Macedonian Empire following the <a href="/facts/Partition_of_Triparadisus/cj7XeFl4">Partition of Triparadisus</a> in 321 BC. Hellenistic rule remained in place for almost a century before the Iranian elites of the central plateau reclaimed power under the <a href="/facts/Parthian_Empire/2Yxcllsk">Parthian Empire</a>.

Achaemenid Empire open-in-new

Achaemenid Empire