Ancient Persia: a concise history of the Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BCE

Achaemenid royal inscriptions and classical sources

Tracking an Empire. The physical environment

Why "Achaemenid"?

Forerunners of the Achaemenids: the First Half of the First Millennium BCE. Iranians into Iran

Elam

Assyria

Babylonia

Anatolian kingdoms

The Medes.

Persia Rising: a New Empire. Cyrus I in an Elamite-Persian milieu

The fall of Assyria and its aftermath

Cyrus' conquest of the Medes

Cyrus' conquest of Lydia and Ionia

Cyrus in Eastern Iran and Central Asia

Cyrus' conquest of Babylonia

Images of Cyrus

Cyrus in the Greek traditions

Back to Anshan.

From Cyrus to Darius I: Empire in Transition. Death of Cyrus

King Cambyses

Cambyses' invasion of Egypt

The death of Cambyses and the crisis of 522 BCE

The Bisitun inscription of Darius I

Herodotus' version of Darius' accession (3.61-88)

Comparisons

Fission or fusion?

Darius' war for the succession.

Darius, the Great King. Darius triumphant, Bisitun revisited

Consolidation and expansion

The Scythian-Danube expedition

Darius and the Aegean periphery

The Ionian revolt

Darius' second Aegean campaign and the Battle of Marathon.

Mechanics of Empire. Kings, queens, and the Royal Court

Administration of the empire

Tribute to the king and coins

Satraps and provincial personnel

The Persepolis tablets: Persian administration, economy, and stratification

The Persian army

Communication networks: the royal road.

Xerxes, the Expander of the Realm. The death of Darius and the accession of Xerxes

Xerxes' royal inscriptions

Xerxes and the invasion of Greece: sources and problems

Medism

Earth and water

The invasion of Greece

The Aegean front and the Athenian problem.

Anatomy of Empire. Royal capitals

Achaemenid royal ideology

Achaemenid religion.

Empire at Large: From the Death of Xerxes to Darius II. Palace intrigue and the assassination of Xerxes

Reign of Artaxerxes I

Ezra and Nehemiah: discontent in the Levant

Revisiting the northwestern front: Persian-Greek interchange

From Artaxerxes I to Darius II

The Murashu archive: land management practices in Achaemenid Babylonia

Excursus: Achaemenid throne names

Darius II and dynastic continuity

Opportunity on the northwestern front.

Maintaining Empire: Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III. The death of Darius II and the accession of Artaxerxes II

The war between the brothers

Aftermath of the rebellion

Royal inscriptions of Artaxerxes II

Persia triumphant: the northwestern front

Cyprus and the Egyptian problem

Egypt in revolt and the Arshama archive

Revolts in Anatolia

From Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III: another succession crisis

Inscriptions and reign of Artaxerxes III.

Twilight of the Achaemenids. The death of Artaxerxes III, reign of Artaxerxes IV, and accession of Darius III

Macedon rising

Sources and problems

The invasion begins: battles of Granicus (May 334 BCE) and Issus (November 333 BCE) and Alexander's operations in Asia Minor

The loss of Egypt, the battle of Gaugamela, and the surrender of Babylon and Susa (332-331 BCE)

The defense of Parsa.

Timeline ; Chronological chart of Achaemenid Persian kings ; Lineages of the Achaemenid royal family.