Persian Empire: Did you mean...?

Persian literature differs from the common definition of “literature” in that it is not confined to lyrical compositions, to poetry or imaginative prose, because the central elements of these appear, to greater or lesser degrees, in all the...

The Persian Wars, also known as the Greco Persian Wars, were a series of battles fought between Ancient Greece and the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the 5th century BCE. The most famous of these battles are the Battle of Marathon, the Battle...

Ancient Persian culture flourished between the reign of Cyrus II (The Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE), founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and the fall of the Sassanian Empire in 651 CE. Even so, the foundations of Persian culture were already...

This map animation shows the rise and fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire over time.

A map illustrating the rise and evolution of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (from the name of Achaemenes, an ancestor of the empire's founder, Cyrus the Great) from its origins in around 550 BCE when Cyrus II of Persia conquered the Medes...

The Persian Empire about 500 BC.

Ardashir V of Persis | Ardeshir the Unifier | Ardashir I | اردشیر یکم (l. c. 180-241 CE, r. 224-240 CE) A visual representation of Ardeshir I (the Unifier), founder of the Sasanian Empire (Larger Iran). This representation is largely based...

The Ten Thousand Immortals were the elite force of the Persian army of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE). They formed the king's personal bodyguard and were also considered the shock troops of the infantry in Persian warfare. They are...

Persian art and architecture in the present day is associated with the nation of Iran and usually designated as beginning with the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) but has an even longer history with its origins dating back to before the...

Drawing on historical and archaeological evidence, this documentary, by Dr. Farzin Rezaeian, reconstructs 7,000 years of Iranian (Persian) history.