The Persian Empire was a glorious empire indeed! Although manyEuropean countries and western counties ignored Persia’s proper name, Iran,until the Arab conquest in 700 A. D. , many countries still do consider it avery formidable opponent.
This essay will give a brief summary of thehistory of the Persian Empire. At around 1500 B. C. , multiple Aryan tribes settled on the northernside the Iranian plateau, the most important of which was the Medes.
On thesouthern side were the Persians who had emigrated from Parusa. The Persiansnamed that land “Parsumash”. In the late 6th century B. C.
, The warriorchief, Hakhamanish, was the first prominent leader of the Persians. Duringhis reign, the Medes dominated the Persians and a new leader rose tooverthrow the Median leaders. His name was Cyrus The Great. In 546 B.
C. heconquered the kingdom of Lydia and, shortly after, the kingdom ofBabylonia. Doing so, he established the Persian Empire as the preeminentpower of the world. Cyrus’s son, Cambyses II, became the heir to the throne and extendedthe Persian land even further by capturing Egypt. The next king, Darius I,had a canal built between the Nile River and the Red Sea. That earned himthe title “Darius the Great”.
Darius crushed a revolt of Ionian Greeksliving under Persian rule in Asia then launched an attack against theEuropean Greeks for supporting the rebels. His forces were tragicallydefeated at the battle of marathon. He began preparing a new attack againstthe Greeks but died before the preparation was complete. His son, Xerxes,attempted to carryout his fathers plan but utterly failed.
In the yearsafter 446 B. C. , the Persian Empire began to decline. The end of the Persian Empire came in the form of the multiplemerciful attacks made by Alexander the Great during the years of 334-331B.
C. Although the country of Persia was reestablished many years later, onecan highly doubt that it was ever the same again. The country of Persia isnow known commonly as Iran, but will always be remembered as. . . The Great Persian Empire.
