Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire (sometimes the Persian Empire) was an ancient empire centered on Iran.
Contents
History
The empire takes its name from the Achaemenid dynasty. Mythically the house was founded by Achaemenes (Haxāmaniš), but Teïspes (Čišpiš) is the first historical Achaemenid monarch. He ruled Anshan as a vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. When Ashurbanipal died in 631 BCE, the empire began to dissolve, with Cyaxares and Nabopolassar conquering and dividing the realm. During the reign of Cyrus I (Kuruš), Anshan became a vassal of the former. His younger son Ariaramnes (Ariyāramna) came to be king of Pārsa, also under Median control.
Cyrus II, the grandson of the first, succeeded the throne in 559 BCE. He established a capital in Pasargadae. Within a decade he had conquered Media and absorbed its empire. War soon broke out against the Lydian Empire, which encompassed all of Anatolia, when Croesus seized Pteria. Cyrus recaptured the city, marched directly to the Lydian capital of Sardis, and ordered his generals to continue the conquest across Asia Minor. He then turned his armies east. After failing to conquer Gedrosia, located between the Indus River and the Arabian Sea, he instead subjugated all the kingdoms north of the Hindu Kush Mountains. By 540 BCE, Cyrus had begun a conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. He claimed the title 'king of kings' as a result of this conquest. Cyrus was killed in 530 BCE by a Massagetae uprising led by Tomyris.
Cyrus' son Cambyses II (Kambūjiya) conquered Egypt and Cyrenaica. His son Bardiya ruled for only a few months before being overthrown by Darius I (Dārayavaʰuš), a cousin descending from Ariaramnes. Darius expanded the empire in every direction; deeper into Africa along the Nile, west into Thrace, and eastward to capture all of the Indus Valley. He also campaigned deep into Scythian territory, up to the Volga. He vassalized Macedonia but failed to conquer Athens.
Darius' son Xerxes I continued the Greco-Persian Wars against the Hellenic city-states, but ultimately was forced to withdraw. The empire began to decline in power, although the only major territorial change was the loss of Egypt. In 330 BCE, the empire was suddenly ended through conquest by Alexander the Great.
Government
Cyrus II adopted the governance style of the Medes upon its conquest. The empire was divided into hereditery viceroyalties called satrapies (led by a satrap, xšaçapavan). These were effectively petty kingdoms that paid taxes to the Achaemenid king of kings. The satraps were administrators and judges, but importantly all armies were under direct imperial command.