The Achaemenid Empire , also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Iran" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Iranian empire</a> based in Western Asia that was founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BCE. It reached its greatest extent under Xerxes I, who conquered most of northern and central ancient <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Greece" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Greece</a>. At its greatest territorial extent, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from the Balkans and Eastern Europe in the west to the Indus Valley in the east. The empire had its beginnings in the 7th century BCE, when the Persians settled in the southwestern portion of the Iranian Plateau, in the region of Persis. From this region, Cyrus rose and defeated the <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Iraq" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Median Empire</a>—of which he had previously been king—as well as Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, following which he formally established the Achaemenid Empire. The Achaemenid Empire is known for imposing a successful model of centralized, bureaucratic administration via the use of satraps; its multicultural policy; building infrastructure, such as road systems and a postal system; the use of an official language across its territories; and the development of civil services, including its possession of a large, professional army. The empire's successes inspired the usage of similar systems in later empires. The Macedonian king <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/Conquests-of-Alexander-the-Great" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alexander the Great</a>, himself an ardent admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered most of the Achaemenid Empire by 330 BCE. Upon Alexander's death, most of the former territory of the empire fell to the rule of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire after the partition of Alexander’s empire, until the Iranian elites of the central plateau finally reclaimed power under the Parthian Empire by the 2nd century BCE.

Visual Timelines

Achaemenid Empire Timeline

Achaemenid Empire Timeline

Prologue

Battle of Hyrba

Founding and Expansion

Foundation of the Achaemenid-Empire

Battle of Pteria

Siege of Sardis

Battle of Thymbra

Fall of Babylon

Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley

Consolidation and Further Expansion

Achaemenid Empire defeats Egypt

Scythian campaign of Darius I

Macedonians surrender to the Persians

Greco-Persian Wars

Decline and Fall

Persian Civil War

Corinthian War

Great Satraps' Revolt

Achaemenid Conquest of Egypt

Fall of the Achaemenid Empire

Epilogue

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