Achaemenid Empire شَاهِنْشَاهَى هَخَامَنْشَى اىْرَانْ | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 550-330 BCE | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
.svg) Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent. | |||||||||
| Capital | Ecbatana Pasargadae Babylon Persepolis Susa | ||||||||
| Official languages | Old Persian Aramaic | ||||||||
| Recognised regional languages | Elamite Hebrew Akkadian Ancient Greek Median | ||||||||
| Religion | Zoroastrianism | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Persian | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
• first King | Cyrus II, the Great | ||||||||
• last King | Darius III Codomannus | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Iran Iraq Afghanistan | ||||||||
.svg)
The Achaemenid Empire, or Persian Empire, (550–330 BC) was the first Persian Empire to rule over significant portions of Greater Persia (or Iran). It followed the Median Empire as the second great empire of the Iranian peoples. At the height of its power, the empire had about 7.5 million square kilometres and was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity.
The empire was forged by Cyrus the Great and spanned three continents, including parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan; parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor and Thrace; much of the Black Sea coastal regions; Iraq; northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria; and all of the significant population centres of ancient Egypt and Armenia.
The empire was the enemy of the Greek city-states during the Greco–Persian wars. It freed the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity and instituted Aramaic as the its official language.
Because of the empire's vast extent and long endurance, Persian influence in nations around the world in language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law, and government has lasted ever since even after its fall.
