Ancient Persian Empire

At its height about 500 BC, the Persian empire had conquered Asia as far as the Indus River, Greece, and North Africa including what is now Egypt and Libya.

The Achaemenids were the ruling dynasty of Cyrus the Great and his family over the Persian empire, from 550-330 BC.

Akra is a large important site of the Achaemenid civilization, located in the Bannu Basin south of Peshawar in what is today Pakistan.

Iranian archaeologist Ali Sami was director of the Archaeological Institute of Persepolis during the 1940s and 1950s.

Founded by Alexander the Great's general Seleucus around 300 BC, Antioch also was the seat of a Roman governor after 64 BC.

Band-e Dukhtar is an irrigation works located in the Anatolian plain and likely dated to the Achaemenid dynasty.

The Behistun inscription is a "rosetta stone" for Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian language.

Ctesiphon is the name of a very old city at the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers near Baghdad in what is now Iraq.

The site of Dahaneh Gholaman is an Achaemenid period (550-330 BC) Persian site in Sistan-Baluchestan province in Iran

Firuzabad is a modern city in southern Iran, about 200 kilometers south of Shiraz in Fars province. It was the capital of Ardashir I (AD 224-241).

Forgotten Empire: The world of Ancient Persia, is an excellent introduction to the Achmaenid dynasties of the Persian Empire, its color images and text together providing a rich and tasty textured revelation of this long-lost and little-known civilization of the past.

The archaeological site of Hacinebi Tepe is located in southeastern Turkey, on the bluffs overlooking the east bank of the Euphrates River.

Legendary town in the Susiana Plain of Iraq, built in the Sasanian period by Shapur I

The Medes were an Iron Age tribe located in Iran at the time of the founding of the Persian Empire.

Parthia was an early Persian empire, centered in northeastern Iran between 247 BC and AD 228.

Pasargadae was the ancient capital city of the Achmaenid Dynasty built by Cyrus II (also known as Cyrus the Great) in the 6th century BC.

Pasargadae was the ancient capital city of the Achmaenid Dynasty built by Cyrus II (also known as Cyrus the Great) in the 6th century BC.

The archaeological site of Persepolis was part of the Achaemenid Dynasty, established by King Darius during the 5th century BC.

The archaeological site of Qandahar is located near the modern city of Kandahar in south central Afghanistan.

After Alexander the Great died, his empire fractured into numerous satrapies, one of which was the Seleucid Empire

After Alexander the Great died, his empire fractured into numerous satrapies, one of which was the Seleucid Empire

The Royal Road was a major intercontinental thoroughfare built by the Achaemenid king Darius the Great (521-485 BC)

From the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, an electronic study edition of the inscriptions of the Achaemenid Persian kings in all of their versions--Old Persian, Elamite, Akkadian, and, where appropriate, Aramaic and Egyptian.

Artifacts and discussion of the Achmaenid dynasty of the Persian Empire, from the Metropolitan Museum.

No fuss, no flashy graphics, nothing to slow down your machine, just lots of solid information on the ancient Parthian empire, from Edward C.D. Hopkins.

Chicago's Oriental Institute has a gallery dedicated to the Persian Empire; their website in support of the gallery includes the history of the museum's exhibition and links to several OI research projects.

A great resource on the archaeology and ancient history fof the Sasanians, from Guitty Azarpay, and Jeanette Zerneke of the University of California at Berkeley.