Ancient Persia

Immortal infantry - Lancer and Archer

Frieze of glazed tiles showing Immortal infantry. A lancer and archer....

Read More

Persepolis fortification tablets

Persepolis fortification tablets: large collection of ancient Persian cuneiform administrative texts, written between 506 and 497 BCE. They are one of the most important sources for the study of the administration of the Achaemenid empire. Persepolis was one of the capitals of the ancient Persian empire, founded by king Darius I the Great in 518 BC...

Read More

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great (ca.600 - 529 BCE) was a towering figure in the history of mankind. As the "father of the Iranian nation", he was the first world leader to be referred to as "The Great". Cyrus founded the first world empire - and the second Iranian dynastic empire (the Achaemenids) - after defeating the Median dynasty and uniting the Medes with the...

Read More

Astyages

Astyages (Akkadian Ištumegu): last king of Media, son of king Cyaxares, dethroned 550 BCE. Most information on Astyages can be found in the second part of the first book of the Histories by the Greek researcher Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century, hundred years after Astyages' reign. However, he is almost our only source, and it is inevitabl...

Read More

Artaxerxes II Mnemon

Artaxerxes II Mnemon: Achaemenid king of the Persian Empire, ruled from 404 to 358....

Read More

Parthia

Parthia (Old Persian Parthava): satrapy of the ancient Achaemenid empire, the north-east of modern Iran. The borders of Parthia were the Kopet Dag mountain range in the north (today the border between Iran and Turkmenistan) and the Dasht-e-Kavir desert in the south. In the west was Media, in the northwest Hyrcania, in the northeast Margiana, in the...

Read More

Persepolis Bull's Head

Bull's head carving from column capital at Persepolis....

Read More

Ganjnameh Inscription

Ganjnameh is an ancient inscription, 5 km southwest of Hamedan, on the side of Alvand Mountain in Iran. The inscription, which has been carved in granite, is composed of two sections. One (on the left) ordered by Darius I (521-485 BC) and the other (on the right) ordered by Xerxes I (485-65 BC). Both sections, which have been carved in three ancien...

Read More