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Ancient Persia

Phraortes

Phraortes (Old Persian FrÃ-da): son of Upadaranma, king of Media (522-521 BCE). The immediate cause of Phraortes' rebellion was the death of the Persian king Cambyses in the Spring of 522 and the usurpation of the throne by a Magian named GaumÃ-ta, who did not belong to the Achaemenid dynasty and may have been a Mede by birth. The adherents of the ...

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Xerxes II and Sogdianus

Xerxes II (Old Persian KhÅ¡ayÃ-rÅ¡Ã-) and Sogdianus: kings of the ancient Achaemenid empire. Xerxes ruled forty five days in the first months of 423 BCE; Sogdianus ruled for six months and fifteen days. Our only source for the reign of Xerxes II and Sogdianus is the Greek author Ctesias of Cnidus, one of the most unreliable writers from Antiquity. ...

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History of Alexander the Great

Alexander is born in Pella, the Macedonian capital, at about the time his father becomes king of Macedonia. Philip II's expansion of the kingdom, an unfolding saga of glory and excitement, is Alexander's boyhood. At an early age he proves himself well equipped to share in these military adventures. He is only sixteen when he is left in charge of Ma...

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Winged Creatures from Persepolis

Relief of winged creatures at the gate of Persepolis. Probably derived from Babylonian supernatural beings who guard the entrances to sacred places, and perhaps Babylonia is also the source for reconstituting the AchÃ"menid dynasty in terms of sacral kingship....

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Glazed tile relief from Palace at Susa

Glazed tile relief originally from the Persian winter palace at Susa, capital of Elam. 520-500 B.C. (Paris: Louvre). Another imperial guard. The light military dress was designed for offensive combat, to rush out to address crises within the far-flung Persian Empire....

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Daiva Inscription

Achaemend Royal Inscriptions: XPh ("Daiva Inscription") In ca.521, the Persian king Darius I the Great ordered that a new alphabet, the Aryan script, was to be developed. This was used for a small corpus of inscriptions, known as the Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions. One of the most important Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions is the "Daiva inscription". ...

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Kingdoms of Persia

The Persians (or Parsu) were a grouping of Indo-Europeans who settled to the east of ancient Elam during the period of instability and migration which occurred throughout the Middle East between 1200-900 BC, when other tribal groups such as the Aramaeans and the Sea Peoples were causing chaos further west. The Persian capital until 559 BC was Pasar...

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Cyrus

Cyrus (Old Persian Kuruš; Hebrew Kores): founder of the Achaemenid empire. He was born about 600 BCE as the son of Cambyses I, the king of the Persian kingdom called Anšan. During Cambyses' reign, the Persians were vassals of the Median leader Astyages....

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Cyaxares

Cyaxares (Persian Uvakhšatara, Akkadian Umakištar): name of a king of the Medes, who may have reigned from c.625 to c.585. The only narrative about the reign of Cyaxares can be found in the first book of the Histories by the Greek researcher Herodotus (c.480-c.429). He writes that the Median leader Phraortes....

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Darius II Nothus

Darius II Nothus: Achaemenid king of the Persian Empire, ruled from 423 to 404....

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