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Ancient Persia

History of Persian Ceramics

Pottery making in the Iranian Plateau dates back to the Early Neolithic Age (7th millennium BCE) with the production of coarse, unglazed wares. Later wares were made from earthenware clays with a layer of white slip (engobe). They were covered by transparent lead glazes and colors were added with oxides. Persian ceramics matured with time into more...

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Achaemenid Persian Maps of the Empire

The Achaemenid empire at its greatest, during the reign of Darius I, 500 B.C. The map below shows the borders of the satrapies which were to fluctuate with numerous revolts. Artaxerxes III reconsolidated the empire in 343 B.C....

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Map of Persia

Persia, also known as Iran, has a rich history that dates back thousands of years. The country is located in Western Asia and is home to a diverse range of landscapes, from deserts to mountains. One of the most iconic maps of Persia is the ancient Silk Road route that connected the East to the West. This historic trade route played a significant r...

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The Medes

During the second millennia B.C., successive Indo-European (Aryan) invaders broke through into the Iranian plateau, either from the Caucasus, or through Central Asia. Those who settled in Iran were divided into tribes that were distinguished from each other by their different dialects. The most famous of these tribes were the Persians (Parsa), and ...

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Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia

The British Museum. Magnificent palaces, glittering gold life-like carvings: the wealth and power of ancient Persia "" modern Iran is legendary. Two thousand years ago, this vast and powerful empire stretched from the Mediterranean to the River Indus. Great kings created the breathtaking cities of Persepolis, Susa and Pasargadae, which now lie in r...

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Cyrus Takes Babylon (530 BCE): Cyrus Cylinder

In October 539 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus took Babylon, the ancient capital of an oriental empire covering modern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. In a broader sense, Babylon was the ancient world's capital of scholarship and science. The subject provinces soon recognized Cyrus as their legitimate ruler. Since he was already lord of peripheral re...

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Persian Art Through the Centuries

The long prehistoric period in Iran, is known to us mostly from excavation work carried out in a few key sites, which has led to a chronology of distinct periods, each one characterised by the development of certain types of pottery, artefacts and architecture. Pottery is one of the oldest Persian art forms, and examples have been unearthed from bu...

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Epic Literature of Ancient Iran

The most significant literary heritage of ancient Iran, however, is the heroic poetry which eventually evolved into the Iranian national epic. The core of this poetry belongs to a heroic age of remote antiquity, that of the Kayanians. Under this dynasty, whose history is wrapped in legend, the ancestors of the Avestan people offered worship and sac...

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Ancient Persia Geography

Persia was a land that included parts of what are now Iran and Afghanistan. The map above shows the Achaemenid Empire at its peak in 500BC. It was the center of an empire that stretched west to the central Mediterranean Sea, east to India, and from the Gulf of Oman in the southern Russia in the north. Persia is one of the world's most mountainous c...

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Map: The Empire of Cyrus II, 529 B.C.

Map: The Empire of Cyrus II, 529 B.C. The Empire of Cyrus II, also known as Cyrus the Great, in 529 B.C. was one of the most powerful empires of its time. Stretching from the Indus River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the empire covered a vast expanse of territory in the ancient world. At its height, the Empire of Cyrus II inco...

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