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The Early Achaemenid Persian Army - Equipment

Herodotus described the equipment of the Median and Persian infantry: "They wore soft caps called tiaras, multicoloured sleeved tunics with iron scale armour looking like the scales of fish, and trousers. Instead of aspides they carried gerrha with their bows cases slung below them. They carried short spears, large bows, cane arrows and daggers han...

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Achaemenid Army

After Kuroush (Cyrus) overthrew Astayges, unifying the Median and Persian tribes, with himself at the helm, he continued to expand his empire. Though Kuroush was immortalized in the bible for his great tolerance, his military genius helped him overcome many enemies in combat. He trained his soldiers through hefty routines to condition them for comb...

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Salamis - Second Persian War

The plan to stop the Persians at Thermopylae hadn't worked, and, in the late summer of 480 BC, the Persian army was marching south towards Athens. The Greeks got together to discuss what to do....

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The Persian Wars

In the 5th century BC the vast Persian Empire attempted to conquer Greece. If the Persians had succeeded, they would have set up local tyrants, called satraps, to rule Greece and would have crushed the first stirrings of democracy in Europe. The survival of Greek culture and political ideals depended on the ability of the small, disunited Greek cit...

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Ionian Revolt

In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great made himself the King of Kings, and ruled all of West Asia. Along the coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey), Cyrus conquered first the Lydians and then the Greek cities that had been dependent on Lydia (LIH-dee-uh). The people who lived in these Greek cities in Turkey were called Ionians (eye-OH-nee-anns). Cyrus and the Persi...

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Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Salamis was a pivotal naval engagement that took place in 480 BCE during the Greco-Persian Wars, specifically the Second Persian invasion of Greece. This battle was a critical moment in ancient history, significantly impacting the course of Western civilization. Here's a brief description: Historical Context: The Battle of Salamis occ...

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Platea - Persian Wars - Battle of Platea

Spartans, Tegeans, and Athenians fought the Persian army that remained in Greece, at the final battle on Greek soil of the Persian Wars, the Battle of Plataea, in 479 B.C. Xerxes and his fleet had returned to Persia, but Persian troops remained in Greece, under Mardonius. They stationed themselves for battle in a place suitable for their horsemen -...

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The Persian Immortals

Immortals: Greek name for an elite regiment in the ancient Achaemenid empire. In his description of the battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE), the Greek researcher Herodotus mentions a Persian elite corps which he calls the Ten Thousand or the Athanatoi, the 'Immortals'. He describes them as a body of picked Persians under the leadership of Hydarnes, the...

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Campaigns of Darius I - Ionian Revolt

Ionia, on the central Western coast of Asia Minor and the adjacent islands was settled by the Greeks about 1000 BC. Between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, the Ionian cities of Miletus, Shmos, Ephesus, led the rest of Greece in trade, colonization, and culture. The region was dominated by Lydia from 550 BC and then by Persian rule after Cyrus the Gre...

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History of Iran: Achaemenid Army

he Achaemenian/Achaemenid Army is well known through descriptions by Herodotus, Xenophon, and Arrian as well as by illustrations on Persepolitan and Greco-Persian monuments. Of particular importance for the topic are the Greek representations of Persian warriors and the evidence of the so-called Alexander Sarcophagus from Sidon. The Persians whom C...

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