Founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire was the largest empire the ancient world had yet seen, stretching from the Aegean to the Indus and pioneering a model of tolerant multi-ethnic imperial governance.
Conquered by Alexander the Great of Macedon; it ended in 330 BCE when the last king, Darius III, was killed by his satrap Bessus as Alexander overran the empire.
The atlas holds 5 border frames for Achaemenid Empire — the shape you scrub through changes in 550 BC · 539 BC · 525 BC · 515 BC · 450 BC.
The definitive modern scholarly history of the Achaemenid Empire, comprehensive and authoritative.
A readable single-volume history of Iran situating the Achaemenids within the longer Iranian tradition.
Primary source for the Greco-Persian Wars and Achaemenid imperial expansion westward; Herodotus's account of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius I is foundational for any study of the empire.
A Persian envoy’s grand tour of the fifth-century BC world of Darius and Xerxes.