31 Facts About Persian Empire

1.

Achaemenid Persian Empire is well-known for having imposed a successful model of centralized, bureaucratic administration; its multicultural policy; building infrastructure, such as road systems and a postal system; the use of an official language across its territories; and the development of civil services, including its possession of a large, professional army.

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2.

Persian Empire is credited with freeing the people of Judah from their exile and with authorizing the reconstruction of much of Jerusalem, including the Second Temple.

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3.

Persian Empire was succeeded by his eldest son Cambyses II, while his younger son Bardiya received a large territory in Central Asia.

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4.

Persian Empire was soundly defeated by the Persians in the Battle of Pelusium before fleeing to Memphis, where the Persians defeated him and took him prisoner.

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5.

Persian Empire says that these actions led to a madness that caused him to kill his brother Bardiya, his own sister-wife and Croesus of Lydia.

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6.

Persian Empire then concludes that Cambyses completely lost his mind, and all later classical authors repeat the themes of Cambyses' impiety and madness.

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7.

The Persian Empire troops subjugated gold-rich Thrace, the coastal Greek cities, and defeated and conquered the powerful Paeonians.

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8.

Many of the Macedonian and Persian Empire elite intermarried, such as the Persian Empire official Bubares who married Amyntas' daughter, Gygaea.

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9.

The Persian Empire invasion led indirectly to Macedonia's rise in power and Persia had some common interests in the Balkans; with Persian Empire aid, the Macedonians stood to gain much at the expense of some Balkan tribes such as the Paeonians and Greeks.

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10.

However, in 490 BC the Persian Empire forces were defeated by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon and Darius would die before having the chance to launch an invasion of Greece.

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11.

Persian Empire organized a massive invasion aiming to conquer Greece.

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12.

Persian Empire's army entered Greece from the north in the spring of 480 BC, meeting little or no resistance through Macedonia and Thessaly, but was delayed by a small Greek force for three days at Thermopylae.

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13.

Persian Empire reigned for six months and fifteen days before being captured by his half-brother, Ochus, who had rebelled against him.

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14.

Persian Empire's death gave an Egyptian rebel named Amyrtaeus the opportunity to throw off Persian control over Egypt.

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15.

Persian Empire divided these troops into three bodies, and placed at the head of each a Persian and a Greek.

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16.

Persian Empire then returned to his capital having successfully completed his invasion of Egypt.

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17.

Several later Persian Empire rulers, forming the Frataraka dynasty, are known to have acted as representatives of the Seleucids in the region of Fars.

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18.

Part of the cause of the Persian Empire's decline had been the heavy tax burden put upon the state, which eventually led to economic decline.

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19.

Persian Empire claimed that the unit's name stemmed from the custom that every killed, seriously wounded, or sick member was immediately replaced with a new one, maintaining the numbers and cohesion of the unit.

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20.

The Sparabara were taken from the full members of Persian Empire society, were trained from childhood to be soldiers and when not called out to fight on campaigns in distant lands they practised hunting on the vast plains of Persia.

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21.

Since its foundation by Cyrus, the Persian empire had been primarily a land empire with a strong army, but void of any actual naval forces.

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22.

The Persian Empire fleet was not only used for peace-keeping purposes along the Karun but opened the door to trade with India via the Persian Empire Gulf.

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23.

Persian Empire observed that the Persians drank wine in large quantities and used it even for counsel, deliberating on important affairs when drunk, and deciding the next day, when sober, whether to act on the decision or set it aside.

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24.

Position of women in the Achaemenid Persian Empire differed depending on which culture they belonged to and therefore varied depending on the region.

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25.

Hierarchy of the royal women at the Persian Empire court was ranked with the king's mother first, followed by the queen and the king's daughters, the king's concubines, and the other women of the royal palace.

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26.

The king normally married a female member of the royal family or a Persian Empire noblewoman related to a satrap or another important Persian Empire man; it was permitted for members of the royal family to marry relatives, but there is no evidence for marriage between closer family members than half-siblings.

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27.

Depictions of Persian Empire women show them with long dresses and veils which did not cover their faces nor their hair, only flowing down over their neck at the back of the head as an ornament.

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28.

The quintessential feature of Persian Empire architecture was its eclectic nature with elements of Median, Assyrian, and Asiatic Greek all incorporated, yet maintaining a unique Persian Empire identity seen in the finished products.

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29.

Achaemenid Persian Empire left a lasting impression on the heritage and cultural identity of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and influenced the development and structure of future empires.

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30.

The Achaemenid Empire is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon.

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31.

Persian Empire is an empire in the modern sense—like that which existed in Germany, and the great imperial realm under the sway of Napoleon; for we find it consisting of a number of states, which are indeed dependent, but which have retained their own individuality, their manners, and laws.

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