Timeline ImageSize = width:800 height:115 PlotArea = width:700 height:90 left:65 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:time value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # id:period value:rgb(1,0.7,0.5) # id:age value:rgb(0.95,0.85,0.5) # id:era value:rgb(1,0.85,0.5) # id:eon value:rgb(1,0.85,0.7) # id:filler value:rgb(1,1,0.01) # background bar id:black value:black Period = from:-675 till:-329 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:100 start:-675 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10 start:-675 PlotData = align:center textcolor:black fontsize:10 mark:(line,black) width:15 shift:(0,-5) bar:Period color:pink from: -675 till: -550 text:Origins bar:Period color:age from: -550 till: -499 shift:(0,3) text:Expansion from: -499 till: -449 shift:(0,-10) text:
Greco-Persian wars from: -449 till: -358 text:Cultural from: -358 till: -330 text:Decline bar:Rulers color:era from:-675 till:-640 text:
Teispes from:-640 till:-600 text:
Cyrus I from:-600 till:-559 text:
Cambyses I from:-559 till:-530 shift:(0,5) text:
Cyrus II from:-530 till:-522 shift:(0,-9) text:
Cambyses II from:-522 till:-522 shift:(0,-17) text:
Smerdis from:-522 till:-486 shift:(0,-33) text:
Darius I from:-486 till:-465 text:
Xerxes I from:-465 till:-424 shift:(0,-10) text:
Artaxerxes I from:-424 till:-424 shift:(0,-3) text:
Xerxes II from:-424 till:-424 shift:(0,-25) text:
Sogdianus from:-424 till:-404 shift:(-20,14) text:
Darius II from:-404 till:-358 shift:(-10,4) text:
Artaxerxes II from:-358 till:-338 shift:(0,-8) text:
Artaxerxes III from:-338 till:-336 shift:(-20,21) text:
Arses from:-336 till:-330 shift:(-10,11) text:
Darius III from:-330 till:-329 shift:(0,-15) text:
Bessus bar: color:pink from: -675 till: -480 text:Early from: -480 till: -380 text:Middle from: -380 till: -330 text:Late
Origin of the Achaemenid dynasty The Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic
Persians. The Persians were
Iranian people who arrived in what is today
Iran and settled a region including north-western Iran, the
Zagros Mountains and
Persis alongside the native
Elamites. The Persians were originally
nomadic pastoralists in the western Iranian Plateau. The Achaemenid Empire may not have been the first Iranian empire, as the
Medes, another group of Iranian people, possibly established a short-lived empire when they played a major role in overthrowing the Assyrians. The Achaemenids were initially rulers of the Elamite city of
Anshan near the modern city of
Marvdasht; the title "King of Anshan" was an adaptation of the earlier Elamite title "King of Susa and Anshan". There are conflicting accounts of the identities of the earliest Kings of Anshan. According to the
Cyrus Cylinder (the oldest extant genealogy of the Achaemenids) the kings of Anshan were
Teispes,
Cyrus I,
Cambyses I and
Cyrus II, also known as Cyrus the Great, who founded the empire. The later
Behistun Inscription, written by
Darius the Great, claims that Teispes was the son of
Achaemenes and that Darius is also descended from Teispes through a different line, but no earlier texts mention Achaemenes. In
Herodotus'
Histories, he writes that Cyrus the Great was the son of Cambyses I and
Mandane of Media, the daughter of
Astyages, the king of the Median Empire.
Formation and expansion )
550s BC Cyrus revolted against the
Median Empire in 553 BC, and in 550 BC succeeded in defeating the Medes, capturing Astyages and taking the Median capital city of
Ecbatana. Once in control of Ecbatana, Cyrus styled himself as the successor to Astyages and assumed control of the entire empire. By inheriting Astyages' empire, he also inherited the territorial conflicts the Medes had with both
Lydia and the
Neo-Babylonian Empire.
540s BC King
Croesus of Lydia sought to take advantage of the new international situation by advancing into what had previously been Median territory in Asia Minor. Cyrus led a counterattack which not only fought off Croesus' armies, but also led to the capture of
Sardis and the fall of the Lydian Kingdom in 546 BC. Cyrus placed
Pactyes in charge of collecting tribute in Lydia and left, but once Cyrus had left Pactyes instigated a rebellion against Cyrus. Cyrus sent the Median general
Mazares to deal with the rebellion, and Pactyes was captured. Mazares, and after his death
Harpagus, set about reducing all the cities which had taken part in the rebellion. The subjugation of Lydia took about four years in total. When the power in Ecbatana changed hands from the Medes to the Persians, many tributaries to the Median Empire believed their situation had changed and revolted against Cyrus. This forced Cyrus to fight wars against
Bactria and the nomadic
Saka in Central Asia. During these wars, Cyrus established several
garrison towns in Central Asia, including the
Cyropolis.
530s BC Nothing is known of Persia–Babylon relations between 547 and 539 BC, but it is likely that there were hostilities between the two empires for several years leading up to the war of 540–539 BC and the
Fall of Babylon. In October 539 BC, Cyrus won a battle against the Babylonians at
Opis, then took
Sippar without a fight before finally capturing the city of
Babylon on 12 October, where the Babylonian king
Nabonidus was taken prisoner. Upon taking control of the city, Cyrus depicted himself in propaganda as restoring the divine order which had been disrupted by
Nabonidus, who had promoted the cult of
Sin rather than
Marduk, and he also portrayed himself as restoring the heritage of the
Neo-Assyrian Empire by comparing himself to the Assyrian king
Ashurbanipal. Cyrus is credited with freeing the
Jews from the
Babylonian captivity, permitting their return to
Judah, and authorizing the rebuilding of
Jerusalem, including the
Second Temple. , located at
Pasargadae 520s BC In 530 BC, Cyrus died and was succeeded by his eldest son
Cambyses II, while his younger son
Bardiya received a large territory in Central Asia. By 525 BC, Cambyses had successfully subjugated
Phoenicia and
Cyprus and was making preparations to invade Egypt with the newly created
Persian navy. Pharaoh
Amasis II had died in 526, and had been succeeded by
Psamtik III, resulting in the defection of key Egyptian allies to the Persians. Psamtik positioned his army at
Pelusium in the
Nile Delta. He was soundly defeated by the Persians in the
Battle of Pelusium before fleeing to
Memphis, where the Persians defeated him and took him prisoner. After attempting a failed revolt, Psamtik III promptly committed suicide. Herodotus depicts Cambyses as openly antagonistic to the Egyptian people and their gods, cults, temples, and priests, in particular stressing the murder of the sacred bull
Apis. He says that these actions led to a madness that caused him to kill his brother Bardiya (who Herodotus says was killed in secret), his own sister-wife and Croesus of Lydia. He then concludes that Cambyses completely lost his mind, and all later classical authors repeat the themes of Cambyses' impiety and madness. However, this is based on spurious information, as the epitaph of Apis from 524 BC shows that Cambyses participated in the funeral rites of Apis styling himself as pharaoh. Following the conquest of Egypt, the
Libyans and the Greeks of
Cyrene and
Barca in present-day eastern Libya (
Cyrenaica) surrendered to Cambyses and sent tribute without a fight. Herodotus claims that the naval invasion of Carthage was canceled because the Phoenicians, who made up a large part of Cambyses' fleet, refused to take up arms against their own people, but modern historians doubt whether an invasion of Carthage was ever planned at all. However, Cambyses dedicated his efforts to the other two campaigns, aiming to improve the Empire's strategic position in Africa by conquering the
Kingdom of Meroë and taking strategic positions in the western oases. To this end, he established a garrison at
Elephantine consisting mainly of Jewish soldiers, who remained stationed at Elephantine throughout Cambyses' reign. Herodotus claims that the invasion of Ethiopia was a failure due to the madness of Cambyses and the lack of supplies for his men, but archaeological evidence suggests that the expedition was not a failure, and a fortress at the
Second Cataract of the Nile, on the border between Egypt and Kush, remained in use throughout the Achaemenid period. Furthermore, in two inscriptions of Darius, Nubia is listed as one of the lands in the empire, and a Nubian delegation is depicted in Persepolis on the
Apadana reliefs which visually present the lands of Darius’ empire. These suggest that Cambyses saw success in subduing Nubia. The events surrounding Cambyses's death and Bardiya's succession are greatly debated as there are many conflicting accounts. According to Herodotus, as Bardiya's assassination had been committed in secret, the majority of Persians still believed him to be alive. This allowed two
Magi to rise up against Cambyses, with one of them sitting on the throne able to impersonate Bardiya because of their remarkable physical resemblance and shared name (Smerdis in Herodotus's accounts).
Ctesias writes that when Cambyses had Bardiya killed he immediately put the magus Sphendadates in his place as satrap of Bactria due to a remarkable physical resemblance. Two of Cambyses' confidants then conspired to usurp Cambyses and put Sphendadates on the throne under the guise of Bardiya. According to the
Behistun Inscription, written by the following king
Darius the Great, a magus named Gaumata impersonated Bardiya and incited a revolution in Persia.
Herodotus writes that the native leadership debated the best form of government for the empire.
510s BC Ever since the
Macedonian king
Amyntas I surrendered his country to the Persians in about 512–511, Macedonians and Persians were strangers no more as well. The subjugation of
Macedonia was part of Persian military operations initiated by
Darius the Great (521–486) in 513—after immense preparations—a huge Achaemenid army invaded the
Balkans and
tried to defeat the European
Scythians roaming to the north of the
Danube river. Darius' army subjugated several
Thracian people, and virtually all other regions that touch the European part of the
Black Sea, such as parts of modern
Bulgaria,
Romania,
Ukraine, and
Russia, before it returned to
Asia Minor. Darius left in Europe one of his commanders named
Megabazus whose task was to accomplish conquests in the Balkans. Finally, Megabazus sent envoys to Amyntas, demanding acceptance of Persian domination, which the Macedonians did. The Balkans provided many soldiers for the multi-ethnic Achaemenid army. Many of the Macedonian and Persian elite intermarried, such as the Persian official
Bubares who married Amyntas' daughter, Gygaea. Family ties that the Macedonian rulers Amyntas and Alexander enjoyed with Bubares ensured them good relations with the Persian kings Darius and
Xerxes I, who was also known as Xerxes the Great. The Persian invasion led indirectly to Macedonia's rise in power and Persia had some common interests in the Balkans; with Persian aid, the Macedonians stood to gain much at the expense of some Balkan tribes such as the Paeonians and Greeks. All in all, the Macedonians were "willing and useful Persian allies. Macedonian soldiers fought against Athens and
Sparta in Xerxes I's army. , daughter of
Cyrus the Great, sister-wife of
Cambyses II,
Darius the Great's wife, and mother of
Xerxes the Great 5th century BC By the 5th century BC, the Kings of Persia were either ruling over or had subordinated territories encompassing not just all of the
Persian Plateau and all of the territories formerly held by the
Assyrian Empire (
Mesopotamia, the
Levant,
Cyprus and
Egypt), but beyond this, all of
Anatolia and
Armenia, as well as the
Southern Caucasus and parts of the
North Caucasus,
Azerbaijan,
Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan,
Bulgaria,
Paeonia,
Thrace and
Macedonia to the north and west, most of the
Black Sea coastal regions, parts of
Central Asia as far as the
Aral Sea, the
Oxus and
Jaxartes to the north and north-east, the
Hindu Kush and the western
Indus basin (corresponding to modern Afghanistan and
Pakistan) to the far east, parts of northern
Arabia to the south, and parts of eastern
Libya (
Cyrenaica) to the south-west, and parts of
Oman, China, and the
UAE.
Greco-Persian Wars and Persian warrior depicted fighting, on an ancient
kylix, 5th century BC The
Ionian Revolt in 499 BC, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus, and Caria, were military rebellions by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 to 493 BC. At the heart of the rebellion was the dissatisfaction of the Greek cities of Asia Minor with the tyrants appointed by Persia to rule them, along with the individual actions of two Milesian tyrants,
Histiaeus and
Aristagoras. In 499 BC, the then-tyrant of
Miletus, Aristagoras, launched a joint expedition with the Persian satrap
Artaphernes to
conquer Naxos, in an attempt to bolster his position in Miletus, both financially and in terms of prestige. The mission was a debacle, and sensing his imminent removal as a tyrant, Aristagoras chose to incite the whole of Ionia into rebellion against the Persian king, Darius I, who was commonly known as Darius the Great. The Persians continued to reduce the cities along the west coast that still held out against them, before finally imposing a peace settlement in 493 BC on Ionia that was generally considered to be both just and fair. The
Ionian Revolt constituted the first major conflict between Greece and the Achaemenid Empire, and as such represents the first phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. Asia Minor had been brought back into the Persian fold, but Darius had vowed to punish Athens and Eretria for their support of the revolt. Moreover, seeing that the political situation in Greece posed a continued threat to the stability of his Empire, he decided to embark on the conquest of all of Greece. The first campaign of the invasion was to bring the territories in the
Balkan peninsula back within the empire. The Persian grip over these territories had loosened following the Ionian Revolt. In 492 BC, the Persian general
Mardonius re-subjugated
Thrace and made
Macedonia a fully
subordinate part of the empire; it had been a vassal as early as the late 6th century BC but retained a great deal of autonomy. .
Xerxes I (485–465 BC, Old Persian
Xšayārša "Hero Among Kings"), son of
Darius I, vowed to complete the job. He organized a massive invasion aiming to conquer
Greece. His 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. A simultaneous naval
battle of Artemisium was tactically indecisive as large storms destroyed ships from both sides. The battle was stopped prematurely when the Greeks received news of the defeat at Thermopylae and retreated. The battle was a tactical victory for the Persians, giving them uncontested control of Artemisium and the Aegean Sea. Following his victory at the
Battle of Thermopylae, Xerxes sacked the evacuated city of
Athens and prepared to meet the Greeks at the strategic
Isthmus of Corinth and the
Saronic Gulf. In 480 BC the Greeks won a decisive victory over the Persian fleet at the
Battle of Salamis and forced Xerxes to retire to
Sardis. The land army which he left in Greece under
Mardonius retook Athens but was eventually destroyed in 479 BC at the
Battle of Plataea. The final defeat of the Persians at
Mycale encouraged the Greek cities of Asia to revolt, and the Persians lost all of their territories in Europe with Macedonia once again becoming independent. The exact year and date of Xerxes' assassination is disputed among historians.
Cultural phase and Zoroastrian reforms After
Xerxes I was assassinated, he was succeeded by his eldest surviving son
Artaxerxes I. It was during his reign that
Elamite ceased to be the language of government, and Aramaic gained in importance. It was probably during this reign that the solar calendar was introduced as the national calendar. Under Artaxerxes I,
Zoroastrianism became the
de facto religion of the empire. After Persia had been defeated at the
Battle of Eurymedon (469 or 466 BC), military action between Greece and Persia was halted. When Artaxerxes I took power, he introduced a new Persian strategy of weakening the Athenians by funding their enemies in Greece. This indirectly caused the Athenians to move the treasury of the
Delian League from the island of
Delos to the Athenian acropolis. This funding practice inevitably prompted renewed fighting in 450 BC, where the Greeks attacked at the
Battle of Cyprus. After
Cimon's failure to attain much in this expedition, the
Peace of Callias was agreed between
Athens,
Argos and
Persia in 449 BC. Artaxerxes offered
asylum to
Themistocles, who was the winner of the
Battle of Salamis, after Themistocles was
ostracized from
Athens. Also, Artaxerxes gave him
Magnesia,
Myus, and
Lampsacus to maintain him in bread, meat, and wine. In addition, Artaxerxes I gave him
Palaescepsis to provide him with clothes, and he also gave him
Percote with bedding for his house. When Artaxerxes died in 424 BC at
Susa, his body was taken to the tomb already built for him in the
Naqsh-e Rustam Necropolis. It was Persian tradition that kings begin constructing their own tombs while they were still alive. Artaxerxes I was immediately succeeded by his eldest and only legitimate son,
Xerxes II. However, after a few days on the throne, he was assassinated while drunk by Pharnacyas and Menostanes on the orders of his illegitimate brother
Sogdianus, who apparently had gained the support of his regions. Sogdianus reigned for six months and fifteen days before being captured by his half-brother,
Ochus, who had rebelled against him. Sogdianus was executed by being
suffocated in ash because Ochus had promised he would not die by the sword, by poison or by hunger. Ochus then took the royal name Darius II. Darius' ability to defend his position on the throne ended the short power vacuum. From 412 BC
Darius II, at the insistence of
Tissaphernes, gave support first to Athens, then to Sparta, but in 407 BC, Darius' son
Cyrus the Younger was appointed to replace Tissaphernes and aid was given entirely to Sparta which finally defeated Athens in 404 BC. In the same year, Darius fell ill and died in Babylon. His death gave an Egyptian rebel named
Amyrtaeus the opportunity to throw off
Persian control over Egypt. At his death bed, Darius' Babylonian wife
Parysatis pleaded with him to have her second eldest son Cyrus (the Younger) crowned, but Darius refused. Queen Parysatis favoured Cyrus more than her eldest son
Artaxerxes II.
Plutarch relates (probably on the authority of
Ctesias) that the displaced Tissaphernes came to the new king on his coronation day to warn him that his younger brother Cyrus (the Younger) was preparing to assassinate him during the ceremony. Artaxerxes had Cyrus arrested and would have had him executed if their mother Parysatis had not intervened. Cyrus was then sent back as Satrap of Lydia, where he prepared an armed rebellion. Cyrus assembled a large army, including a contingent of
Ten Thousand Greek mercenaries, and made his way deeper into Persia. The army of Cyrus was stopped by the royal Persian army of
Artaxerxes II at
Cunaxa in 401 BC, where Cyrus was killed. The
Ten Thousand Greek Mercenaries including
Xenophon were now deep in Persian territory and were at risk of attack. So they searched for others to offer their services to but eventually had to return to Greece.
Artaxerxes II was the longest reigning of the Achaemenid kings and it was during this 45-year period of relative peace and stability that many of the monuments of the era were constructed. Artaxerxes moved the capital back to
Persepolis, which he greatly extended. Also, the summer capital at
Ecbatana was lavishly extended with gilded columns and roof tiles of silver and copper. The extraordinary innovation of the Zoroastrian shrines can also be dated to his reign, and it was probably during this period that Zoroastrianism spread from
Armenia throughout
Asia Minor and the
Levant. The construction of temples, though serving a religious purpose, was not a purely selfless act, as they also served as an important source of income. From the Babylonian kings, the Achaemenids adopted the concept of a mandatory temple tax, a one-tenth tithe which all inhabitants paid to the temple nearest to their land or another source of income. Artaxerxes II became involved in a war with Persia's erstwhile allies, the
Spartans, who, under
Agesilaus II, invaded
Asia Minor. To redirect the Spartans' attention to Greek affairs, Artaxerxes II subsidized their enemies: in particular the
Athenians,
Thebans and
Corinthians. These subsidies helped to engage the
Spartans in what would become known as the
Corinthian War. In 387 BC, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and in the
Treaty of Antalcidas he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms. This treaty restored control of the Greek cities of
Ionia and
Aeolis on the Anatolian coast to the Persians while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek mainland. In 385 BC he
campaigned against the Cadusians. Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes II had more trouble with the
Egyptians, who had successfully revolted against him at the beginning of his reign. An attempt to reconquer Egypt in 373 BC was completely unsuccessful, but in his waning years the Persians did manage to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquer
Phoenicia. He quashed the
Revolt of the Satraps in 372–362 BC. He is reported to have had a number of wives. His main wife was
Stateira, until she was poisoned by Artaxerxes II's mother Parysatis in about 400 BC. Another chief wife was a Greek woman of
Phocaea named Aspasia (not the same as the concubine of
Pericles). Artaxerxes II is said to have had more than 115 sons from 350 wives. In 358 BC Artaxerxes II died and was succeeded by his son
Artaxerxes III. In 355 BC, Artaxerxes III forced
Athens to conclude a peace which required the city's forces to leave
Asia Minor and to acknowledge the independence of its rebellious allies. Artaxerxes started a campaign against the rebellious
Cadusians, but he managed to appease both of the Cadusian kings. One individual who successfully emerged from this campaign was Darius Codomannus, who later occupied the Persian throne as
Darius III. Artaxerxes III then ordered the disbanding of all the satrapal armies of Asia Minor, as he felt that they could no longer guarantee peace in the west and was concerned that these armies equipped the western satraps with the means to revolt. The order was however ignored by
Artabazos II of Phrygia, who asked for the help of Athens in a rebellion against the king. Athens sent assistance to
Sardis.
Orontes of Mysia also supported Artabazos and the combined forces managed to defeat the forces sent by Artaxerxes III in 354 BC. However, in 353 BC, they were defeated by Artaxerxes III's army and were disbanded. Orontes was pardoned by the king, while Artabazos fled to the safety of the court of
Philip II of Macedon. In , Artaxerxes embarked on a campaign to recover Egypt, which had revolted under his father, Artaxerxes II. At the same time, a rebellion had broken out in Asia Minor, which, being supported by
Thebes, threatened to become serious. Levying a vast army, Artaxerxes
invaded Egypt and engaged in fighting with
Nectanebo II. After a year of fighting the Egyptian
Pharaoh, Nectanebo inflicted a crushing defeat on the Persians with the support of mercenaries led by the Greek generals Diophantus and Lamius. Artaxerxes was compelled to retreat and postpone his plans to reconquer Egypt. Soon after this defeat, there were rebellions in
Phoenicia,
Asia Minor and
Cyprus. In 343 BC, Artaxerxes committed responsibility for the suppression of the Cyprian rebels to
Idrieus, prince of
Caria, who employed 8,000 Greek mercenaries and forty
triremes, commanded by
Phocion the Athenian, and
Evagoras, son of the elder
Evagoras, the Cypriot monarch. Idrieus succeeded in reducing Cyprus. Artaxerxes initiated a counter-offensive against
Sidon by commanding
Belesys, satrap of Syria, and
Mazaeus,
satrap of Cilicia, to invade the city and to keep the
Phoenicians in check. Both satraps suffered crushing defeats at the hands of
Tennes, the Sidonese king, who was aided by 40,000 Greek mercenaries sent to him by
Nectanebo II and commanded by
Mentor of Rhodes. As a result, the Persian forces were driven out of
Phoenicia. Tennes was later put to death by Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes later sent Jews who supported the revolt to
Hyrcania on the south coast of the
Caspian Sea.
Second conquest of Egypt ,
Temple of Hibis . The reduction of Sidon was followed closely by the invasion of Egypt. In 343 BC, Artaxerxes III, in addition to his 330,000 Persians, had now a force of 14,000 Greeks furnished by the Greek cities of Asia Minor: 4,000 under
Mentor, consisting of the troops that he had brought to the aid of Tennes from Egypt; 3,000 sent by Argos; and 1,000 from Thebes. He divided these troops into three bodies, and placed at the head of each a Persian and a Greek. The Greek commanders were Lacrates of Thebes,
Mentor of Rhodes and Nicostratus of Argos while the Persians were led by Rhossaces, Aristazanes, and
Bagoas, the chief of the eunuchs.
Nectanebo II resisted with an army of 100,000 of whom 20,000 were Greek mercenaries. Nectanebo II occupied the
Nile and its various branches with his large navy. The character of the country, intersected by numerous canals and full of strongly fortified towns, was in his favour and Nectanebo II might have been expected to offer a prolonged, if not even a successful resistance. However, he lacked good generals, and, over-confident in his own powers of command, he was out-maneuvered by the Greek mercenary generals, and his forces were eventually defeated by the combined Persian armies. After his defeat, Nectanebo hastily fled to
Memphis, leaving the fortified towns to be defended by their garrisons. These garrisons consisted of partly
Greek and partly Egyptian troops; between whom jealousies and suspicions were easily sown by the Persian leaders. As a result, the Persians were able to rapidly reduce numerous towns across Lower Egypt and were advancing upon Memphis when Nectanebo decided to quit the country and flee southwards to
Ethiopia. Before Artaxerxes returned to Persia, he appointed Pherendares as
satrap of Egypt. With the wealth gained from his reconquering Egypt, Artaxerxes was able to amply reward his mercenaries. He then returned to his capital having successfully completed his invasion of Egypt. After his success in Egypt, Artaxerxes returned to Persia and spent the next few years effectively quelling insurrections in various parts of the Empire so that a few years after his conquest of Egypt, the Persian Empire was firmly under his control. Egypt remained a part of the Persian Empire from then until
Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt. After the conquest of Egypt, there were no more revolts or rebellions against Artaxerxes. Mentor and
Bagoas, the two generals who had most distinguished themselves in the Egyptian campaign, were advanced to posts of the highest importance. Mentor, who was governor of the entire Asiatic seaboard, was successful in reducing to subjection many of the chiefs who during the recent troubles had rebelled against Persian rule. In the course of a few years, Mentor and his forces were able to bring the whole Asian Mediterranean coast into complete submission and dependence. Bagoas went back to the Persian capital with Artaxerxes, where he took a leading role in the internal administration of the Empire and maintained tranquillity throughout the rest of the Empire. During the last six years of the reign of Artaxerxes III, the Persian Empire was governed by a vigorous and successful government. Although there were no rebellions in the Persian Empire itself, the growing power and territory of
Philip II of Macedon in
Macedon (against which
Demosthenes was in vain warning the Athenians) attracted the attention of Artaxerxes. In response, he ordered that Persian influence was to be used to check and constrain the rising power and influence of the Macedonian kingdom. In 340 BC, a Persian force was dispatched to assist the
Thracian prince,
Cersobleptes, to maintain his independence. Sufficient effective aid was given to the city of
Perinthus that the numerous and well-appointed army with which Philip had commenced his siege of the city was compelled to give up the attempt. In 338 BC Artaxerxes was poisoned by
Bagoas with the assistance of a physician.
Fall to Alexander III of Macedon , between
Alexander the Great on horseback to the left, and
Darius III in the chariot to the right, represented in a Pompeii
mosaic dated 1st century BC –
Naples National Archaeological Museum Artaxerxes III was succeeded by
Artaxerxes IV Arses, who before he could act was also poisoned by Bagoas. Bagoas is further said to have killed not only all Arses' children, but many of the other princes of the land. Bagoas then placed
Darius III, a nephew of Artaxerxes IV, on the throne. Darius III, previously the
Satrap of Armenia, personally forced Bagoas to swallow poison. In 334 BC, when Darius was just succeeding in subduing Egypt again, Alexander and his battle-hardened troops
invaded Asia Minor.
Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) defeated the Persian armies at
Granicus (334 BC), followed by
Issus (333 BC), and lastly at
Gaugamela (331 BC). Afterwards, he marched on
Susa and
Persepolis which surrendered and was destroyed by fire in early 330 BC. From Persepolis, Alexander headed north to
Pasargadae, where he visited the
tomb of Cyrus, the man whom he had heard of from the
Cyropaedia. In the ensuing chaos created by Alexander's invasion of Persia, Cyrus's tomb was broken into and most of its luxuries were looted. When Alexander reached the tomb, he was horrified by the manner in which it had been treated, and questioned the Magi, putting them on trial. By some accounts, Alexander's decision to put the Magi on trial was more an attempt to undermine their influence and display his own power than a show of concern for Cyrus's tomb. Regardless, Alexander the Great ordered Aristobulus to improve the tomb's condition and restore its interior, showing respect for Cyrus. Darius III was taken prisoner by
Bessus, his
Bactrian
satrap and kinsman. As Alexander approached, Bessus had his men murder Darius III and then declared himself Darius' successor, as Artaxerxes V, before retreating into Central Asia leaving Darius' body in the road to delay Alexander, who brought it to Persepolis for an honourable funeral. Bessus would then create a coalition of his forces, to create an army to defend against Alexander. Before Bessus could fully unite with his confederates at the eastern part of the empire, Alexander, fearing the danger of Bessus gaining control, found him, put him on trial in a Persian court under his control, and ordered his execution in a "cruel and barbarous manner." Alexander generally kept the original Achaemenid administrative structure, leading some scholars to dub him as "the last of the Achaemenids". Upon Alexander's death in 323 BC, his empire was divided among his generals, the
Diadochi, resulting in a number of smaller states. The largest of these, which held sway over the Iranian plateau, was the
Seleucid Empire, ruled by Alexander's general
Seleucus I Nicator. Native Iranian rule would be restored by the
Parthians of northeastern Iran over the course of the 2nd century BC through the
Parthian Empire.
Descendants in later Persian dynasties ;"Frataraka" of the Seleucid Empire dynasty ruler
Vadfradad I (Autophradates I). 3rd century BC. Istakhr (Persepolis) mint. Several later Persian rulers, forming the
Frataraka dynasty, are known to have acted as representatives of the
Seleucids in the region of
Fārs. ;Kings of Persis under the Parthian Empire (Darios I) used for the first time the title of
mlk (King). 2nd century BC. During an apparent transitional period, corresponding to the reigns of Vādfradād II and another uncertain king, no titles of authority appeared on the reverse of their coins. The earlier title ''prtrk' zy alhaya
(Frataraka) had disappeared. Under Dārēv I (Darios I) however, the new title of mlk
, or king, appeared, sometimes with the mention of prs'' (Persis), suggesting that the kings of Persis had become independent rulers. ;Kingdom of Pontus The Achaemenid line would also be carried on through the
Kingdom of Pontus, based in the
Pontus region of northern
Asia Minor. This Pontic Kingdom, a state of
Persian origin, may even have been directly related to
Darius I and the
Achaemenid dynasty. ==Government==