Editing Iran (section)

=== Antiquity ===
{{Main|Medes|Achaemenid Empire|Parthian Empire|Sassanid Empire}}
[[File:Choqa Zanbil Darafsh 1 (36).JPG|thumb|[[Chogha Zanbil]] is one of the few extant [[ziggurat]]s outside of [[Mesopotamia]] and is considered to be the best preserved example in the world.]]
Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilisations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC.<ref name="People.cn">[http://en.people.cn/90001/90782/90874/6236885.html People, "New evidence: modern civilization began in Iran", 10 Aug 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224223600/http://en.people.cn/90001/90782/90874/6236885.html |date=24 February 2021 }}, retrieved 1 October 2007</ref> The western part of the Iranian plateau participated in the traditional [[ancient Near East]] with [[Elam]] (3200–539 BC), and later with other peoples such as the [[Kassites]], [[Mannaeans]], and [[Gutian people|Gutians]]. [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] called the Persians the "first Historical People".<ref name="IRHEGEL">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Azadpour |first=M |title=HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=2015-04-11 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hegel-georg-wilhelm-friedrich |archive-date=2015-04-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411142730/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hegel-georg-wilhelm-friedrich |url-status=live}}</ref> 

The [[Medes]] are credited with founding Iran as a nation and empire, and established in 625 BC the first Iranian empire, the largest of its day. <ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Article: Media">{{Britannica|id=372125|title=Media}}</ref> In 612 BC, [[Cyaxares]] and the [[Babylonia|Babylon]]ian king [[Nabopolassar]] invaded Assyria and laid siege to and eventually destroyed [[Nineveh]], the Assyrian capital, which led to the fall of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].<ref name=Nineveh>{{cite book |title=The pre-Islamic Middle East |last=Sicker |first=Martin |year=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-96890-8 |pages=68/69 }}</ref> [[Urartu]] was later on conquered and dissolved as well by the Medes.<ref>[http://www.starspring.com/ascender/urartu/urartu.html Urartu – Lost Kingdom of Van] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702205257/http://www.starspring.com/ascender/urartu/urartu.html |date=2015-07-02 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allaboutturkey.com/urartu.htm|title=Urartu Civilization – All About Turkey|access-date=2015-06-18|archive-date=2015-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701005402/http://www.allaboutturkey.com/urartu.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>