Editing History of Iran (section)

===Median and Achaemenid Empire (678–330 BC)===
{{Main|Medes|Achaemenid Empire}}
{{see also|Greco-Persian Wars}}
<gallery mode="packed">
Pasargad Tomb Cyrus3.jpg|The tomb of [[Cyrus the Great]]
Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg|Ruins of the [[Gate of All Nations]], Persepolis
Persepolis001.jpg|Ruins of the [[Apadana]], Persepolis
Medes and Persians at eastern stairs of the Apadana, Persepolis.JPG|Depiction of united [[Medes]] and [[Persian people|Persians]] at the [[Apadana]], Persepolis
Persepolis - Tachara 01.jpg|Ruins of the [[Tachara]], Persepolis
</gallery>

In 646 BC, [[Assyria]]n king [[Ashurbanipal]] sacked [[Susa]], which ended Elamite supremacy in the region.<ref name=MMA3>{{cite web |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/04/wai/ht04wai.htm |title=Iran, 1000 BC–1 AD |access-date=2008-08-09 |work=The Timeline of Art History |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |date=October 2000 |archive-date=2021-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125012421/http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/04/wai/ht04wai.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> For over 150 years Assyrian kings of nearby Northern [[Mesopotamia]] had been wanting to conquer [[Medes|Median tribes]] of Western Iran.<ref name=bnet>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SBL/is_16/ai_n13810181 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328003303/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SBL/is_16/ai_n13810181  |archive-date=2008-03-28 |title=The Rise and Fall of Media |access-date=2008-08-10 |work=International Journal of Kurdish Studies |publisher=BNET |date=January 2002 |first=I.N. |last=Medvedskaya }}</ref> Under pressure from Assyria, the small kingdoms of the western Iranian plateau coalesced into increasingly larger and more centralized states.<ref name=MMA3/>
[[File:Median Empire.png|thumb|left|The Medes at the time of their maximum expansion]]
In the second half of the seventh century BC, the Medes gained their independence and were united by [[Deioces]]. In 612 BC, [[Cyaxares]], [[Deioces]]' grandson, 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> The Medes are credited with founding Iran as a nation and empire, and established the first Iranian empire, the largest of its day until [[Cyrus the Great]] established a unified empire of the Medes and Persians, leading to the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (c.550–330 BC).

[[File:Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent according to Oxford Atlas of World History 2002.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent]]

[[Cyrus the Great]] overthrew, in turn, the [[Medes|Median]], [[Lydia]]n, and [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Neo-Babylonian]] empires, creating an empire far larger than Assyria. He was better able, through more benign policies, to reconcile his subjects to Persian rule; the longevity of his empire was one result. The Persian king, like the [[Assyria]]n, was also "[[King of Kings]]", ''xšāyaθiya xšāyaθiyānām'' (''shāhanshāh'' in modern Persian) – "great king", [[Basileus|Megas Basileus]], as known by the [[Greeks]].

Cyrus's son, [[Cambyses II]], conquered the last major power of the region, [[ancient Egypt]], causing the collapse of the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt]]. Since he became ill and died before, or while, leaving [[Egypt]], stories developed, as related by [[Herodotus]], that he was struck down for impiety against the [[ancient Egyptian deities]]. After the death of Cambyses II, Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing the legitimate Achaemenid monarch [[Bardiya]], and then quelling rebellions throughout his kingdom. As the winner, [[Darius I]], based his claim on membership in a collateral line of the Achaemenid Empire.

Darius' first capital was at Susa, and he started the building program at [[Persepolis]]. He rebuilt a canal between the [[Nile]] and the [[Red Sea]], a forerunner of the modern [[Suez Canal]]. He improved the extensive road system, and it is during his reign that mentions are first made of the [[Royal Road]] (shown on map), a great highway stretching all the way from Susa to [[Sardis]] with posting stations at regular intervals. Major reforms took place under Darius. [[Coin]]age, in the form of the ''daric'' (gold coin) and the [[shekel]] (silver coin) was standardized (coinage had already been invented over a century before in Lydia c. 660 BC but not standardized),<ref>{{Cite web| url = http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/forgottenempire/persia/darius.html | title= Forgotten Empire— the world of Ancient Persia| publisher= The British Museum | year = 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423012310/http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/forgottenempire/persia/darius.html |archive-date=2007-04-23 |access-date=2023-03-16}}</ref> and administrative efficiency increased.

The [[Old Persian]] language appears in royal inscriptions, written in a specially adapted version of the [[cuneiform script]]. Under Cyrus the Great and [[Darius I]], the Persian Empire eventually became the largest empire in human history up until that point, ruling and administrating over most of the then known world,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/PERSIANS.HTM |title=The Persians |year=1996 |first=Richard |last=Hooker |access-date=2006-08-20  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060829110727/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/PERSIANS.HTM |archive-date=2006-08-29 }}</ref> as well as spanning the continents of [[Europe]], Asia, and Africa. The greatest achievement was the empire itself. The Persian Empire represented the world's first [[superpower]]<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://anthropology.net/user/kambiz_kamrani/blog/2006/12/05/engineering_an_empire_the_persians |title=Engineering an Empire: The Persians &#124; Anthropology.net |access-date=2007-03-13  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110020201/http://anthropology.net/user/kambiz_kamrani/blog/2006/12/05/engineering_an_empire_the_persians |archive-date=2007-01-10 }}</ref><ref name="encyclopedia.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-155920057.html|title=Greek-Persian Wars (490 bce–479 bce) - Gale Encyclopedia of World History: War - Encyclopedia.com|access-date=2007-03-13|archive-date=2009-09-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904162341/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-155920057.html|url-status=live}}</ref> that was based on a model of tolerance and respect for other cultures and religions.<ref>[http://web.utk.edu/~persian/benevolent.htm Benevolent Persian Empire<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050907204041/http://web.utk.edu/~persian/benevolent.htm |date=2005-09-07 }}</ref>

[[File:Map Greco-Persian Wars-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Map showing key sites during the Persian invasions of Greece.|alt=]]
In the late sixth century BC, Darius launched his European campaign, in which he defeated the [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonians]], conquered [[Thrace]], and subdued all coastal Greek cities, [[European Scythian campaign of Darius I|as well as defeating]] the European [[Scythians]] around the [[Danube]] river.{{sfn|Roisman|Worthington|2011|p=345}} In 512/511 BC, [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedon]] became a [[vassal]] kingdom of Persia.{{sfn|Roisman|Worthington|2011|p=345}}

In 499 BC, [[Classical Athens|Athens]] lent support to a revolt in [[Miletus]], which resulted in the sacking of [[Sardis]]. This led to an Achaemenid campaign against mainland Greece known as the [[Greco-Persian Wars]], which lasted the first half of the 5th century BC, and is known as one of the most important wars in [[European history]]. In the [[First Persian invasion of Greece]], the Persian general [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]] re-subjugated Thrace and made Macedon a full part of Persia.{{sfn|Roisman|Worthington|2011|p=345}} The war eventually turned out in defeat, however. Darius' successor [[Xerxes I]] launched the [[Second Persian invasion of Greece]]. At a crucial moment in the war, about half of mainland Greece was overrun by the Persians, including all territories to the north of the Isthmus of [[Corinth]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Carey|first1=Brian Todd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3OSfBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT32|title=Warfare in the Ancient World|last2=Allfree|first2=Joshua B.|last3=Cairns|first3=John|date=2006-01-19|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1-84884-630-2|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Aeschylus, Burian2009">{{cite book|author1=Aeschylus|author2=Peter Burian|author3=Alan Shapiro|title=The Complete Aeschylus: Volume II: Persians and Other Plays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kTiBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18|date=17 February 2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-045183-7|page=18|access-date=12 September 2016|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923003450/https://books.google.com/books?id=0kTiBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18|url-status=live}}</ref> however, this was also turned out in a Greek victory, following the battles of [[Battle of Plataea|Plataea]] and [[Battle of Salamis|Salamis]], by which Persia lost its footholds in Europe, and eventually withdrew from it.{{sfn|Roisman|Worthington|2011|pp=135–138, 342–345}} During the Greco-Persian wars, the Persians gained major territorial advantages. They [[Achaemenid destruction of Athens|captured and razed Athens twice]], once in 480 BC and again in 479 BC. However, after a string of Greek victories the Persians were forced to withdraw, thus losing control of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]], [[Thrace]] and [[Ionia]]. Fighting continued for several decades after the successful Greek repelling of the Second Invasion with numerous Greek city-states under the Athens' newly formed [[Delian League]], which eventually ended with the [[peace of Callias]] in 449 BC, ending the Greco-Persian Wars. In 404 BC, following the death of [[Darius II]], Egypt rebelled under [[Amyrtaeus]]. Later [[pharaoh]]s successfully resisted Persian attempts to reconquer Egypt until 343 BC, when Egypt was reconquered by [[Artaxerxes III]].
[[File:Persépolis, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 64-68 PAN.jpg|thumb|800px|center|{{center|A panoramic view of [[Persepolis]]}}]]