Understanding the Persian Empire
At its peak, the Persian Empire spanned 5.5 million square kilometers. For a modern day comparison, it is equivalent to approximately two times the size of Argentina. This might seem small (Russia occupies 17 million square kilometers), but one should be careful to avoid judging history by today’s standards.
The Persian Empire was centered in Persia, modern day Iran, and ruled over the Anatolian Pennisula, Egypt, much of today’s Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan…just stopping shy of crossing the Indus Valley into India. It was the greatest empire to exist hitherto.
The name “Persian” was adopted by historians to describe the ethnicity of the legendary founder Cyrus the Great and for convenience sake, to associate the empire with the capital (Persis/Persia).
In its heyday, however, the Persians identified themselves as part of Achaemenid Empire. This period of Achaemenid dominance, from 550 — 330 BCE, is what people refer to when they say “THE Persian Empire”. It is an important distinction to make, for, there was an earlier Iranian Empire called the Median Empire that subsumed the state of Persia, and it is there we turn to to uncover the origins of the great…
