Achaemenid Persian Empire
Explore the Achaemenid Empire — the first Persian superpower that ruled from Egypt to India, pioneered religious tolerance, and built the Royal Road.
The Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great around 550 BCE, was the largest empire the world had yet seen. At its height under Darius I, it stretched from Egypt and Libya in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, encompassing an estimated 44% of the world's population — a record that still stands as the highest proportion of humanity ever governed by a single state.
What made the Achaemenid system remarkable was its approach to governing this diversity. Rather than imposing cultural uniformity, the Persians organized their empire into provinces (satrapies) that retained considerable local autonomy. Conquered peoples were generally allowed to keep their languages, religions, and customs, provided they paid taxes and supplied troops when called upon. Cyrus' famous cylinder — sometimes called the first declaration of human rights — proclaimed religious freedom and the restoration of displaced peoples, including the Jews' return from Babylonian exile.
The empire's infrastructure was equally impressive. The Royal Road connected Sardis in Anatolia to Susa in Persia, a distance of over 2,600 kilometers, with relay stations that could carry a message the entire distance in just seven days. This communication network, combined with a standardized currency, an efficient postal system, and a professional bureaucracy, made the Achaemenid model of imperial governance a template that later empires — including Alexander's — would emulate.