Achaemenid: Did you mean...?

East of the Zagros Mountains, a high plateau stretches off towards India. While Egypt was rising up against the Hyksos, a wave of pastoral tribes from north of the Caspian Sea was drifting down into this area and across into India. By the...

The Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) was the first great Persian political entity in Western and Central Asia which stretched, at its peak, from Asia Minor to the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia through Egypt. It was founded by Cyrus II (the...

In the early days of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE), the kings came to realise that, if they were to be able to administer the vast mass of land and the multicultural people who inhabited it, they had to create an organizational system...

O Creator of the material world, at what distance from the holy man (should the place for the dead body be)?" Ahura Mazda replied: "Three paces from the holy man". (Vend. 8. 6-7) In September 2009 CE, one of my relatives suggested that we...

One side of this heavy weight is inscribed in Aramaic with "correct according to the stater of silver". This probably refers to the use of a weight standard based on the silver coins known as staters. This object weighs just over 31 kg, which...

This object combines both Syrian and Persian styles. While the shape of the cup echoes a classical Persian wine-pourer (rhyton), it actually functioned as a drinking cup. Large animal-headed cups were popular in Syria in earlier periods...

This was among the first Achaemenid silver objects discovered in Iran. The light inscriptions are probably ancient marks of ownership. They were found on many other silver bowls. They confirm the comment made about the Persians by the 5th...

Artist's impression of what a market scene may have looked like in the Achaemenid Persian empire. A ziggurat constructed prior to the Achaemenid period is visible in the background. Created by Amplitude Studios for the video game Humankind.

Map of the Persian Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent under the reigns of Darius the Great and Xerxes. Inspired by Historical Atlas of Georges Duby (p.11, map D), this map was made by Fabienkhan the 24th of August 2006, using Inkscape...

This is one of a pair of golden armlets. These objects are among the most important surviving items from ancient Persian craftsmanship. It is likely that they were intended for display rather than being worn. The lion-griffin terminals were...