The Persian Empire

From the mid 6th century BC, Persian kings ruled over peoples and territory stretching from Northern Libya to Central Asia. Incorporating the ancient civilizations and former imperial centres of Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia, Persian rule created the first land-based world empire. This great diversity of subject peoples and historical traditions became a key theme of imperial ideology. For 250 years, the empire fostered international communication and cultural exchange to an unprecedented degree. The Persian expedition into Greece in the early 5th century BC became one of the most influential events in defining a European identity set apart from Asia. Dynastic rule was brought to an end by Alexander the Great's lengthy invasion of the empire from 331 BC during which nearly all the territory allied to the Persians was brought under Macedonian rule. In the continuing conflict the empire broke up, but it bequeathed a rich store of cultural and historical traditions to its Hellenistic and R