Persia

As you know, the other day I watched Prince of Persia. I was a bit confused about Persia, the country itself, because I've never really heard much about it, just about the great Persian Army. So I looked it up, and I found out very little. It doesn't remind me of the movie, and that's not surprising since it's fantasy. Persia turned into present day Iran, but was once a very powerful country. The Persian Empire was the greatest Empire in the world for a long time.

Around 1200B.C., the Persians and the Medes were nomadic and traveled around with their horses and cattle, letting them graze across West Asia. When bad weather hit, they traveled West and settled in what is now Iran and went off the grid until 600 B.C., when the Persians and Medes combined under one king. The Persians took over the throne in 559 B.C., with King Cyrus. Cyrus conquered the rest of Western Asia: the Babylonians, the Greeks in Turkey, etc. The country grew and merged well. Everyone was free to practice their own religion. In 530 B.C., Cyrus died, and his son, Cambyses took over the throne. He added Egypt to the Persian Empire. He was later killed by his people, and a distant cousin, Darius, took over ruling in 521 B.C. A lot of the Persian ruins come from this time period, when the Persian Palace was built at Persepolis. Darius tried to conquer more countries, but was unsuccessful. Later, Xerxes tried to conquer more countries, was unsuccessful. The Persian Empire didn't try to expand anymore, and ruled from Afghanistan to Turkey to Egypt, until Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in 333 B.C.