Achaemenid dynastyThe Achaemenid dynasty (𐏃𐎧𐎠𐎶𐎴𐎡𐏁𐎡𐎹 ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Persian Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and the Balkans in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. The history of the Achaemenid dynasty is mainly known through Greek historians, such as Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. Additional sources include the Hebrew Bible, other Jewish religious texts, and native Iranian sources.
Achaemenid EmpireThe Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (əˈkiːmənᵻd; 𐎧𐏁𐏂, Xšāça, ) was the ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC, also known as the First Persian Empire. Based in Western Asia, it was the largest empire the world had ever seen at its time, spanning a total of from the Balkans and Egypt in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Around the 7th century BC, the region of Persis in the southwestern portion of the Iranian plateau was settled by the Persians.
Old PersianOld Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ariya (Iranian). Old Persian is close to both Avestan and the language of the Rig Veda, the oldest form of the Sanskrit language. All three languages are highly inflected. Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets and seals of the Achaemenid era (c.
BardiyaBardiya or Smerdis (𐎲𐎼𐎮𐎡𐎹 ; Σμέρδις ; possibly died 522 BCE), also named as Tanyoxarces (Τανυοξάρκης ) by Ctesias, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both Persian kings. There are sharply divided views on his life. Bardiya either ruled the Achaemenid Empire for a few months in 522 BCE, or was impersonated by a magus called Gaumāta (𐎥𐎢𐎶𐎠𐎫), whose name is given by Ctesias as Sphendadates (Spantadātah; Σφενδαδάτης ), until he was toppled by Darius the Great.
