PasargadaePasargadae /pə'sɑrgədi/ (from Old Persian Pāθra-gadā, "protective club" or "strong club"; Modern Persian: پاسارگاد Pāsārgād) was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (559–530 BC). Today it is an archaeological site located just north of the town of Madar-e-Soleyman and about to the northeast of the modern city of Shiraz. It is one of Iran's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is considered to be the location of the Tomb of Cyrus, a tomb previously attributed to Madar-e-Soleyman, the "Mother of Solomon".
BerossusBerossus (bəˈrɒsəs) or Berosus (bəˈroʊsəs; Bērōssos; possibly derived from , romanized: , "Bel is his shepherd") was a Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, a priest of Bel Marduk and astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek language, and who was active at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Versions of two excerpts of his writings survive, at several removes from the original.
NabonidusNabonidus (Babylonian cuneiform: Nabû-naʾid, meaning "May Nabu be exalted" or "Nabu is praised") was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from 556 BC to the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in 539 BC. Nabonidus was the last native ruler of ancient Mesopotamia, the end of his reign marking the end of thousands of years of Sumero-Akkadian states, kingdoms and empires. He was also the last independent king of Babylon.
British MuseumThe British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. The British Museum was the first public national museum to cover all fields of knowledge. In 2022 the museum received 4,097,253 visitors, an increase of 209 per cent from 2021. It ranked third in the list of most-visited art museums in the world.
LyciaLycia (Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 Trm̃mis; Λυκία, Lykia; Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğla in Turkey as well some inland parts of Burdur Province. The state was known to history from the Late Bronze Age records of ancient Egypt and the Hittite Empire. Lycia was populated by speakers of the Luwian language group.
SusaSusa (ˈsuːsə ; Middle 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗; Middle and Neo-𒋢𒋢𒌦; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭; Achaemenid 𒀸𒋗𒐼; شوش Šuš ʃuʃ; שׁוּשָׁן Šūšān; Σοῦσα Soûsa; ܫܘܫ Šuš; 𐭮𐭥𐭱𐭩 Sūš or 𐭱𐭥𐭮 Šūs; 𐏂𐎢𐏁𐎠 Çūšā) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital of Elam and the Achaemenid Empire, and remained a strategic centre during the Parthian and Sasanian periods.
LydiaLydia (Lydian: 𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, Śfarda; Aramaic: Lydia; Λυδία, Lȳdíā; Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak, Manisa and inland Izmir. The ethnic group inhabiting this kingdom are known as the Lydians, and their language, known as Lydian, was a member of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The capital of Lydia was Sardis. The Kingdom of Lydia existed from about 1200 BC to 546 BC.
Artaxerxes IArtaxerxes I (ˌɑrtəˈzɜrksiːz, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 ; Ἀρταξέρξης) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. He may have been the "Artasyrus" mentioned by Herodotus as being a satrap of the royal satrapy of Bactria. In Greek sources he is also surnamed "long-handed" (μακρόχειρ Makrókheir; Longimanus), allegedly because his right hand was longer than his left. Artaxerxes was probably born in the reign of his grandfather Darius I, to the emperor's son and heir, Xerxes I.
AshurbanipalAshurbanipal (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria. Inheriting the throne as the favored heir of his father Esarhaddon, Ashurbanipal's 38-year reign was among the longest of any Assyrian king. Though sometimes regarded as the apogee of ancient Assyria, his reign also marked the last time Assyrian armies waged war throughout the ancient Near East and the beginning of the end of Assyrian dominion over the region.
Darius the GreatDarius I (𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 Dārayavahuš; Δαρεῖος Dareios; 550 – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia, parts of the Balkans (Thrace–Macedonia and Paeonia) and the Caucasus, most of the Black Sea's coastal regions, Central Asia, the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt (), eastern Libya, and coastal Sudan.
