The Persian Empire

Explore the secrets of one of the greatest empires in the ancient world from a fresh perspective: its own.

• By This Professor
• 01: Rethinking the Persian Empire
• 02: Questioning the Sources
• 03: The World before Cyrus
• 04: Cyrus and Cambyses - Founders of the Empire
• 05: Darius I - Creator of the Imperial System
• 06: Persian Capitals and Royal Palaces
• 07: The Great King - Images and Realities
• 08: Royal Roads and Provinces
• 09: East of Persepolis
• 10: Challenges in the West, 513 - 494 B.C.
• 11: Across the Bitter Sea, 493 - 490 B.C.
• 12: Xerxes Becomes King
• 13: Xerxes's War, 480 - 479 B.C.
• 14: Cultures in Contact
• 15: Achaemenid Religion
• 16: From Expansion to Stability, 479 - 405 B.C.
• 17: The War of the Two Brothers
• 18: Persian Gold
• 19: City and Countryside
• 20: Women in the Persian Empire
• 21: Artaxerxes II - The Longest-Ruling King
• 22: Persia and Macedon, 359 - 333 B.C.
• 23: The End of an Empire, 333 - 323 B.C.
• 24: Legacies of the Persian Empire