The Persian Empire under the Achaemenid Dynasty, from Darius I to Darius III

Abstract Founded by Darius I, the Achaemenid Dynasty ruled over an empire stretching, at its greatest extent, from Libya to India, and from Central Asia and the Caucasus to Upper Egypt. The direct and indirect descendants of Darius maintained power for nearly two centuries, until the Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great, defeated the last Achaemenid king, Darius III, and his short-lived successor, Artaxerxes V. Over the course of its existence, the Achaemenid Dynasty suffered numerous internal and external shocks, ranging from palace coups to foreign attack. Using a far-flung system of provincial governors (satraps) to enforce order and crush rebellions, it was generally successful, even if reversals in Greece, and their descriptions by Greek historians, colored later views of their state as a decadent and scarcely credible empire. Egypt and Asia Minor proved particularly difficult, and witnessed numerous revolts, but the capitals of the Persian Empire, in Iraq and western Iran (Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis), were never threatened until the Macedonians brought war into the Persian heartland, and caused the downfall of what had been, up to that point, the largest empire in world history.