Persian Empire

The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the old Persian homeland, and beyond in Western Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Persian empire has become what we know today as Persia or more commonly, Iran. The most widespread entity considered to have been a Persian Empire was the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC) — famous in antiquity as the foe of the classical Greek states — a united Iranian kingdom that originated in the region now known as Pars province of Iran. It was formed under Cyrus the Great, who overthrew the empire of the Medes, and conquered much of the Middle East, including the territories of the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, and the Lydians. Cyrus' son, Cambyses, continued Cyrus' conquests by conquering Egypt.

Virtually all the successor empires of Persia were major regional and some major international powers in their day.