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The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, [16] also known as the Persian Empire [16] or First Persian Empire [17] (/ ə ˈ k iː m ə n ɪ d /; Old Persian: 𐎧𐏁𐏂, Xšāça, lit. 'The Empire' [18] or 'The Kingdom' [19]), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC.
The British Empire (red) and Mongol Empire (blue) were the largest and second-largest empires in history, respectively. The precise extent of either empire at its greatest territorial expansion is a matter of debate among scholars.
The Achaemenid Empire's largest territorial extent was achieved under Darius the Great, whose rule stretched from Southeast Europe in the west to the Indus River valley in the east. After conquering the Median Empire, Cyrus led the Achaemenids to conquer Lydia and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire .
Under Cyrus the Great and Darius I, the Persian Empire eventually became the largest empire in human history up until that point, ruling and administrating over most of the then known world, [57] as well as spanning the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The greatest achievement was the empire itself.
The Iranian Empire began in the Iron Age with the rise of the Medes, who unified Iran as a nation and empire in 625 BC. [35] The Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), founded by Cyrus the Great, was the largest empire the world had seen, spanning from the Balkans to North Africa and Central Asia.
The Sasanian Empire is the name used for the fourth Iranian dynasty, and the second Persian Empire (226–651). The empire's territory encompassed all of today's Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Afghanistan, eastern parts of Turkey, and parts of Syria, Pakistan, and large parts of Caucasia, Central Asia and Arabia.
Eventually, this First Persian Empire (also better known as the Achaemenid Empire) would stretch three continents, namely Europe, Asia and Africa, encompassing 8 million square kilometers, [20] and be the first world empire and the largest empire the world had yet seen in the ancient world. [21]
Darius organized the empire by dividing it into administrative provinces, each governed by a satrap. He organized Achaemenid coinage as a new uniform monetary system, and he made Aramaic a co-official language of the empire alongside Persian. He also put the empire in better standing by building roads and introducing standard weights and measures.