IltsroRv. Although the legendary history of Persia begins some thousands of years before the Christian Era, our earliest trustworthy informa tion is derived from the Greek writers. Ilerodo tus, Ctesias, and Xenophon are our chief authori ties, hut their accounts are very conflicting. The northwestern part of Iran, anciently called Me dia q.v.), was at the earliest period known to the Greeks a part of the Assyrian empire, but the revolted and under Deioces established an empire which subdued both Assyria and their own kindred Persis. states that the Per sians were brought under complete subjection, but Xenophon's account implies that they were en tirely independent, or at most that they recog nized only a nominal allegiance to the ruling power.
The history of the Persian Empire proper he gins with the revolt under Cyrus the Great about the middle of the sixth century B.C. With the defeat of Astyages, King of the Medes, the Per sians gained their independence and subdued their former masters, who from this time became amal gamated with them. Cyrus continued his career of conquest, and soon succeeded in establishing a mighty empire, which extended from the Oxus and Indus to the shores of the Mediterranean.
(See Cvm7s.) Ilis son, Cambyses II., a cruel tyrant (me. 529-522), subdued Tyre, Cyprus, and Egypt. After the brief rule of the usurper Saner dis (B.C. 522-521), Darius I., surnamed llystaspis (n.c. 521-486), mounted the throne. He firmly established his dynasty, added Thrace and Mace donia to his empire, and suppressed a revolt of the Greek cities of Ionia; but his two attempts to subdue Greece were completely foiled, the first by the Thraeians, and the second by the Athe nians at Marathon (n.C. 490). One important service which Ile performed for the empire was the organization of the satrap system of adminis tration. The whole empire was divided into provinces, and over each was placed a governor, or satrap, who was directly responsible to the Great King. Some uniformity in the government was thus secured, and the empire. as a whole, was very much strengthened. Darius's son, Xerxes I. (n.c. 486-466), raised the army that the world had ever seen for the of Greece. Ilis military force was seconded by a great fleet. The King himself led the expedition in B.C. 480. He at first advanced successfully, but Ids fleet was utterly defeated at Salamis, and in B.C. 479 his army was overwhelmed at Plat;ea, while his fleet sustained another great defeat at Alyeale, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was now forced to act on the defensive, and thereby, despite his clergy, exhausted the resources of his kingdom. His son, Artaxerxes I. (me. 466-425), surnamed
Longimanus, was unable to stay the decadence of Persia, which had now commenced. He, however, crushed a formidable rebellion in Egypt, though his wars with the Greeks and Ionians were un successful. The empire became racked by in ternal strife, which continued during the reigns of his successors, Xerxes 11., Sogdianus, Darius II., Artaxerxes and Artaxerxes Ill. Darius Codomannus 336-330), the last of the dynasty, was compelled to yield his throne to Alexander the Great, who conquered all the for mer provinces of Persia and founded a vast em pire, which, after his death, in B.C. 323, was divided into four parts, Persia along with Syria passing to the Selencidx, and its old dependency, Egypt, to the Ptolemies.
The Selucidm soon lost Bactria, which became independent under a series of Greek sovereigns; and about B.c. 246 Parthia also rebelled under Arsaces I., who founded the dynasty of the Arsa cidm, by whom the greater part of Persia was wrested from the Greeks, and defended alike against the Greeks and Romans. The Greek em pre of Bactria, which included part of Northern Hindustan. was overthrown by nomads from Turkestan. The Parthians drove these invaders out and added Bactria to their empire. The dynasty of the Arsacidm was brought to an end about A.D. 226 by a Persian named Ardashir (q.v.) , the founder of the dynasty of the Sassa niche (q.v.).
The Sassanian kings raised Persia to a gfeat height of power and prosperity, and more than once they imperiled the Byzantine Empire. The greatest of these monarchs were Khosru (Chos roes) I. (531-579) and Khosru 11. (590-62810 Soon after the death of Khosru II. the Persian monarchy was engulfed in the tide of Saracen conquest. The victories of Cadesia (c.635) and of Nehavend (c.042) made the Arabs masters of the kingdom. During the reigns of Omar (the first of the Arab rulers of Persia), ()Hnan, Ali, and the Ommiads (to 750), Persia was ruled by deputy governors; but on the accession of the Abbassides (A.D. 750), Bagdad became their cap ital, and Khorasan their favorite province, and Persia consequently was regarded as the centre of the caliphate. But their rule soon became a nominal one, and ambitious governors estab lished independent principalities in various parts of the country. Many of these dynasties were short-lived, but others lasted for a considerable period and represented powerful empires. The chief were the Taherites (820-872), in Khorasan; the Soffarides (869-903), in Seistan. Fars. Irak, and Mazanderan; the Samani. in Transoxiana, Khorasan, and Seistan; the Dilend (933-1056), in Western Persia, and the Ghaznevides (q.v.), in Eastern Persia.