PERSIA, a historic empire of ancient origins, is centered in modern Iran and, at times, extended well into southwest Asia. The Iranians, who supplanted an earlier agricultural civilization, came from the East during the 2nd millenium BC. They were an Indo-European group related to the Aryans of India. The modern successor state to this empire is IRAN. Persia began its rise to prominence in about the 7th century BC. By the 6th century BC it had become the dominant power of the ancient Near Eastern world.
After the 5th century BC, the power and fortunes of the empire rose and fell. In 549 BC, Cyrus the Great united the Medes and Persians in the Persian Empire, conquered Babylonia in 538 BC and restored Jerusalem to the Jews. Persia was conquered variously, most notably by the Macedonian Greeks and the Muslims, and its vast domains were greatly reduced. Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 333 BC, but Persians regained their independence in the next century under the Parthians, who themselves were succeeded by Sassanian Persians in 226AD. Persia nevertheless developed a distinctive culture which drew on Greek, Muslim, and other influences.
Arabs brought Islam to Persia in the 7th century, replacing the indigeneous Zoroastrian faith. After Persian political and cultural autonomy was reasserted in the 9th century, the arts and sciences flourished for several centuries. Turks and Mongols ruled Persia in turn from the 11th century to 1502, when a native dynasty reasserted full independence. After a long period of control by Arab Muslims and Turkic peoples, Persia again emerged in the 16th century as an independent empire.
The British and Russian empires vied for influence in the 19th century, and Afghanistan was severed from Iran by Britain in 1857. Modernization began in the early 20th century, and in 1935, Persia was officially renamed IRAN by Shah Pahlavi.
PERSIAN WARS
Persian wars consist of a series of military campaigns conducted by the Persians against the Greeks, beginning in 499 BC. The wars were sparked by a revolt of the Ionian Greeks against Persian rule (499). The cities of Athens and Eretria aided the Ionian Greeks, but the revolt was crushed (494) by Persian king Darius. Darius then sent a large force to punish Athens and Eretria. The Persians took Macedon and Thrace (492), but their fleet was badly damaged by storms and they were obliged to withdraw. A second expedition occupied Eretria, but while attempting to advance upon Athens, the Persians were defeated at Marathon (q.v.) in 490, by an Athenian force led by Miltiades.
Darius gathered a massive third expeditionary force, but died (486) before it could move against Greece. The expedition was conducted by his son and successor, Xerxes I, who landed in Greece in 480. The Persians were delayed at Thermopylae (q.v.) by a small Spartan force under Leonidas, and although the Persians took Athens, their navy was destroyed at Salamis (q.v.) in 480. Xerxes returned to Persia but left an army in Greece under Mardonius. The Greek victory over Mardonius at Plataea (479) and destruction of the Persian fleet at Mycale that year marked the end of Persia's military campaigns against mainland Greece. After 479, sporadic fighting between the Greeks and Persians continued until a peace was concluded (c449). The wars between Persia and the Greek city-states resulted in the decline of Persian power and the rise of Greek power.
