Nationality

• A diverse group of colliding cultures, the Persians were comprised of both nomadic and settled Indo-European tribes. A non-united people, they were under the control of the Medes, who ruled the peoples east of the Tigris River from their capital in Ecbatana. Persians spoke a language similar to Sanskrit, and were a peaceful people prior to their rise in power by 486 B.C.
  
  

Geography

• Residing North of the Persian Gulf in the area now known as Iran, early Persians (prior to 486 B.C.) struggled with their environment, which included the areas outside of Mesopotamia's mountainous cliffs and harbor-less coastline. Persians settled in the valleys, disconnected from the power struggles to their west in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt. Once in power, the Persian's controlled most of the world including Greece, India, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine and the Arabian peninsula.
  
  

Religion

• Early Persians worshiped a god similar to those in India's Vedic Period religion, but in or around the year 650 B.C. a new religion arose among the Persians, which was introduced by a man named Zarathustra, or Zoroaster in Greek. The new religion, called Zoroastrianism by historians, existed as a dualistic religion, in which two opposite gods struggled over goodness and evil in all matters including the creation of the Earth. The two gods, Ahura-Mazda (representing good) and Ahriman (representing evil), dictated the meaning of life, which would be decided when man and god faced Ahriman in the final stages of history.
  
  

Cyrus

• Cyrus, a man who was chief of one of the southern Persian tribes, was the first man in history to suggest conquering not only surrounding nations, but the world, which he believed was the Persian's religious duty. His mission, which began around 559 B.C., was to conquer the world in order to bring about Zoroastrianism's religious ideals in time for the end of history. This would be accomplished by conquering people and then destroying any evil gods worshiped on the side of Ahriman. By 554 B.C. Cyrus conquered the Medes and was in supreme control of Persia, which continued to gain power, by his son and grandson, after his death.
  
  

Persians v. Greece

• Persians, under the leadership of Cyrus' grandson, Darius I (also known as Darius the Great), attempted to seize control of Athens, but were stopped in the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., considered to be the most victorious and historic battle in Greece's history. Greeks later drove out Darius' successor, Xerxes I, from Europe, causing all of Persia's once-conquered nations to become independent, with Greece the new world power.
  
  

The End of Persian Rule

• Persians continued to fight for world dominance for one and a half centuries, but their reign ended when Darius II (no relation to Cyrus) was driven out of by Alexander the Great in a final battle against the Persians in 331 B.C. With Darius II assassinated, Persians lost their power in Mesopotamia and were driven out, never to see world dominance again.