Who were the ancient Persians?

The Persians, the ancient inhabitants of what is now Iran, created one of the ancient world's largest and most powerful empires that flourished from 550 B.C. to 330 B.C. At its height, the Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire, stretched from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the western border with India and included a diverse array of cultures and ethnic groups. It was finally conquered by Alexander the Great during his invasion of Asia in the fourth century B.C.

The ancient Persians were an Indo-Iranian people who migrated to the Iranian plateau during the end of the second millennium B.C., possibly from the Caucasus or Central Asia. Originally a pastoral people who roamed the steppes with their livestock, they were ethnically related to the Bactrians, Medes and Parthians. In the fifth century B.C. the Greek historian Herodotus described them as being divided into several different tribes, the most powerful of which was the Pasargadae, of whom the Achaemenid clan was a part.

"We first hear of the Persian people from Assyrian sources," an ancient ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East, Daryaee told Live Science.

In 334 B.C., the young Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont (today known as the Dardanelles Strait in Turkey) and invaded the Persian Empire. In a series of brilliantly planned and executed battles, the young king defeated the armies of the Persian king, Darius III. Alexander went on to burn Persepolis, but in a stunning change of heart, he gave the fallen king a magnificent burial and married his daughter Stateira, according to Ancient Origins. From then on, Alexander adopted many Persian customs and affectations, such as dressing in Persian clothes. This stance put him at odds with many of his Greek and Macedonian compatriots. He also kept the Persian administrative system intact, according to Britannica, and ordered many of his Macedonian officers and generals to take Persian wives in order to forge a union between the two cultures.

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