Mohammad Exclusive!

Part one-

The early history of man in Iran goes back well beyond the Neolithic period, it begins to get more interesting around 6000 BC, when people began to domesticate animals and plant wheat and barley. The number of settled communities increased, particularly in the eastern Zagros mountains, and handmade painted pottery appears. Throughout the prehistoric period, from the middle of the sixth millennium BC to about 3000 BC, painted pottery is a characteristic feature of many sites in Iran.

The Persian Empire dominated Mesopotamia from 612-330 BC. The Achaemenid Persians of central Iran ruled an empire which comprised Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and parts of Asia Minor and India.

Their ceremonial capital was Persepolis in southern Iran founded by King Darius the Great (522-486 B.C.). Persepolis was burned by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.

Only the columns, stairways, and door jambs of its great palaces survived the fire. The stairways, adorned with reliefs representing the king, his court, and delegates of his empire bringing gifts, demonstrate the might of the Persian monarch.

                                            Cyrus the Great (559-529 BC)

"I am Cyrus, who founded the empire of the Persians.
Grudge me not therefore, this little earth that covers my body."

Cyrus conquered most of the fertile crescent and ended the "Babylonian Captivity" of the Hebrews.

He overthrew the Median rulers, conquered the kingdom of Lydia in 546 BC and that of Babylonia in 539 BC and established the Persian Empire as the preeminent power of the world.

His son and successor, Cambyses II, extended the Persian realm even further by conquering the Egyptians in 525 BC. He died in an Egyptian campaign.

Darius I, who ascended the throne in 521 BC, pushed the Persian borders as far eastward as the Indus River, had a canal constructed from the Nile to the Red Sea, and reorganized the entire empire, earning the title Darius the Great.

Conquered Egypt but was alcoholic and was killed in a coup led by other family members.

Source : http://www.crystalinks.com/persia.html

To be continued!

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