Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
But it wasn't all smooth sailing. When the Greek colonies of Asia Minor rebelled
against their Persian overlord, Darius decided to invade mainland Greece to make an ex-
ample of those states that refused to subject themselves. It didn't work. In 490 BC Dari-
us's armies were defeated at the famous battle at Marathon near Athens. He died in 486
BC.
The subsequent defeat of Darius's son Xerxes at Salamis in Greece in 480 BC marked
the beginning of a long, slow decline that would continue, with glorious interludes, for an-
other 150 years.
Alexander the Great & the End of Persepolis
Young and charismatic like Cyrus before him, it was Alexander the Great of Macedonia
who finally ended the First Persian Empire. Having defeated the Greeks and Egyptians,
Alexander saw off Persian armies at Issus in Turkey (333 BC) and Guagamela in present-
day Iraq (331 BC), before sweeping aside the remaining armies of Darius III. Darius him-
self fled east to Bactria, only to be murdered by his cousin. In the wake of his victory, Al-
exander spent several months at Persepolis, before the finest symbol of Achaemenid
power burned to the ground.
Alexander's empire soon stretched across
Afghanistan, Pakistan and into India, but after
his death in 323 BC it was divided between
three squabbling dynasties, with Persia con-
trolled by the Macedonian Seleucids. Gradu-
ally the Greek language became the lingua
franca, Greeks settled new towns and Greek
culture stamped itself on the older Persian one. However, ambitious satraps and feisty eth-
nic minorities were bucking the system, particularly the Parthians.
Even today experts argue whether the burning of
Persepolis was the accidental result of a drunken
party or deliberate retaliation by Alexander for the
destruction of Athens by Xerxes.
The Parthian Takeover
The Parthians had settled the area between the Caspian and Aral Seas many centuries be-
fore. Under their great king Mithridates (r 171-138 BC), they swallowed most of Persia
and then everywhere between the Euphrates in the west and Afghanistan in the east, more
or less re-creating the old Achaemenid Empire. They had two capitals, one at what is now
Rey, the other at Ctesiphon, in present-day Iraq.
