Word: achaemenians
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
During his reign, which lasted from 522 to 485 B.C., Darius controlled a vast empire that stretched from the coast of North Africa to India. Apart from the fact that he was renowned as a lawgiver and statesman, most details of his life and that of the Achaemenian dynasty -which ruled ancient Persia for two centuries-are shrouded in the mists of the past. The great bas-reliefs that Darius ordered carved into a cliffside in Behistun, some 150 miles to the north of Susa, for instance, tell of his accession to the throne and his triumph over enemies...
...rest of the world that Iran is again a nation equal to all the others -and much finer than many." Cyrus the Great provided a handy peg. Iran ("home of the Aryans") was settled by an Aryan tribe from what is now southern Russia. Cyrus, a leader of the Achaemenian dynasty of the tribe, accepted Babylon's surrender in 539 B.C., and by the next year had founded an empire that at its height stretched from present-day India to the Aegean, and from the Danube to the Nile...
Nonetheless, considering the potential for disaster, the festivities went off remarkably smoothly. They began officially when the Shah visited the unadorned stone tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae, 50 miles from Persepolis. "O Cyrus, great king, king of kings, Achaemenian king, king of the land of rlran," the Shah intoned, "I, the Shahanshah of Iran, offer thee salutations from myself and from my nation. Rest in peace, for we are awake and we will always stay awake...
| 1 |