The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo,
๐ง๐๐, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an
ancient Iranian empire founded by
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, ๐ค๐ข๐ฝ๐ข๐ ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...
in 550 BC. Based in
Western Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes A ...
, it was contemporarily the
largest empire in history, spanning a total of from the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, ู
ุตุฑ , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
in the west to
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...
and the
Indus Valley
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kash ...
in the east.
Around the 7th century BC, the region of
Persis
Persis ( grc-gre, , ''Persรญs''), better known in English as Persia (Old Persian: ๐ฑ๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ, ''Parsa''; fa, ูพุงุฑุณ, ''Pรขrs''), or Persia proper, is the Fars region, located to the southwest of modern-d