Based in modern-day Iran , it was the largest empire by that point in history , spanning a total of 5. The empire spanned from the Balkans and Egypt in the west, most of West Asia , the majority of Central Asia to the northeast, and the Indus Valley to the southeast.
Around the 7th century BC, the region of Persis in the southwestern portion of the Iranian plateau was settled by the Persians. In the modern era, the Achaemenid Empire has been recognized for its imposition of a successful model of centralized bureaucratic administration, its multicultural policy, building complex infrastructure such as road systems and an organized postal system , the use of official languages across its territories, and the development of civil services, including its possession of a large, professional army.
Its advancements inspired the implementation of similar styles of governance by a variety of later empires. By BC, the Achaemenid Empire was conquered by Alexander the Great , an ardent admirer of Cyrus; the conquest marked a key achievement in the then-ongoing campaign of his Macedonian Empire.
Hellenistic rule remained in place for almost a century before the Iranian elites of the central plateau reclaimed power under the Parthian Empire. The Achaemenid Empire borrows its name from the ancestor of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the empire, Achaemenes. Around BC the original nomadic people who began the empire called themselves the Parsa and their constantly shifting territory Parsua , for the most part localized around Persis.
The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished; they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii , all of which are attached to the soil, the remainder—the Dai , Mardi , Dropici , Sagarti , being nomadic.
