The Persian Empire has been seen by many people as one of the first true great empires. It has its stories written in the history of almost all great civilizations that existed during the Persian Empire timeline and has had a great socio-political impact on the total trading. And mercantile mechanism of the Asiatic and European continent at that time.

Persian Empire Timeline

But as with almost all great empires. The Persian Empire timeline has its beginning and end dipped in blood, discord, and chaos. This article is dedicated to the chronicling of its existence from beginning to end.

Birth from Chaos: Cyrus the Great and His Successors

Before the supremacy of the great Persian Empire, there were many nomadic tribes in the regions that include today’s Iran and other neighboring countries, but one amongst these started to rise to power. This was the start of the Median Empire.

But the Medes of ancient had been prone to mismanagement on all spheres and were soon overtaken by Cyrus the Great who later gave birth to the Achaemenid Empire which later came to be known as the first great Persian Empire.

Cyrus the Great Persian Empire

This happened at a time of around 599BCE. Cyrus was a great ruler and an economic genius who then through his ingenious economical maneuvers made the Persian Empire strong laid the stones on which his successor Cambyses I would walk to get to Egypt in 525BCE and then later Greece.

Dominance Shattered: Greco-Persian Wars

The Persian Empire Timeline then shows us a time of severe expansion of the Persian Empire. The intense and dominant war capabilities of the Persian Empire were proven when their army grew to unimaginable proportions and fell upon the Greek kingdoms. But Greece, forever resilient and advanced was able to thwart them.

Great Persian Empire Timeline

The campaign was led by Xerxes I and was able to defeat the Athenians but almost fell to a small contingent of Greek soldiers at Thermopylae in 480BCE. Although the Persians won they were highly demoralized. And later when faced with a far greater army at Plataea were completely defeated in 479 BCE. The expansion of Persia into Greece was ended and so was it for all of the European territories.

Dawn of Divination: Artaxerxes I

After the defeat at Greece, the Persian Expansion campaign was decidedly over and the Persians started to take more care of their own lands. The cultural period of their reign had then started under the rule of Artaxerxes I and the government language was changed from Elamite to Aramaic.

Great Persian Empire Timeline

Moreover, at this point in the Persian Empire timeline, the solar calendar was taken to be the national calendar in about 401 BCE. And His son Artaxerxes II was the maker of most of the monuments that are taken to this day as the signifiers of the Persian Empire.

Fall from Power: Murder and Chaos

The Persian Empire timeline comes to a bloody end once Artaxerxes III came to the throne by killing all his half-brothers in about 340 BCE. After that one after the other prices were killed and the house of kings changed. And ultimately weaken the empire enough to be overtaken altogether.