Here are 10 Persian Empire Facts for Kids:
Persian Empire Facts for Kids
Persian Empire Fact #1:
Around 1200 BC, some Indo-European people from Central Asia moved south into West Asia. These people were called the Persians and the Medes. The speakers of Iranian languages may have migrated into that part of Asia as early as 1500 presumably they were originally a nomadic tribe who filtered down through the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau.
Persian Empire Fact #2:
Many believe that the first global empire was that of the Romans but this is completely untrue, for the Persian Empire precedes it. Located in the heart of the Persian highlands in the Zagros mountain range, the beginnings of this city have been found to be within the time Darius the Great ruled the land.
Persian Empire Fact #3:
When Cyrus became emperor, he took the name Achaemenid as the title for his dynasty, in remembrance of his great ancestor.
Persian Empire Fact #4:
Persian Kings ruled by appointing local governors called Satraps. These satraps enforced the laws and decrees of the king. Additionally, the King appointed traveling eyes and ears to make unscheduled visits to the Satraps in order to ensure that they remained loyal.
Fact about Persian Empire #5:
The Medes and the Persians settled in what is now Iran, and we don’t hear much about them until about 600 BC. Probably they could not fight the Assyrians and didn’t try to.
Fact about Persian Empire #6:
The royal road was the longest highway in the Persian Empire. It ran for more than 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from Sardis, in western Turkey, to the empire’s capital, Susa, near the Persian Gulf.
A giant network of roads linked the empire’s provinces. Messengers traveled on horseback to deliver urgent royal commands or news, while merchants used camel trains to transport goods.
Fact about Persian Empire #7:
When Darius II died, the most celebrated of the dynastic troubles occurred in the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II, which came to an end with the death of Cyrus in the battle of Cunaxa. Cyrus’ defeat was recorded in Xenophon’s Anabasis.
Fact about Persian Empire #8:
The conquering of Egypt was not difficult for the army of Cambyses, within a year (from 526-5 B.C.) they entered Memphis where Cambyses was made Pharaoh.
Unfortunately, it appears that the priests of Egypt were somehow offended by Cambyses and slandered him, while at the same time a revolt against Cambyses began back in Persia. The combination of these factors probably led to his suicide in 525 B.C.
Fact about Persian Empire #9:
The last of the Persian Kings, Darius III, lost in battle to Alexander at Gaugamela in 331 B.C but history could well have had a different tale to tell. Just as the Immortals were turning the war on its head and leading the Persian cavalry to victory, Darius III fled and Alexander inherited the Persian Empire.
Fact about Persian Empire #10:
After Alexander the Great’s death, Persia fell for the most part to Seleucus I and his successors (the Seleucids), but their grasp on the vast territories was weak administratively, although they did introduce a vital Hellenistic culture, mingling Greek with Persian elements.