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and first crop up in Assyrian records in 836 BC. But little more is heard of them until Greek historian Herodotus writes of how Cyaxares of Media expelled the Scythians, who had invaded from the Caucasus, in about 625 BC. According to Herodotus, whose histories are notoriously colourful, the Scythians were defeated when their kings attended a party and became so drunk they were easily disposed of.

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Ancient Persia, by Josef Wiesehöfer, is a study of the country’s origins and why it collapsed so dramatically after the Arab invasions of the 7th century.

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Under Cyaxares, the Medes became a most formidable military force, repeatedly attacking the neighbouring Assyrians. In 612, having formed an alliance with the Babylonians, the Medes sacked the Assyrian capital of Nineveh and chased the remnants of this once-mighty empire into history. Exactly how the conquering powers divided the spoils of this heady success is uncertain, but it is believed the Medes assumed control of the highland territories. This meant that at his death in 575 BC Cyaxares is thought to have controlled an area that stretched from Asia Minor in the west as far as present-day Kerman in the east. Within a few years, though, this would seem very modest indeed.

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THE ACHAEMENIDS & THE FIRST PERSIAN EMPIRE

In the 7th century BC the king of one of the Persian tribes, Achaemenes, created a unified state in southern Iran, giving his name to what would become the First Persian Empire, that of the Achaemenids. By the time his 21-year-old great-grandson Cyrus II ascended the throne in 559 BC, Persia was clearly a state on the up. Within 20 years it would be the greatest empire the world had known.

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IRAN’S DYNASTIES & NOTABLE RULERS

Achaemenids 550–330 BC

Cyrus II (the Great) r 559–530 BC

Cambyses r 529–522 BC

Darius I (the Great) r 522–486 BC

Xerxes r 486–465 BC

Artaxerxes I r 465–425 BC

Darius II r 424–405 BC

Artaxerxes II r 405–359 BC

Capitals in Shush, Babylon & Persepolis

Seleucids 323–162 BC

Parthians 247 BC–AD 224

Mithridates r 171–138 BC

Mithridates II r 123–88 BC

Capitals in Rey and Ctesiphon

Sassanians AD 224–642

Ardashir I r 224–41

Shapur I r 241–72

Shapur II r 310–79

Khusro II r 590–628

Capitals at Firuz Abad, then Ctesiphon

Arabs & Turks arrive 642–1051

Umayyad Caliphate r 642–750, capital in Damascus

Abbasid Caliphate r 750–830s, capital in Baghdad 9th century, rule fragments

Tahirids, r 820–72

Saffarids, r 868–903

Samanids, r 874–999

Ziarids, r 928–1077

Buyids, r 945–1055

Qaznavids, r 962–1140

Seljuks 1051–1220

Toghrol Beik r 1037–63

Malek Shah r 1072–92

Capital in Esfahan

Mongol Ilkhanids 1256–1335

Hulagu Khan r 1256–65

Ghazan Khan r 1295–1304

Oljeitu Khan r 1304–16

Capitals in Maraghe, Soltaniyeh

Timurids 1380–1502

Tamerlane r 1380–1405

Shahrokh r 1405–47

Govern from Samarkand, Herat

and Qazvin

Safavids 1502–1736

Ismail Savafi r 1502–24

Tahmasp r 1524–76

Abbas I (Abbas the Great) r 1587–1629

Capitals in Tabriz, Qazvin then Esfahan

Nader Shah 1736–1747

Capital in Mashhad

Zand Period 1750–1795

Karim Khan Zand r 1750–79

Lotf ali Khan r 1779–95

Capital in Shiraz

Qajars 1795–1925

Aga Mohammad Khan r 1795–6

Fath Ali Shah r 1797–1834

Nasser al-Din Shah r 1848–96

Capital in Tehran

Pahlavis 1925–1979

Reza Shah r 1925–41

Shah Mohammad Reza r 1941–79

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Having rapidly built a mighty military force, Cyrus the Great (as he came to be known) ended the Median Empire in 550 BC when he defeated his own grandfather – the hated king Astyages – in battle at Pasargadae. Within 11 years, Cyrus had campaigned his way across much of what is now Turkey, east into modern Pakistan, and finally defeated the Babylonians. It was in the aftermath of this victory in 539 BC that Cyrus marked himself out as something of a sensitive, new age despot. Rather than putting the Babylonians to the sword, he released the Jews who had been held there and, according to Herodotus in The Persian Wars, declared,