The Iranian peoples – the Parthi and the Persians – and their Empires

559 BC – Achaemenid, Persian, King Cyrus the Great (559 – 529 BC) established the Achaemenid Perisan Empire (550 – 330 BC).

330 BC – Battle of Issus in Asia Minor – Macedonian King Alexander the Great (336 – 323 BC) defeated Persian King Darius III and pursued him through Syria and Egypt, and into northeast Mesopotamia. King Darius III died while still on the run, and the Persian Empire fell to Alexander the Great.

323 BC – Alexander the Great died of fever in Babylon, and civil war (323 – 311 BC) broke out among his top generals.

311 BC – Alexander the Great’s empire was divided among his top generals. The Seleucids (Syrians) (311 – 252 BC) received the dominion that stretched from the Aegean to the Hindu Kush. This territory included the former Persian Empire.

252 BC – an Iranian feudal empire beyond the Euphrates broke away from the Seleucids, and established the Kingdom of Parthia (252 BC – 226 AD). At its peak this Parthian Empire stretched from Bactria in the East to Babylonia, Syria, and the Euphrates in the west.

226 AD – Persian King Ardashir killed the last Parthian king, claimed all of Darius I’s (522 – 486 BC) territories, and established the Sassanid Persian Empire (226 – 652 AD). …..read more in Volume Five……