History
Ancient Persia
The Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian worlds, and Zoroastrian heritage.
8 stories
Achaemenid
Cyrus the Great and the Cylinder: what the evidence says
A small baked-clay object from Babylon has been called the first charter of human rights. Reading what it says, and what it does not, is a lesson in how history gets used. 14 November 2026Darius I and the Behistun inscription
On a cliff in western Iran, a king told the story of how he won the throne, in three languages. It is royal propaganda, and it is also the key that opened ancient writing. 14 November 2026
Feature · c. 518–330 BCE