Ancient Persia's Legacy to the Modern World
by Rod Cury
1. 479 B.C. Persian army defeated at Battle of Plataea, never to return to Greece
2. What the Rulers Accomplished
2.1. Cyrus freed Persia.
2.2. The armies of Cyrus reached the frontier of India.
2.3. 539 B.C. Cyrus captured Babylon, established the Cyrus Cylinder, the first known document on human rights
2.4. Cyrus ended the Babylonian Captivity.
2.5. Cambyses, son of Cyrus. Captured Egypt
2.6. Darius fought the Greeks, Athens and Sparta
2.7. The Persian armies of Darius were defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.
2.8. 480 B.C. Persian army of Xerxes defeats Spartan soldier at Battle of Thermopylae
2.9. 480 B.C. Persian navy of Xerxes defeated by Athens at Battle of Salamis
3. Rulers of Ancient Persia
3.1. Cyrus The Great
3.2. Cambyses
3.3. Darius, King of Kings
3.4. Xerxes
4. Legacies to Our World Today
4.1. Conquest of Babylon and freeing the Jews, insured the development of Judaism, one of the world's great monotheistic religions
4.2. The defeat of the Persians by the Greeks allowed for the birth and growth of democracy
4.3. The Persian Empire, while a fighting empire, had a pagan version of monotheism set forth by Zoroaster.
4.4. The Persian Empire succumbed to the advance of Islam in the 7th Century. But Islam was assimilated into Persia, which kept its own separate identity.
