State · 550 – 330 BCE

Achaemenid Empire

A state of 550 – 330 BCE — 220 years in the Middle East and North Africa. It followed Elam, Lydia and Neo-Babylonian Empire and 7 more. It was followed by Macedonia and Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt. The atlas records 55 things within it — wars and battles 11 · unrest and atrocity 1 · treaties 1 · people 42. Its line of rulers holds 16 people, 11 with dated terms. Its own article says it was conquered.

Held with the record of Achaemenid dynasty, merged into this one.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 220 years; 550 BCE – 330 BCE
Rulers: 16; the King of Kings
Most ground: 5.62 million km²; in 480 BCE
Within it: 55; recorded rows
Symbol: 1; on record, with years

Map: Achaemenid Empire in 480 BCE, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Achaemenid Empire in 480 BCE, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 5.62 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Achaemenid Empire in 550 BCE, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Achaemenid Empire in 480 BCE, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Elam · follows · 2700 – 539 BCE
Median kingdom · follows · 678 – 550 BCE
Neo-Elamite period · follows
Massagetae · follows
Sogdia · follows
Gandhara (Mahabharata) · follows · 1501 – 535 BCE
Lydia · follows · 1200 – 546 BCE
Neo-Babylonian Empire · follows · 626 – 539 BCE
Achaemenid Kingdom · follows
Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt · follows · 664 – 525 BCE

After it

Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt · followed by · 404 – 399 BCE
Macedonia · followed by · 808 – 167 BCE

How it ended, as its article says

Conquered, -0330. Read from the article's section “lead” by its grammar; the claim is only that the article says so.

In 330 BC, amidst a Greek military campaign that began in 336 BC, the Achaemenid Empire was conquered in its entirety by Alexander the Great, who annexed it to his Macedonian Empire.

One sentence of the English Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Rulers

The line of King of Kings - the office this state names as its head of state.

killed, executed or dead in battledeposed, abdicated, exiled or removeddied in officeending not on recorda second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Cyrus the Great	559 BCE – 530 BCE	29 years	died in battleWikidata's manner of death
Cambyses II	530 BCE – 522 BCE	8 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
Bardiya	522 BCE – 522 BCE	under a year	killedWikidata's manner of death	sibling
Darius the Great	522 BCE – 486 BCE	36 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	in-law
Atossa	522 BCE – 475 BCE	47 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	spouse
Xerxes I	486 BCE – 465 BCE	21 years	deposed or removedWikidata's end cause on the term	child
Xerxes II	424 BCE – 424 BCE	under a year	killed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	grandchild
Sogdianus	424 BCE – 423 BCE	1 year	executedWikidata's manner of death	sibling
Darius II	423 BCE – —	no end recorded	ending not on record	sibling
Arses	338 BCE – 336 BCE	2 years	killedWikidata's manner of death
Darius III	336 BCE – 330 BCE	6 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone

16 rulers, 11 with terms dated as terms, covering 559 BCE – 330 BCE. Median reign 7 years. 8 of 10 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

3.33 million km² in 550 BCE, 3.51 million km² in 330 BCE; at its largest 5.62 million km² in 480 BCE. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flag or arms

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

flag, undatedStandard of Cyrus the Great · Public domain

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

600 BCE – 501 BCE17 rows · 2 wars and battles

Heraclitus · scientist · 535 – 471 BCE
Darius the Great · ruler · 550 – 486 BCE
Xerxes I · ruler · 519 – 465 BCE
Themistocles · politician · 524 – 459 BCE
Leucippus · scientist · 501 BCE
Artaxerxes I · ruler · 501 – 424 BCE
Cambyses II · ruler · 559 – 522 BCE
Xerxes II · ruler · 501 – 423 BCE

and 9 more in the atlas.

500 BCE – 401 BCE19 rows · 5 wars and battles

Herodotus · writer · 484 – 425 BCE
Hippocrates · scientist · 460 – 370 BCE
Democritus · scientist · 461 – 361 BCE
Anaxagoras · scientist · 500 – 428 BCE
Aristippus · philosopher · 435 – 366 BCE
Artaxerxes III · ruler · 425 – 338 BCE
Artaxerxes II · ruler · 452 – 358 BCE
Darius II · ruler · 475 – 404 BCE

and 11 more in the atlas.

400 BCE – 301 BCE11 rows · 4 wars and battles · 1 risings, regime changes and massacres

Darius III · ruler · 380 – 330 BCE
Battle of Gaugamela · battle · 331 BCE
Roxana · person · 345 – 310 BCE
Battle of the Granicus · battle · 334 BCE
Megasthenes · explorer · 351 – 291 BCE
Stateira · politician · 346 – 323 BCE
Peace of Antalcidas · treaty · 387 BCE
Battle of the Persian Gate · battle · 330 BCE

and 3 more in the atlas.

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood220 years
stood longer than 65% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held5,624,700 km²
held more ground at its peak than 98% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per century0.5
had more wars on record per century than 91% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median8 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 29% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record16
has more rulers on record than 89% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 9 causes the record names and 2 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linked

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 572 BCE – 308 BCE, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 480 BCE, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q389688 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · one sentence of the English Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA 4.0 · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.