The Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire, is often described by historians as an empire that served as a model for many of the land-based empires in world history. Founded by Cyrus the Great in the mid-6th century BC, the Empire covered an enormous area.
The empire stretched from the eastern Mediterranean in the west to the Indus River Valley in the east. As a result, the Persian kings had dominion over diverse groups of peoples and cultures, including in places like modern-day Iran, Iraq, parts of Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.