03 - The World before Cyrus

I n this lecture, we examine the stage of ancient west Asia—stretching from the Mediterranean to Mesopotamia to Iran—from about 1000 to 550 B.C., in order to understand the forces that shaped early Persian history. To get a full picture of this early world, we’ll work our way from the Mediterranean eastward to the center. First, we’ll focus on the Assyrian Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire that arose in the wake of Assyria’s collapse. Then, we’ll look at three peoples—the Medes, the Elamites, and the early Persians themselves—who together would play a crucial role in the conquests of Cyrus and Cambyses and the subsequent rise of the Achaemenid Empire.