Persian Empire
The ancient Persian Empire included areas far beyond modern Persia, now called Iran. At some times they controlled much of the Middle East — they were a main antagonist of Ancient Greece a few centuries BCE (and later the Roman Empire), and ruled Egypt at one point — as well as much of the Caucasus and parts of what are now Pakistan and India.
They had a huge influence on Central Asia, much of which they ruled for centuries. Marco Polo, for example, describes cities like Bukhara and Balkh as Persian. Even today, one dialect of Persian is the main language of Tajikistan and another is widely used in Afghanistan. They also had a tremendous influence on South Asia which was repeatedly invaded by Persian speakers, from Darius taking Gandhara in the 6th century BCE to the Mughal Empire which ruled much of the subcontinent from the 16th century CE into the 19th.
Regions
At its peak, around 500 BCE, the Empire was enormous. Here we list some areas that retained Persian culture for centuries beyond that.
- Afghanistan has always shown a strong Persian influence
- Bactria has been a center of trade for several thousand years
- Iran was the center of the Empire
- Sogdia was the northermost part of the Empire a few centuries BCE
- Gandhara
Cities
See Iran#Cities for the main modern towns there. This section lists only places not on that list.
- Balkh, former capital of Bactria, now a town in northern Afghanistan with interesting buildings
- Bokhara, great trading city on the Silk Road
- Herat, now Afghanistan's westernmost city, heavily influenced by Persia and sometimes part of the Empire
- Persepolis in Iran, now only ruins, was the Empire's capital in its days of glory
- Samarkand, Silk Road city and once capital of Sogdia
Itineraries
See also
Talk
The main dialects of Persian are Farsi in Iran, Tajik in Tajikistan and Dari in Afghanistan. They are different enough to create difficulties, but not to completely prevent understanding.