Polity · 550 BCE – 327 BCE
Achaemenid Empire
𐎧𐏁𐏂
- Peak recorded area
- 5,623,620 km²
- 480 BCE
- Rulers on record
- 10
- from 559 BCE
- Data series
- 20
- 550 BCE–390 BCE
Overview
The Achaemenid Empire was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. At peak, its territorial extent was roughly 5.5 million square kilometres, making it the largest empire of its time. Based in the Iranian plateau, it stretched from the Balkans and Cyrenaica in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, including Anatolia, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, the Levant, the South Caucasus, parts of Eastern Arabia, and large parts of Central Asia.
Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.
Territory
13 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated.
The record
The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before 327 BCE, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.
People
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Polity Population2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 7.41score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Population2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 26Mpersons400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Largest Settlement Pop | 200Kpersons550 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
Economy
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Agricultural Sophistication2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 0.7733score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Monetary Complexity2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 0.6score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
Military
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Military Sophistication2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 0.5625score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Battle Count | 1battles480 BCE · Historical Conflict Events Dataset (HCED v3) |
| Battle Scale Avg | 4Lehmann-Zhukov 1-5480 BCE · Historical Conflict Events Dataset (HCED v3) |
| Military Levels | 7levels550 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
Territory & resources
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Territory km²3 obs · 520 BCE–390 BCE | 4.1Msq km390 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Polity Territory2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 6.61score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
Governance
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Admin Levels | 7levels550 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Religious Hierarchy | 4levels550 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
Development
6 of 7 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Government Complexity2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 0.9909score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Hierarchy Levels2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 6.5score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Information Complexity2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 0.9462score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Infrastructure2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 0.9727score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Largest Settlement Pop2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 5.3score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
| Religious Levels2 obs · 500 BCE–400 BCE | 4score400 BCE · Seshat Equinox 2020 |
Rulers
10 on record with dated reigns. Reign years follow the house convention: BCE years are negative.
- Cyrus the GreatKing of Kings559 BCE – 530 BCE
- Cambyses IIKing of Kings530 BCE – 522 BCE
- BardiyaKing of Kings522 BCE
- Darius IKing of Kings522 BCE – 486 BCE
- Xerxes IKing of Kings486 BCE – 465 BCE
- SogdianusKing of Kings424 BCE – 423 BCE
- Xerxes IIKing of Kings424 BCE
- Darius IIKing of Kings423 BCE –
- ArsesKing of Kings338 BCE – 336 BCE
- Darius IIIKing of Kings336 BCE – 330 BCE
Language & currency
- Currency
- siglos, Persian daric
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.
Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).
Historical Conflict Events Dataset (HCED v3)v3
Brecke, P. Conflict Catalog (Historical Conflict Events Dataset), digitized v3.
Academic use, attribution
Seshat Equinox 2020Equinox 2020
Turchin, P. et al. Seshat Global History Databank, Equinox 2020 release.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Achaemenid Empire is one of the polities with a sourced record deep enough to publish.