The Persian Empire was the largest empire in history

According to Guinness World Records, the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire was the largest empire in history by percentage of the world’s population.

An estimated 49.4 million people lived within the Persian Empire out of a global population of approximately 112.4 million.

That means nearly 44% of all humanity lived under the rule of the Persian kings.

And this was more than a number.

From the Iranian plateau, the empire extended across an enormous and diverse world — reaching into Central Asia, the Mediterranean, North Africa, Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and parts of Europe, including ancient Thrace and Macedonia.

Persians, Medes, Egyptians, Babylonians, Elamites, Lydians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Armenians, Bactrians, Sogdians and many other peoples, each with their own languages, traditions, religions and histories, existed within one imperial framework.

The achievement of the Achaemenids was not simply conquering territory.

It was the creation of a political system capable of governing an extraordinary diversity of peoples across an immense distance — connecting different civilizations under one imperial administration.

Cyrus the Great laid the foundations of this empire.

Darius the Great transformed it into a sophisticated imperial system.

Xerxes inherited one of the greatest political powers the ancient world had ever seen.

Think about what that means.

No modern communications.

No engines.

No airplanes.

No electricity.

No modern bureaucracy.

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