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| 93730153 | Cyrus (558-530 BCE) | Cyrus the Achaemenid launched the Persians' imperial venture. He came from the mountainous region of southwestern Iran and in reference to the economy was known as Cyrus the Shepherd. He was a tough ruler and outstanding military strategist and his conquests laid the foundation of the first Persian Empire. | 0 | |
| 93730154 | Darius (521-486 BCE) | Darius was the greatest of the Achaemenid emperors and extended the empire both east and west. Darius's realm was the largest empire the world had yet seen. But he was a more important as an administrator than conqueror. He presided over more than seventy ethnic groups so in order to maintain the empire he established lines of communication with all parts of the realm and designed institutions that would enable him to tax and administer the territory. By doing this, he pioneered administrative techniques that would outlast the dynasty and influence political life in Southwestern Asia. | 1 | |
| 93730155 | Achaemenids (558-330 BCE) | The Achaemenid Empire was the largest empire in the ancient world, extending from Anatolia and Egypt across western Asia to northern India and Central Asia. The government of the empire was established as a federation of leaders. A standardized system of taxation was established and laws were also standardized. The Achamenids were in constant conflict with the Ionan Greeks, known as the Persian Wars. Alexander of Macedon ended the Persian Wars when he burned the city of Persepolis which brought an end to the Achamenid Empire but the Achamenid form of government was retained. | 2 | |
| 93730156 | Confucius (551-479 BCE) | Confucius was the first Chinese thinker to address the problem of political and social order in a straightforward and self-conscious way. He was a strong willed man and didn't get along with others. Confucius left his court and for years he traveled and attracted many disciples who compiled his teachings and sayings in a book known as the Analects. He was an educator and political advisor and focused on the formation of junzi, "superior individuals", to bring stability and order to China. Confucius' thought became the foundation of the educational system. | 3 | |
| 93730157 | Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BCE) | Siddhartha Gautama was the founder of Buddhism. He came from the Kshatriya family and lived a sheltered and pampered life. Gautama however became dissatisfied with his comfortable life and left his home in search of spiritual enlightenment and an explanation for suffering. When he became enlightened and understood the problem of suffering and how to eliminate it, he became know as the Buddha- "the enlightened one." His teachings quickly attracted the attention, and disciples' came from all over the Ganges valley. He organized the disciples into a community of monks who owned only yellow robes and begging bowls. For more than 40 years the Buddha, along with his disciples, traveled throughout northern India on hopes of bringing spiritual enlightenment to others. At the age of some eighty years, the Buddha died leaving his disciples with a final message. | 4 | |
| 93730158 | Attila (550-453 BCE) | Attila was the warrior-king who organized the Huns into a virtually unstoppable military juggernaut. He did not create a set of political institutions or a state structure and the Huns disappeared as a political and military force soon after his death. | 5 |
