Chapter 4 Notes Ancient Iran, 1000-486 BCE Overview Iran is the ?Land of the Aryans? It links western Asia with southern and Central Asia. In 6th Century BCE, the Persians created the biggest empire the world had yet seen They had distinct cultural elements, along with new forms of political and economic organization. Our info on Ancient Iran is through biased Greek documents. Geography and Resources Iran has geological boundaries on all sides of it except the northeast. Nomads of Central Asia attacked from this direction. Iran has high mountains at the edges, salt deserts, and mountain streams, and marshes Ancient Iran never had a dense population Density was proportional with the water in and hydration of the environment