2,500 years ago, Persia was a great empire; considered the forerunner of the Roman Empire. But for all its size and power, it has an adversary that will lead to its downfall. Persia’s nemesis was a smaller empire – Macedonia; ruled by Alexander the Great.
This documentary shows how the failure of one king led to the downfall of an entire empire, and how Alexander overcame his formidable enemies – the Persians.
The Persian Empire was established under Cyrus the Great, who took over the Median Empire and conquered much of the Middle East, including the Babylonian, Assyrian, Phoenician, and Lydian territories.
Cambyses, son of Cyrus the Great, went on to conquer Egypt. The Achaemenid Persian Empire ended during the Alexander Wars, but the Persian Empire reemerged under the Parthian and Sasanian dynasties in Iran, followed by Iranian post-Islamic empires such as the Safavids, up to modern Iran.
