History of Turkey

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 114. Chapters: Hittites, Thrace, Lydia, Bithynia, Mysia, Heraclea Pontica, Achaemenid Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, Antioch, Pisidia, Turgut Reis, Greater Iran, Ani, Turko-Persian tradition, Gordion Furniture and Wooden Artifacts, Thracians, Names of Anatolia, Administration for Western Armenia, Salih Reis, Tenedos, Index of Ottoman Empire-related articles, Battle of Issus, Names of the Levant, Al-'Awasim, Tao-Klarjeti, Kaysites, Esnaf, Empire of Nicaea, Artuqid dynasty, Timeline of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, Mongol conquest of Anatolia, Vaspurakan Kingdom, Name of Turkey, Sumatar Harabesi, Seljuk architecture, Anatolian Bulgarians, Ahlatshahs, Abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate, Kaymakli Underground City, Upper Armenia, Medieval states in Anatolia, Meydancik Castle, Yumuktepe, Apamea Myrlea, Ancient kingdoms of Anatolia, Gözlükule, Tayk, Historical regions of Armenia, Byzantine gardens, Timeline of Turkey, Mamure Castle, Claudiopolis, Joseph Genesius, Asius, Karum, Kutalmish, Asiatic Vespers, Tokmar Castle, Sarukhan, Bey of Magnesia, Hermus, Yeniyurt Castle, Mokissos, Historic Areas of Istanbul, Hubushkia, Agora, Ancient Regions of Anatolia, Adrasteia, Myriandrus, Digda, List of Kings of Ani, Arzen, Turkish immigration. Excerpt: The Achaemenid Empire (Old Persian IPA: Haxâmanishiya) (c. 550-330 B.C.E.), known as the Persian Empire, was the successor state of the Median Empire, expanding to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 B.C.E. stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt, encompassing some 1 million square miles unified by a complex network of roads, ruled by monarchs, to become the largest and greatest empire the world had yet seen. The Persians originally were nomadic, pastoral people in the western Iranian plateau and by 850 B.C.E. were calling themselves the Parsa and their constantly shifting territory Parsua. For the most part the early Persians had settled in the southwest Iranian plateau, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf which had become their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor. At the height of its power after the conquest of Egypt, the empire encompassed approximately 8 million km spanning three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. At its greatest extent, the empire included the modern territories of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor, Thrace and Macedonia, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and all significant population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya. It is noted in western history, as the antagonist foe of the Greek city states during the Greco-Persian Wars, for emancipation of slaves including the Jewish people from their Babylonian captivity, and for instituting infrastructures such as a postal system, road systems, and the usage o