Rise and Fall of the Persian Empire

The Persian Empire once controlled half the world's population. At its peak under

Cyrus the Great, it stretched from Egypt to India, ruling through tolerance instead of terror.

They built the first postal system, created underground water channels still used today,

and even freed enslaved Jews from Babylon. But their downfall began with one fatal mistake,

overextending into Greece. After losing at Marathon and Salamis, internal corruption

spread like wildfire. Within 150 years, Alexander the Great crushed them completely. The empire that

invented human rights collapsed because it forgot its own principles.