Persia, or Pars, Parsa or Parsua was first mentioned in Assyrian documents in 836 B.C. when the Assyrian ruler Shalmanesaar III received tribute from kings of "Parsua" from west of Lake Urumia. In 737 B.C. Tiglath-pileser III invaded Parsua and received tribute from Median Kings as far east as Mount Bikni, the "Mountain Of Lapis Lazuli," as he named majestic Damaavand from the deep blue of its snow-covered peak.

However, it was interaction with the Greeks that gave us most of our knowledge of ancient Persia. Until relatively recently, Greek sources were almost the sole source of our information. From the 1930's there has been a large an increase in information available from Persian sources.
These include inscriptions, reliefs, building remains and cuneiform texts on tablets in Old Persian, Babylonian, Akkadian and Elamite languages. Among the most important of these texts are the Persian Fortification and the Treasury Tablets, two immensely important collections of texts found at Persepolis.

(i) The Persian reliefs and sculpture from Susa and Persepolis give us important details on the clothing and equipment worn by the kings and their courtiers, soldiers and members of different provinces. They also show the actual extent of lands mentioned in various lists of satrapies and the types of produce representative of those provinces.

(ii) The Behistun inscription At the mountain of Behistun, Darius carved a huge billboard in the stone cliff to record the struggles he faced in gaining the throne. Darius' monument, displayed in an relief, and cuneiform writing in three languages, was critical to scholars who used the texts as a way to decipher the Persian and Babylonian languages

(iii) Two cuneiform archives were discovered at Persepolis. These are now referred to as the Fortification & Treasury Tablets. Written in Elamite, they are the records kept by the financial officers of the various kings. They are useful in providing detailed, accurate information on economic aspects of Achaemenid life. They list rations given to different people within the palace hierarchy, the various artisans and the ordinary workers. Because the lists are so detailed, we learn about details of Achaemenid administration, information on settlement patterns, and the importance of foreign artisans and women as workers on different projects.

The Fortification Tablets are the oldest and largest of the two archives, numbering between 25,000 to 30,000 tablets, however only 10% have been read or published so far. It records transactions up till 493 B.C.

The Treasury Tablets archive is smaller, only 139 tablets but similar to the other. It records payments in silver between 492 and 458 B.C.

(iv) The Oxus treasure, found near the Oxus River,(now the Amu Darya River) is the most important collection of gold and silver to have survived from the Achaemenid period. It consists of 170 objects, including vessels, little models made of gold and electrum, a gold scabbard, model chariots and figures, armlets, seals, finger-rings, miscellaneous personal objects, dedicatory plaques and coins, all belonging to the richer members of society. It is thought it may have been a royal treasure looted from tombs and reburied and is dated to the fifth and fourth centuries BC.

1. Gold Chariot
2. Gold Plaque
3. Persan Figurine
4. Lion
5. Gold Drinking Cup

(v) A large number of seals were used like official stamps on documents and as seals on doors and boxes, etc. They were a guarantee that the letters, commands or articles attached or contained within were genuine and were infact from the king, satrap or government official. The actual impression of the cylinder seal was usually clay, or wax and it was attached by string to the letter or object that was being sealed. These seals included the larger cylinder seals and or smaller seal stones and could show short inscriptions, illustrations or religious or mythical symbols.

(i) Herodotos, an Ionian Greek who was born in the Greek city of Halicarnassus, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor. He born around the time of the second Babylonian revolt during the reign of Xerxes (484 BC), travelling widely and lived for a while in Athens, before settling in Thurii, a Greek colony in southern Italy. He died about 424 BC. His famous work, The Histories, was an account of the wars between the Greeks and the Persians.

(ii) Ctesias was a Greek physician to the Persian royal courts of Darius II and his son Artaxerxes II. During his seventeen years of service he wrote two books, Persica, a history of Persia, and Indika, a collection of stories of India, Persia's most eastern sartrap and neighbour. Although no copies of his work still exists, we have a collection of notes made from the original text. These notes were written by Photius, a Christian bishop and scholar who lived in the 9th century AD. Other ancient writers also made reference to his writing.

(iii) The Greek play, Persai (The Persians) written 464B.C. by the Greek dramatist, Aeschylus gives a Greek view of the Persian war of Xerxes. Its entire setting is in the Persian court at Persepolis.

(iv) Xenophon, an Athenian, the son of Gryllus, was born about 444 B.C. Xenophon was at one time a pupil of Socrates. He served with the Greek contingent raised by Cyrus against Artaxerxes in 401 and continued in service of the Spartans even when they were at war with Athens. Fighting against Athens at the battle of Coronea 394 B.C. Consequencely Athens decreed he be exiled.

He wrote extensively, including Anabasis, his eye-witness account of Cyrus' march into Persia. The Cyropaida, a historical novel based on the life of Cyrus the Great. The Hipparchicus and De Re Equestriis which cover the duties of a commander of cavalry and Horsemanship. Other works include, Agesilaus, Hellenica and Oikonomikos.

(v) The Alexander Sarcophagus was never in tended to be used by Alexander but was commissioned by King Abdalonymus of Sidon (Lebanon) to commemerate the Macedonian victory at Issus in 333 BC. Made of marble, the sarcophagus or coffin has panels on the sides and end decorated in high reliefs showing scenes of Alexander and his Macedonians engaged in battle with persian soldiers, as well as hunting scenes. It is now in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul. The figures were originallly painted but the colours have faded, even since its excavation in 1887.

(vi) The Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii is a Roman copy of an earlier Hellenistic painting/s mentioned in ancient sources.
Now residing in the Museo Nazionale, Naples, Italy. Dated from the late 2nd century. B.C..

It is constructed with over one and a half million tesserae, none larger than 4 mm., in four colors: white, yellow, red, and black. The minuteness of the tesserae enables incredibly fine detail and a greater variation in colours.

The mosaic represents the turning-point at the Battle of the Issus River in November 333 B.C. when Darius III fled the battle; but Philoxenus, the artist from whose painting the mosaic was copied, may have incorporated elements from other battles. Alexander's personal moment of peril seems borrowed from the battles of Granicus and Gaugamela.

The mosaic focuses on the two Kings. On the left, Alexander, with his head uncovered, rushes forward on his white horse Bucephalus, skewering a Persian cavalrymen with his lance. With Alexander appear his helmeted Macedonian soldiers, although little remains of them due to damage of the left side of the mosaic.
In contrast, Darius on the right, wearing an upright Persian cap, is fleeing in a chariot drawn by four black horses. Around him, his Persian guards mill in confusion but one, his sword raised, moves to attack Alexander.

There are many details which emphasize the terror and confusion of the battle. The horse of the Persian defender of Darius collapses beneath him while he writhes in agony on Alexander's lance. Below Darius in his chariot, a Persian soldier, staring in horror at this scene, attempts to hold a rearing horse. To the right, a soldier is being crushed under the wheels of Darius' chariot. His face is reflected in the shield which he holds. Further to the right appear the terrified horses of the chariot team, trampling another unfortunate Persian.

In the background, a dead tree is used as an artistic device to symbolise the death of both the Persian defenders and as well as the death of the Persian Empire. Its bare and twisted branches emphasize the confusion of the battle at this point. Alexander, risking his own safety has led his cavalry against Darius himself, the outcome of the battle now rests on the outcome of individual combats.
In the foreground, the discarded weapons, rocks and the hindquarters of a horse help to give a sense of depth to the scene.

The Alexander mosaic is thought to be based on a painting which Philoxenus of Eretria created for King Cassander of Macedonia. The painting is described by Pliny the Elder as representing "the battle of Alexander with Darius." Certain inconsistencies in the mosaic point to its derivation from another source. In the center of the composition appears a helmeted head to the right of the rearing horse. Two lance shafts come from the left and abruptly stop behind this head. To the right of the same head appears a head of a horse and beneath this are the hindquarters of another horse, neither of which is logically completed. Among the four horses of Darius' chariot there are parts of a white horse which do not fit together anatomically. Above these horses is a Persian soldier who appears to have two right hands, one on his head and the other raised in the air. These details provide evidence that the mosaicist misunderstood details of the original.

The Bible,The word "Persia" can be found 37 times in 33 verses in the Old Testament. Major events of Israel's history occurred both, within the boundaries of the Achaemenid Persian empire and during the reigns of the Achaemenid Kings.