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The Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) was the first great Persian political entity in Western and Central Asia which stretched, at its peak, from Asia Minor to the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia through Egypt. It was founded by Cyrus II (the Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE) whose vision of a vast, all-inclusive Persian Empire was, more or less, maintained by his successors.
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Persian power was renewed by Artaxerxes I (r. 465-424 BCE) who helped to destabilize Greece by funding Sparta in the First Peloponnesian War (460-446 BCE), a policy continued under Darius II (r. 424-404 BCE) in the Second Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). The reign of Artaxerxes II (404-358 BCE) was marked by widespread revolts which increased under his successors, especially in Egypt, and the empire had lost much of its original cohesion by the time of Darius III (r. 336-330 BCE) who was defeated by Alexander the Great, marking the end of the Achaemenid Empire.
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