An empire in southern Asia created by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC and destroyed by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC

The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the First Persian Empire was the ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC.

The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the Indus river and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Steppe in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman in the south.

The Sasanian Empire or Sassanid Empire, officially known as Eranshahr, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th–8th centuries AD. Named after the House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651 AD, making it the longest-lived Persian imperial dynasty.

The Zand dynasty was an Iranian dynasty, founded by Karim Khan Zand