Rulers of Ancient Persia

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Cyrus II the Great
Regnal Name: Cyrus II

Achaemenid Persian Empire

559-530 BC

Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and conqueror of Babylon. Cyrus is remembered biblically for permitting the Jewish return and restoration of the Jerusalem Temple.

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Cambyses II
Regnal Name: Cambyses II

Achaemenid Persian Empire

530-522 BC

Son of Cyrus who conquered Egypt in 525 BC and extended Achaemenid rule into northeast Africa.

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Bardiya
Regnal Name: Bardiya

Achaemenid Persian Empire

522 BC

Brief ruler or claimant in 522 BC. Darius later asserted that the reigning man was the impostor Gaumata pretending to be Cyrus's son Bardiya.

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The Achaemenid Persian Empire dominated the ancient Near East from the sixth through fourth centuries BC, stretching from Central Asia and the Indus Valley to Egypt and the Aegean world. Founded by Cyrus the Great, Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC and inherited control of Judah and the other territories of the former Babylonian Empire. Unlike the Babylonians, Persian rulers generally permitted subject peoples to maintain their local religions and institutions while remaining under imperial authority.

Persian rule was especially important in the restoration of Israel after the Babylonian Exile. Cyrus authorized Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. Under Darius I, the Temple project was reaffirmed and completed. Xerxes I is generally identified with Ahasuerus, the king of the Book of Esther, while Artaxerxes I authorized the missions of Ezra and Nehemiah, contributing to the religious renewal of the Jewish community and the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls. Thus, the Persian period transformed Judah from an exiled people into a restored community centered again on Jerusalem, the Temple, the Law, and its covenant identity.