The Achaemenid Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great around 559 BCE, became the largest empire of the ancient world up to that time. Cyrus conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon, and he is celebrated for the Cyrus Cylinder, sometimes called an early charter of human rights, as well as for freeing the Jews from Babylonian captivity. His successor, Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BCE), expanded the empire to its greatest extent, from Egypt to India. Darius organized the realm into satrapies, or provinces, each governed by a satrap appointed by the king, allowing efficient administration while generally respecting local customs. He introduced a standardized currency and legal system and built the Royal Road, a 1,600-mile highway connecting Susa to Sardis, equipped with relay stations that allowed couriers to traverse it in about a week.
Zoroastrianism, founded by the prophet Zoroaster around 1000 BCE, was the dominant religion of the Persian Empire. It taught a cosmic struggle between good, embodied in the deity Ahura Mazda, and evil, embodied in Angra Mainyu, and profoundly influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Persian power came to an abrupt end at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE, where Alexander the Great decisively defeated the Persian king Darius III, effectively ending the Achaemenid Empire and opening the Near East to Greek influence.
Long before Persia's rise, the Phoenicians, a seafaring people based in present-day Lebanon from about 1500 to 300 BCE, had established a vast maritime trading network across the Mediterranean. They founded colonies including Carthage in North Africa and mastered navigation. Their most lasting contribution was the Phoenician alphabet, developed around 1050 BCE, a system of 22 consonant letters that became the ancestor of the Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew alphabets, making it arguably the most influential writing system in history. Byblos, one of the oldest Phoenician cities, was a major center for trade, especially in Egyptian papyrus; the Greek word for book, biblos, derives from its name. Carthage, founded around 814 BCE, grew into a powerful Mediterranean trading state and ultimately became Rome's greatest rival until its destruction in the Third Punic War in 146 BCE.