- 559BC Cyrus ascends throne, but he is not king because the Medes rule over his lands
- 550 BC Cyrus the Great conquers the powerful Medes and adds them to his Persian Empire. He is known for his tolerance of conquered people’s culture
- 546BC Cyrus the Great conquers the powerful Lydians and the Persian Empire grows. Cyrus respected their rights and customs
- 546BC Cyrus the Great becomes King of Persia
- 539BC Cyrus the Great conquers Babylon and they become part of the Persian Empire. He is known for his military genius
- 538BC Cyrus the Great releases the Hebrews, who had been conquered by Babylon. He lets them go back to Jerusalem to rebuild their city and temple. He is compassionate and tolerant of their religion
- 530BC Cyrus the great is killed in battle at Central Asia
- 530BC Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great becomes the new king of Persia
- 525BC Cambyses conquers the Egyptians, but is not tolerant. The Persian empire grows with another very powerful country, but the Persian people don’t like Cambyses’ destruction and they revolt
- 525BC Cambyses invades Kush but is defeated
- 522BC Cambyses dies
- 522BC The Persian Empire and the conquered lands revolt
- 521BC Darius, a bodyguard, takes the Persian throne and calms the Persian people with his military support
- 521BC Darius separates the Persian Empire in provinces that are ruled by satraps, using his great administration skills
- 514BC Darius gets revenge on the Scythians who killed Cyrus
- 518BC Darius makes Persepolis the capital of the Persian Empire
- 520BC- 510BC Darius conquers a lot of Eastern Europe, uses his military genius to build floating pontoons to support the bridges his armies need to invade
- 490BC Macedonia and the Greeks are added to the Persian Empire by Darius, the Persians have many powerful military devices like the chariot
- 485BC Darius dies during an Egyptian revolt