346 Persian invasions of the Persian Empire Susa is situated on the Karun River on the southeastern corner of the Mesopotamian plain, on the Iranian side of the Iran-Iraq border, where Mesopotamia touches the foothills of the Zagros Mountains Susa was the capital of the Elamite people at the time of the Persian Empire, but the site has been occupied since at least 4000 b.c.e Around 2000 b.c.e the Elamites, undoubtedly setting out from Susa, destroyed the power of the city of Ur, famous in the Bible as the city from which Abraham’s family came Possibly the greatest period in the city’s history was in the 13th century b.c.e when the Elamites successfully sacked Babylon, carrying off many of its treasures to enrich Susa However, the fortunes of war meant that Susa itself was sacked a number of times, one of the most famous of which was in 639 b.c.e when Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, the nation so feared in the ancient world, invaded Susa is possibly best known as the residence of the biblical Daniel and Esther, who were there during the Persian era During this period the city underwent a major building program with the construction of a citadel, moated walled city, and royal palaces Early on in his conquests Alexander the Great received the surrender of Susa as soon as he approached the city, and he plundered much of its wealth After Alexander, Susa became part of the Seleucid Empire and then the Parthian Empire Its importance gradually waned and from the beginning of the 13th century c.e little was left but crumbling ruins Ecbatana, modern-day Hamadan in the west of Iran, was the ancient capital of the Median people It was strategically situated on the eastern edge of the Zagros Mountains, guarding one of three ancient passes linking the Mesopotamian plain with the lands to the east The Greek writer Herodotus of Halicarnassus records that Deioces, the legendary first king of the Medes, founded the city It was the capital of Media during the period of Median strength before Cyrus the Great, but it possibly acquired greater fame when Cyrus defeated the Medes in 550 b.c.e and made Ecbatana his summer palace Its high altitude made its summers delightfully cool in comparison to the heat of the Mesopotamian plain Later Ecbatana became one of the capitals of the Seleucid and then Parthian Empires See also Babylon, later periods; Egypt, culture and religion; Fertile Crescent; Medes, Persians, and Elamites; Xerxes Further reading: Matheson, Sylvia A Persia: An Archaeological Guide Tehran, Iran: Yassavoli Publications, 2000; Olmstead, A T History of the Persian Empire Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948 Andrew Pettman Persian invasions The Persian Wars, or Greco-Persian Wars, were a succession of conflicts between shifting alliances of Greek states and the Persian Empire Wars were fought for the control of strategically important territories, also determining whether Greek or Persian culture predominated in the Aegean Sea As a result of victories at the Battles of Salamis and Marathon, the Greeks were able to resist the superior manpower and resources of the Persians Had it been otherwise, the democratic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece that did so much to shape the Western consciousness might have been delayed or even suppressed In the sixth century b.c.e Persian kings, including Cyrus II and Cambyses II, expanded Persian possessions on the Anatolian coast and annexed a series of Greek colonies and island settlements This process was intensified under Darius I, who acceded to the throne in 522 b.c.e and eventually inspired the Ionian Revolt, which lasted from 500 to 494 b.c.e., during which various Persian conquests rose up and attempted to claim independence Eventually, the revolt was crushed, but the fact that Athens had sent a small naval force in support of the rebels provided a pretext for subsequent attempted expansion of Persian rule in Europe A Persian force landed to the northeast of Athens in 490 b.c.e in the vicinity of Marathon There, an Athenian force of around 10,000 troops met them, together with some of their allies The Athenians under Miltiades found the Persians without their large cavalry force in attendance and rapidly attacked and defeated them The Persians fled and returned to Asia Minor Darius was succeeded by Xerxes, and he set about mobilizing a huge invasion force, made ready in 479 b.c.e The force moved only in an unwieldy fashion, and while the Greeks were terrified of what it could achieve, they had time to prepare for its arrival A League of Defense was created and led jointly by Athens and Sparta, with the former commanding the sea and the latter the land, in accordance with their military and logistic capabilities In both cases the Greeks were hugely outnumbered However, the Persians had to cope with significant supply problems, forcing their ships to keep in contact with the land force The Spar-