Aroyal house of Persia. This dynasty of Persia (modern Iran) ruled Egypt as the Twenty-seventh Dynasty (525– 404 B.C.E.) and as the Thirty-first Dynasty (343–332 B.C.E.). The Achaemenians were descendants of Achaemenes, the ruler of a vassal kingdom in the Median Empire (858–550 B.C.E.). Cyrus the Great (c. 590–529 B.C.E.), a descendant of the dynasty’s founder, overthrew the Median line ruling Persia and expanded his control of neighboring lands. His son, CAMBYSES, took Egypt in 525
B.C.E. The Achaemenians included: DARIUS I, who came from a collateral branch of the royal line; XERXES I; ARTAXERXES I Longimanus; Xerxes II; DARIUS II Nothus; ARTAXERXES II Memnon; ARTAXERXES III OCHUS; ARSES; and DARIUS III Codomanus, who fell before the armies of ALEXANDER III THE GREAT in 330 B.C.E. See also PERSIANS.
