The Achaemenid Persian Empire was the greatest power of its age, and its most famous battles were fought on its frontiers: against the defiant Greek cities, and against the young conqueror who finally brought it down. This guide gathers the battles that defined, and ended, the first world empire.
The battles that defined the empire
Marathon, 490 BC · the Athenians throw back the first Persian invasion of Greece.
Thermopylae, 480 BC · Xerxes forces the pass, but only after the famous Spartan stand.
Salamis, 480 BC · the Greek fleet shatters the Persian navy in the straits.
Plataea, 479 BC · the Persian land army is destroyed and the invasion of Greece ends.
Issus, 333 BC · Alexander the Great defeats King Darius III in person.
Gaugamela, 331 BC · Alexander's final, decisive victory over Persia brings down the Achaemenid Empire.
From the invasions of Greece to the fall
Twice the Persian kings sent vast armies against Greece. Darius I was turned back at Marathon in 490 BC, and his son Xerxes led the great invasion of 480 BC that forced the pass at Thermopylae and burned Athens, only to see his fleet destroyed at Salamis and his army crushed the next year at Plataea.
A century and a half later the empire met a deadlier enemy. Alexander the Great of Macedon defeated King Darius III at Issus in 333 BC and again, decisively, at Gaugamela in 331 BC, ending the Achaemenid dynasty and inheriting its empire.
Why these battles matter
These battles shaped the ancient world. The Greek victories became the founding legend of Western civilisation's independence, while Alexander's conquests spread Greek culture across the East. Seen from Persia, they are the empire's great trials and its fall. To meet the kings behind them, see our guide to the greatest commanders of the Persian Empire.