PERSIA, PERSIANS - The Persians were the southern branch of the Iranian invaders who moved westwards and occupied the areas to the N. and E. of Mesopotamia during the 2nd millennium BC. They were closely connected with the Medes (q.v.) who became dominant to the north and who are referred to in the 9th cent. BC. The Persians are themselves not mentioned before the time of Cyrus. In the early 7th cent., Achaemenes established himself NE. of Susa and his son Teispes took Anshan from the Elamites. Phraortes of Media subdued him, and although subsequently he was able to gain control of the area called Persis, the Persians again came under Median control in the reign of Cyaxares in the latter half of the same century. In the 6th cent., however, their prince Cyrus II. (the Great, 559-529 BC), king of Anshan, threw off the Median yoke and deposed his overlord Astyages in c 549 BC Nabonidus of Babylon at first welcomed the weakening of the Medes, but soon the reality of Cyrus' threat to him became clear and an alliance of Babylon, Lydia, Egypt, and the Spartans faced Cyrus. In 546 BC he defeated Croesus of Lydia, and the Greek cities of the coastline of Asia Minor soon fell under Persian control. In 539 BC Nabonidus was defeated and Babylon surrendered to Cyrus' general Gobyras without fighting. Babylon thenceforth became one of the Persian capitals and the Babylonian empire was added to the already extensive Medo-Persian. Military superiority and skilled generalship combined to give these successes, and they were followed in the next years by further extensions of territorial control - to Egypt under Cambyses, and into the Greek mainland in the reign of Xerxes, where, however, he met with major defeat.
The Persian rulers styled themselves 'king of kings' and 'king of the lands' - rulers of the whole civilized world. They viewed their task as one of governing and unifying, and to this end pursued a policy much more humane and tolerant than that of earlier empires. Subject peoples occupied a tolerably independent position. Unification of the empire proceeded by provincial organization under satraps and by colonization, and throughout the west the Aramaic language was generally used (cf Elephantine papyri and Persian coinage). Persian readiness to adopt foreign customs (cf Herodotus i. 135) may be seen in their taking over of the Median culture, and in Cyrus' ascription of his rise to power to Marduk of Babylon - and, in other propaganda, to the deities of other nations (ef Ezr.1.2-4, 6.3-5, Is.41.1f). Later Persian rulers may be seen taking a similar interest in the religious affairs of their peoples. So Darius I. encouraged the native religion of Egypt and an inscription from Asia Minor shows him ordering scrupulous observance of the privileges of a sanctuary of Apollo. The OT provides evidence of similar generosity towards the Jews (cf Ezr.6.6-12, 7.11ff, Neh.2.1-10. Cf also the Elephantine papyri [q.v.]). Persian religion, though strongly influenced by the reforming zeal of Zoroaster, remained tolerant and accommodating, and the old Persian gods were readily assimilated to the deities of the older near eastern civilizations.
The Jews, whose rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem and whose re-establishment as a community in Judah as part of the satrapy 'Beyond the River,' are attributed to the benevolence of Persian rulers, came into contact with various of the kings. Apart from Cyrus, the OT mentions Darius l. Hystaspis (522-486 BC), his son Xerxes (486-465 BC, the 'Ahasuerus' of Esther), and Artaxerxes (i. Longimanus, 465-424 BC ? so Neh.2.1, and possibly II. Mnemon, 404-358 BC ? cf Ezr.7.1). See these names in their alphabetic places. To these we may perhaps add Darius iii. Codomannus (336-330 BC, cf Neh.12.22), the last ruler of Persia, who was overthrown by Alexander the Great. With this, the Persian empire came to an end, and much of its area subsequently came under the control first of the Seleucids and then of the Parthians. Other references to Persia in the OT are comparatively few, but it may well be that some allusions to Elam (cf Is.21.2, 22.6, Jer.25.25, 49.34-39, Ezk.32.24) should be interpreted as referring to Persia, since Elam became a Persian province, its capital Susa being one of the Persian capitals. [Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963. - J.F.McC. - P.R.A.]