Founded by Cyrus the Great around 550 BCE, the Achaemenid Persian empire grew to rule from the Indus valley to the Aegean, governing diverse peoples through provincial satrapies, a tribute system and broad tolerance of local custom and religion. A network of royal roads with relay stations, including the famed road from Sardis to Susa, carried messengers and armies across thousands of kilometres. Ceremonial capitals at Persepolis, Susa and Pasargadae staged imperial ritual through monumental terraces, audience halls and processional reliefs. The empire fell to Alexander of Macedon by 330 BCE.
It was the first empire on a genuinely continental scale and pioneered provincial administration and long-distance imperial road and relay systems. Its planned ceremonial capitals projected an ideal of universal kingship through monumental, axial urban form.