Battle of Gaugamela

War

Alexander the Great defeats Darius III, sealing the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.

Related events

323 BCE★★★★★

Alexander the Great dies in Babylon aged 32, leaving an empire stretching from Greece to India.

DeathPolitics· Iraq, Greece

522 BCE★★★★★

Darius I takes the throne, organising the empire into satrapies and building Persepolis and the Royal Road.

PoliticsDynasty· Iran

539 BCE★★★★★

Cyrus the Great takes Babylon, ending the Neo-Babylonian Empire; he later allows exiled Judeans to return to Judah.

WarPolitics· Iraq

c. 550 BCE★★★★★

Cyrus II defeats the Median king Astyages, laying the foundation of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the largest empire of its time.

PoliticsDynasty· Iran

c. 587 BCE★★★★★

Nebuchadnezzar II's forces take Jerusalem, destroy Solomon's Temple and deport many Judeans to Babylon.

WarReligion· Israel, Palestine

53 BCE★★★★★

Parthian forces crush the Roman army of Crassus, opening centuries of Roman–Iranian rivalry.

War· Turkey