SEPT. 19 AND 21:  THE NEAR EAST IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM B.C.

War is Hell:

The Setting:

The Phoenicians:

The Phoenician Alphabet:

The Assyrians:

Pursuing an assertive foreign policy:

Getting Tough on Crime:

The Ideology of Royal Power:  Assyrian Kings

International Coalition-Building:  King Esarhaddon with his Vassal Princes

King Ashurbanipal relaxes in his garden (note severed head hanging from tree in upper left corner)

Keeping Mesopotamia Safe from Lions:  Assyrian Kings at the Hunt

(they weren't big on animal rights, either)

The Persians:

An Iranian Landscape

Persepolis, Capital of the King of Kings:

Royal Tombs near Persepolis:

The Tomb of Cyrus:

Zoroastrian Religion:

A Magus, or Zoroastrian priest:

Fighting cosmic evil:

King Darius:

King Darius receives the allegiance of his nobles:

Unifying the Empire:  one of the world's earliest common coinages

"The Persians teach their sons three things:  to ride the horse, to shoot the bow, to tell the truth"

Persia's Military Might: