ABSTRACT
Cyrus II founded the Achaemenid Empire unifying the Medes and the Persians and conquering Babylon; ruling over Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Egypt; and extending authority to the lands of Central Asia, India and southeast Europe. While the Neo-Assyrian Empire was founded on and maintained by military power, the Achaemenid Empire was mainly based on political agreements and respect for local cultures. In the last decade of the 6th century, while the Achaemenid Empire was being consolidated, the Greek city-states in Asia Minor were often in mutual conflict. Greek democracy developed in the 5th century during the Achaemenid Empire. The innovative features in Achaemenid architecture include monumental stairways, generally with two symmetrical ramps. The central courtyard of Mesopotamian architecture becomes the central hypostyle hall. Although Achaemenid architecture had developed some elements from precedent periods, it was a new architecture influenced by the Egyptian monumentality, the Urartian military architecture with its great terraces and the Babylonian design of gardens and architectural details.
