Persia
From Turtledove
The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the old Persian homeland, and beyond in Western Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
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[edit] Persia in "Counting Potsherds"
In 480 BC, the Persian Empire, under the rule of Khsrish I, crushed resistence from Greece, razing Athens in 480 BC.
[edit] Persia in "The Daimon"
At the time of the Peloponnesian War, Persia had been Greece's most persistent enemy. After Athens won the Peloponnesian War, it and Sparta planned a war against Persia.
[edit] Persia in "Departures"
In the seventh century, Persia aggressively expanded westward into the territory of the Byzantine Empire while the latter was in turmoil over the succession by Emperor Phokas. Among other provinces, the Persians occupied Syria and held it for about fifteen years before the Byzantine Empire drove them off.
Prior to the Persian invasion, Father Abbot Isaac foresaw the threat and ordered the evacuation of his monastery in Ir-Ruhaiyeh to Constantinople.
[edit] Persia in Thessalonica
Persia was at peace with the Roman Empire when the Slavs and Avars invaded the empire in the east in the fifth century. When the two empires were at peace, Persian traders periodically visited Thessalonica. However, no traders were present during the siege of the city. George reflected that, if they had been, their worship of a fire-god may have rendered their fires proof against an Avar spell which extinguished all flames in the city's Christian homes.
