Antenor, fl. last half of 6th cent. B.C., Greek sculptor who executed the bronze statues of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogiton. In 480 B.C., Xerxes carried these statues away from Athe...

Dezful, city (1991 pop. 181,309), Khuzestan prov., SW Iran, on the Dez River, near the site of ancient Susa. It is the trade center for an irrigated farm region. Petroleum is produced nearby. ...

Elam, ancient country of Asia, N of the Persian Gulf and E of the Tigris, now in W Iran. A civilization seems to have been established there very early, probably in the late 4th millennium B.C...

Callias, fl. 449 B.C., Athenian statesman; he was related to Cimon and also to Aristides. He distinguished himself at the battle of Marathon (490 B.C.) and was a three-time winner of the Olymp...

Persepolis [Gr.,=city of Persia], ancient city of Persia, ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire under Darius I and his successors. The administrative capitals were elsewhere, notably at ...

Nearchus, fl. 324 B.C., Macedonian general, b. Crete; friend of Alexander the Great. In 325 B.C., Alexander, about to leave India, had a fleet built in the Indus to transport part of the army ...

Hammurabi, fl. 1792–1750 B.C., king of Babylonia. He founded an empire that was eventually destroyed by raids from Asia Minor. Hammurabi may have begun building the tower of Babel (Gen. 11.4),...

Assurbanipal or Ashurbanipal, d. 626? B.C., king of ancient Assyria (669–633 B.C.), son and successor of Esar-Haddon. The last of the great kings of Assyria, he drove Taharka out of Egypt and ...

Cyrus the Great, d. 529 B.C., king of Persia, founder of the greatness of the Achaemenids and of the Persian Empire. According to Herodotus, he was the son of an Iranian noble, the elder Camby...

Persian art and architecture, works of art and structures produced in the region of Asia traditionally known as Persia and now called Iran. Bounded by fierce mountains and deserts, the high pl...