Persian Empire > Achaemenid Phoenicia

Achaemenid Phoenicia

Background

When the Achaemenid Empire led by Cyrus the Great collapsed the reign of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and captured the city of Babylon between 539 BCE and 538 BCE the territories of Phoenicia also transferred to the Persians as well. The Persian conquest into west Mesopotamia was continued by the son of Cyrus named Cambyses II who between 529 BCE and 522 BCE managed to subjugate all of Phoenician and Caanan as well as venture into Egypt itself and capture it.

Achaemenid Empire (500 BCE) - Historical Atlas (1923)

The Phoenicians were responsible for assisting the Persians in many of their wars using their formidable navy especially against Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars. However, the successive conquests of the Persians forced them to impose steep tributes on their rich Phoenician vassals and following the reign of Darius I who ruled between 521 BCE and 485 BCE the revolts and rebellions began to occur once again in the Phoenician cities. Under the reign of Darius III the Achaemenid Empire collapsed and the Phoenician city-states would change hands once more.

The Babylonian province of Phoenicia and its neighbors passed to Achaemenid rule with the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539/8 BC. [1]The Syro-Phoenician coastal cities remained under Persian rule for the following two centuries. The Phoenician navy supported Persia during the Greco-Persian War (490-49 BC). But when the Phoenicians were overburdened with heavy tributes imposed by the successors of Darius I (521-485 BC), revolts and rebellions resumed in the Lebanese coastal cities.The Persian Empire, including the Phoenician province, eventually fell to Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia in 4th century BC.Achaemenid PhoeniciaProvince of the Persian Empire←←c.538 BC–c.332 BC →Location of PhoeniciaPhoenicia within The Achaemenid Empire, 500 BC.CapitalTyreHistorical eraAchaemenid Empire • Cyrus invasion of Babyloniac.538 BC • Conquests of Alexander the Great

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