`  == first sentence ==  The article is in bad shape. The first sentence is ``The Persian Empire was a series of successive Iranian or Iraniate empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Western Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus.`` This is un-sourced. I could not find a definition of the tern Persian empire as it is always used as clear from context. I propose changing to The Persian empire is a term used by scholars of ancient, medieval, and modern history of Iran and near east to refer to various consecutive and non-consecutive dynastic states as well as their territories and domains of cultural and political influence.  `