in 550 bc which leader began the persian empire
Persian Empire The first dynasty of the Persian Empire was created by Achaemenids, established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC with the conquest of Median, Lydian and Babylonian empires.[1] It covered much of the Ancient world when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Persepolis is the most famous historical site related to Persian Empire in the Achaemenid era and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
Zoroastrianism With possible roots dating back to the second millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism enters recorded history in the 5th-century BCE.[3] Along with a Mithraic Median prototype and a Zurvanist Sassanid successor, it served as the state religion of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires for more than a millennium, from around 600 BCE to 650 CE. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633–654.[6] Recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 190,000, with most living in India and in Iran; their number is declining.[7][8][9][circular reference][3][n 2] In 2015, there were reports of up to 100,000 converts in Iraqi Kurdistan.[10] Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds.[n 3]