334 BC — Alexander Invaded Persia. After his victory over the Persian army, he ordered the execution of many Persians, allowed his troops to indulge themselves in plunder and rape and, in a drunken rage, set torch to Persepolis. However, he also considered himself a successor to Achaemenian Kings and paid tribute to Cyrus the Great at his tomb. He emulated Persian court customs and attempted to create a new culture, a mixture of both Persian and Hellenistic. He married a Persian woman (Roxana) and ordered all his generals and 10,000 of his soldiers to follow suit in a mass wedding.
323 BC — Alexander died. Although a masterful general, he lacked administrative skills. Shortly after his death, his empire was divided among his contesting generals. An important legacy of his conquest of Persia was the introduction of the Persian imperial practices into the West. Many of these practices particularly those relating to state administration and the rule of law were later adopted by the Roman Empire.
323-141 BC — The Seleucid Dynasty was established by one of Alexander’s generals.
247 BC-224 AD — The Parthians, a tribal kingdom from northeastern Iran, gradually defeated the Greek Seleucids and consolidated their control over all of Persia. The name of the founder of the dynasty, Arsaces, became the title of all Parthian kings in much the same way that the name of Caesar was later to become the title of all Roman emperors. They fought numerous times with the Romans. Their victory over the Romans in 53 BC elevated the Parthians into a superpower of their era. The Romans were especially in awe of the expert mobile Parthian archers (hence the term: the Parthian Shot) who inflicted enormous casualties upon successive Roman armies. Although the Parthians ruled for almost five centuries, very little of their civilization has survived, except for some small art objects.