Middle East
20 empires
Ottoman Empire
Lasted over 600 years, ending only after WWI. Conquered Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine...
Achaemenid Empire
The first Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus who conquered Babylon. The Royal Road stretched 2,700 km ...
Sassanid Empire
The last pre-Islamic Persian Empire. Fought Rome and Byzantium for 400 years. Center of learning bef...
Byzantine Empire
The eastern half of the Roman Empire that survived 1,000 years longer. Preserved Greek and Roman kno...
Safavid Empire
Established Shia Islam as the state religion of Iran, defining Iranian identity to this day. Isfahan...
Akkadian Empire
Often called the first empire in history. Sargon of Akkad united the Sumerian city states under one ...
Neo-Assyrian Empire
The largest empire the world had yet seen, ruled from cities such as Nimrud and Nineveh. Assyria fie...
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Rose from the ruins of Assyria under the Chaldean king Nabopolassar. His son Nebuchadnezzar II made ...
Hittite Empire
A Bronze Age power ruled from Hattusa in central Anatolia. The Hittites fought Egypt at the Battle o...
Median Empire
An Iranian power centered on Ecbatana, modern Hamadan. Under King Cyaxares the Medes joined Babylon ...
Seleucid Empire
The largest of the Hellenistic kingdoms formed after Alexander the Great died. At its height it stre...
Parthian Empire
An Iranian empire that controlled the Silk Road between Rome and China. Parthian horse archers destr...
Rashidun Caliphate
The first caliphate, ruled by four successors of the Prophet Muhammad. In a few decades Arab armies ...
Umayyad Caliphate
The first hereditary Islamic dynasty, ruling from Damascus. It extended Muslim rule from Spain to Ce...
Abbasid Caliphate
The dynasty that moved the center of the Islamic world to Baghdad, founded in 762. Its House of Wisd...
Seljuk Empire
A Turkic empire that conquered Persia and Baghdad, becoming protectors of the Sunni caliph. Sultan A...
Ilkhanate
The Mongol khanate in Persia, founded by Hulagu Khan after he sacked Baghdad in 1258. The Mamluks ha...
Latin Empire
A crusader state created when the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204. Western knights inst...
Afsharid Iran
Founded by Nader Shah, a military genius who expelled Afghan and Ottoman invaders from Iran. In 1739...
Palmyrene Empire
A breakaway state from the Roman Empire led by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra on behalf of her son Vaballa...