Persia is an alternate, though unofficial name for the country of Iran, its people, its art and its ancient empire.
The early Persians were one of several Aryan tribes that settled in the Iranian plateau. The Persians settled into the southern region of the plateau, while the Medes occupied the north western portion.
Herodotus tells us the Persian nation was made up of many tribes. The principal ones being the Pasargadae, the Maraphians, and the Maspians, of whom the Pasargadae were the noblest. The Achaemenidae, from which spring all the Persian kings, being one of their clans. The other Persian tribes being the Panthialaeans, the Derusiaeans, the Germanians, were engaged in husbandry; the Daans, the Mardians, the Dropicans, and the Sagartians, who were nomads.
Herodotus made the following points about Persian names;
One, - that they are "expressive of some bodily or mental excellence" and secondly, they all end with the same letter---the letter S.
By the 7th cent. B.C. they were established in the present region of Fars, which then belonged to the Assyrian empire. Persian rulers were early associated with the Medes, who created a strong state. Cyrus the Great, made himself ruler of Media in the mid-6th cent. B.C. and by rapid conquest established the great Persian empire, which up until the conquest of Alexander The Great, was the largest empire the world had known.
The successive rules of Cyrus, Cambyes and Darius I extended the borders from the Ionian coast in the west into modern Afghanistan and NW India in the east and as far north as the Danube. The Greeks stopped further westward expansion in what was to be known as the 'Persian Wars'.
The Persians adopted many of the customs of other peoples of the region, intially takening on those of the Elamites, one of the first people they had conquered. Later, incorporating asspects of customs from the Medes, Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians.
The Persians, though still managed to keep many of its earliest traditions, beliefs and teachings. Education came be listed under the following headings; Religious teachings, Family & traditional skills, Trade or specialised skills. Religious education was based on the three principles of Zoroastrian ethics:
- the development of good thoughts, of good words, and of good actions.
Family /Traditional skills - stressed strong family ties, community feeling, acceptance of imperial authority and skills in hunting and riding.
Trades and special skills were passed from father to son. Formal teaching did not start until the age of five and continued until the age of twenty.
Records indicate that some professions were undertaken by both sexes while others were restricted to either male or female workers.
The wealthy, who did not need to learn a trade were taught in three things alone---to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth. They considered it a disgrace to lie or to be in debt.
Although the empire inherited a highly efficient centralized system of administration from Cyrus the Great and Darius I, it was beset by political unrest, particularly during the later part of the period, from the end of the 5th century B.C. The rebellion of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II and the successful revolt of Egypt only weaked its structure.
In 331 B.C., when Alexander the Great defeated a huge Persian army at the Battle of Arbela (Battle of Gaugamela) and with the death of Darius III shortly after, the Achaemenid empire came to an end and Persia became part of Alexander's empire.
After the death of Alexander (the Great), most of Persia fell to the Seleucids who introduced the Hellenistic culture. They were however, unable to maintain control and Parthia broke away in the mid-3d cent. B.C. Parthia's decline was followed by the establishment of a new Persian empire in 226 A.D. under the Sassanids. This state flourished until 637 A.D., when Arabs took the capital, Ctesiphon. Islam replaced Zoroastianism and modern Iran was to emerge.
For the first time in the world, Iranian scientists have succeeded in discovering the gene responsible for a common type of blindness, prevalent in North Eastern parts of the country. 
