| The Achaemenid Empire was the largest and most powerful empire the world had yet seen. The empire reached its greatest extent under Darius I. He led conquering armies into the Indus River valley and into Thrace in Europe. A punitive raid against Greece was halted at the Battle of Marathon. His son Xerxes I tried to subdue the Greeks, but his army was defeated at the Battle of Plataea 479 BC. In this period the usual tactic of the Persian army was for the archers to shoot volleys of arrows to weaken and disorganise their enemy, then their excellent cavalry moved in to deliver the coup de grace. Usually this was a sound plan, but it proved to be not all that clever when it was tried on a load of heavily armoured Greek hoplites. | ||
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Early Achaemenid Persians
