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Article: Iran--a history.
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- March 1, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Origins 3500-600 BCE
Iran's rich history stretches back to the dawn of civilization in the fourth millennium BCE. The Elamite civilization, eventually focused on the city of Susa in what is now eastern Iran, rivalled its near neighbours first in Akkad and Sumer, then in Babylon and Assyria, for more than 2,000 years. Elamite cultural influences survived even once other peoples had come to dominate the region. The Medes, a people from the mountainous north of the region thought to have been among the ancestors of today's Kurds, were the first to build a significant empire, from the seventh century BCE. Mede king Cyaxares destroyed the Assyrian capital Nineveh in ...