Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley
Around 535 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great initiated a protracted campaign to absorb parts of India into his nascent Achaemenid Empire. In this initial incursion, the Persian army annexed a large region to the west of the Indus River, consolidating the early eastern borders of their new realm. With a brief pause after Cyrus' death around 530 BCE, the campaign continued under Darius the Great, who began to re-conquer former provinces and further expand the Achaemenid Empire's political boundaries. Around 518 BCE, the Persian army pushed further into India to initiate a second period of conquest by annexing regions up to the Jhelum River in what is today known as Punjab. At peak, the Persians managed to take control of most of modern-day Pakistan and incorporate it into their territory.
Achaemenid coin, an imitation of an Athenian coin type, of the sort found in the Kabul hoard.
Ruins at Bhir Mound representing the city of Taxila during the Achaemenid period
Darius I on his tomb.
Greek Ionian (Yavanas), Scythian (Sakas) and Persian (Parasikas) soldiers of the Achaemenid army, as described on Achaemenid royal tombs from circa 500 to 338 BCE.
Darius I, commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia, parts of the Balkans and the Caucasus, most of the Black Sea's coastal regions, Central Asia, the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt (Mudrâya), eastern Libya, and coastal Sudan.
The relief stone of Darius the Great in the Behistun Inscription
Gold foundation tablets of Darius I for the Apadana Palace, in their original stone box. The Apadana coin hoard had been deposited underneath (c. 510 BCE).
One of the two gold deposition plates. Two more were in silver. They all had the same trilingual inscription (DPh inscription).
"Gaumata" being trampled upon by Darius the Great, Behistun inscription. The Old Persian inscription reads "This is Gaumâta, the Magian. He lied, saying "I am Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, I am king"."