Persian Empire
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The Persian empire first became prominent about 550 BC when King Cyrus conquered the Babylonian empire. Daniel was in exile in Babylon when the Persians conquered that city. Cyrus allowed many Jews to return to their homeland. Esther became queen to king Xerxes I. The Jews were allowed to take back many temple treasures and rebuild the temple as described in the stories of Exra and Nehemiah. The Persians controlled lands from Egypt to as far as India and as far north as modern day Turkey. They held their empire for about 200 years. In 333 BC, Alexander the great defeated them. Persian religion was based on the life of a herdsman.