Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire. He allowed his people to keep doing their traditions which made his people loyal to him. When he died in 529 BC, Cyrus had already ruled the largest empire in the world. He had a son named Cambyses.When Cyrus died Persia rebelled and did not have an obvious leader. A man named Darius defeated all his rivals and became the next king. He called himself "King of kings", because he was very powerful. He organized the empire into twenty provinces. In each providence he put governors called "satraps",who collected taxes, put down rebellions and served as judges. The Persian's religion called "Zoroastrianism." The Persians believed that there was only one god and creator of all things. God is the incarnation of positive, and humans could choose between good and evil. But in the end, good will always overcome. King Darius I built many roads, so the Persians could deliver messages very quickly. One road called "The Royal Road" was 1700 miles long. He built a new capital at Persepolis. While Darius was a king, the Greeks rebelled and began the Persian Wars. The Greek cities of Asia Minor revolted against the ruler of Persia at 499 B.C.. Some other Greek city states tried to help. Eventually, the Persian stop the rebellion, but King Darius wanted all the Greeks to pay. The Persian War began when the Athens were going against the Persians on the field of Marathon.The Greeks waited for the Persians, that they will attack first, but they did not.The Persians eventually decided to move their troops to ships and attack Athens directly. They put their strongest horsemen onto the ship first. The Greeks took advantage of the weekness and attacked. Although the Persians had more soliders, the Athenians won because they had better weapons and leaders. Ten years after the defeat on Marathon, Xerxes I, the son of Darius, wanted revenge and tried to conquer Greece once again. In 480