[alloysteel]

Xerxes the Great would not have tolerated Muslims in his realm for ten minutes.

The blood cult of Islam would have been throttled at its beginning.

The present-day Iranians would have been considered to be wusses.

They have been that way since Alexander of Macedonia stomped Darius III into the dirt in 333 BC. Essentially, Macedonia simply absorbed all of the Persian empire of the time.

[archy]

They have been that way since Alexander of Macedonia stomped Darius III into the dirt in 333 BC. Essentially, Macedonia simply absorbed all of the Persian empire of the time.

I also seem to recall a visit to the then-Persian capital city of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulegu Khan around 1257-1258, effectively ending the 500-year Abbasid caliphate then headed by Al-Musta'sim.

I suppose the Iranians/Persians sent a strongly-worded whimper about that little disturbance to their preferred way of doing things, too.

[Cronos]

Forget Xerxes, think of Cyrus the Great! He was the man who essentially GAVE Alexander an Empire. Cyrus' Empire stretched from what is now Pakistan (then part of India), right to Egypt and Turkey. This was a benevolent Empire, and all Alex did was knock out the Shahenshah and take his throne. BUt don't discount the Iranians. After Alexander left, his generals tried to keep Iran, but they were tossed out by the Parthians (people from what is now Balochistan, Central Asia) and after THEY were defeated by Trajan, they were replaced by the Sassanids. Iran was great right until the time they were over-run by the orc-hordes.

and when Iran turns, it'll be great again.