[Cronos]

well, no, everything was not downhill after Cyrus the great or Darius the Mede etc. The first Achaemenids were truly great and Alexander basically inherited what they created (well, they also inherited from the Babylonians who inherited from the Empire-creators: the Assyrians)

The Sassanids were also great in trade and culture.

After the Moslem conquering and then Timur-i-lang's massacres Iran didn't fluorish until the 16th century and then was under threat from the Turks, the Mughals and the Russians.

[Fred Nerks]

Sorry, I might not have made myself clear...I meant everything went downhill after the celebration of 2500 years of the history of Persia.
Thanks to the assistance of the United States of America.
Carter should have kept his nose out of it.

[Fred Nerks]

Islam happened