Together with an efficacious administration, the Persians established a fast net of communications.They built the Royal Road that ran from Sardis, where was located the headquarters of the Persian administration in western Asia Minor, to Susa, the first capital of the Achaemenids.

On the cultural plane the Persians did not impose themselves, on the contrary they borrowed from Greek art and thought, as they did from all advanced cultures to the enrichment of Persia. Daskyleion, located near Manyas Lake, is one of the rare places in Asia minor where evidences (reliefs) showing the Persian influence, have been found. Part of a Persian Acheamenid golden sphinxes belt

Daskylaion–Detail of a 5 BC Graeco-Persian funerary stele Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Ionian cities' revolts against Persia: at the beginning of the 5C BC the cities of Ionia, led by Miletus, revolted against the Persian administration in Lydia (Sardis). They looked for help in Greece and found support amongst the Athenians who attacked and burned Sardis. King Darius I put down their rebellion, then organized an expedition to punish the city-states in Greece, deciding to include Greece to his vast empire. This marked the beginning of the Persian Wars. However the Persians suffered setbacks: Darius I was defeated at the Battle of Marathon (490), Xerxes at Salamis (480) Platea and Mycale (479). These glorious events for the Greeks were celebrated by historian Herodotus. Under the leadership of the Athenians, Greek states from the Aegean formed the Delian League to free the Greek cities in Asia Minor that lived under the direct threat of Persian revenge. Persia, which sank into a confusion of dynastic troubles, hung on for another century and a half, in spite of new revolts of the Anatolian cities that had to wait for the coming of Alexander the Great to get rid of the Persian yoke.

THE HELLENISTIC KINGDOMS

The new era, that began with Alexander the Great and ended with Roman Emperor Augustus (30 BC), is called the Hellenistic Period when oriental spirit mixed with Greek civilization.

As no heir had been appointed to the throne, the empire Alexander the Great had created did not survive after his death because it was divided between his generals known as Diadochs: Ptolemy Lagus took control of Egypt and Palestine, Cassander of Macedonia and Greece, Seleucos Nicator of Phrygia and all the eastern provinces of Asia Minor, Syria and Iran, Antigonos of Asia Minor and Lysimachos took control of Thrace, Mysia, Lydia and most of the Greek cities of Asia Minor.
After more than fourty years of warfare between Alexander's generals, three major kingdoms emerged from the turmoil: the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt, the Antigonid Kingdom in Macedonia and the Seleucid Kingdom.


The Seleucid Kingdom, the largest of the three, now included most of Asia Minor and the earliest boundaries established by Seleucos I Nicator (305-280). He spread Hellenistic culture to the east, built many cities carrying his name (Seleucia) and made Antioch on the Orontes the capital of his empire. He defeated Antigonos at the Battle of Ipsos in 301 and Lysimachos at the Battle of Corupedion in 281 BC, and absorbed their Kingdoms into the Seleucid Empire. The Empire was at its peak under the reign of Antiochos III. But in 194 BC, when he added Thrace to his possessions, the Romans would not allow it to happen, and war broke out. Antiochos III was defeated at the Battle of Magnesia (189 BC) and lost his lands beyond the Taurus range, to Rome. After this, Parthia and Armenia were the first to break away. The Seleucid Empire continually lost territory through war or rebellion, and anarchy and instability ended in the parceling of Asia Minor into the independent kingdoms of Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Commagene, Cilicia and Pergamon. In 64 BC Pompey put an end to the Seleucid Empire which was reduced to Syria and Palestine at the time it was annexed by Rome.

Antiochos I Epiphanes (69 - 31 BC) claimed descent from the Seleucids by the marriage of his father Mithridates I with Laodike, the daughter of the last Seleucid king Antiochos VIII Philometor Grypos. King of Armenia Tigranes, who considered himself as the successor of the Seleucids, temporarily annexed the Commagene. Upon the intervention of the Romans, Antiochos I Epiphanes was recognized as the king and a Roman's ally by Pompey. This was the most glorious and prosperous period in the history of the Commagene. Antiochos I founded a cult of god-kingship for himself and his forefathers, and built an imposing tumulus and sanctuary atop Nemrut Dag (Mount Nimrod) in a breathtaking place.
		Nemrut Dag

The Kingdom of Pontus: when Mithridates of Cius on the Propontis, who was a prince of Persian origin in the service of Antigonus, was killed in 302 BC, his son Mithridates I, took advantage of the confusion caused by the Diadochian wars to break away from the Seleucids. He came to Cappadocia of Pontus, a region in the north-east of Asia Minor bordering the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and founded the independent Kingdom of Pontus (301 BC) of which he became the king until his death in 266 BC. He was followed by Ariobarzanes (died about 258 BC), Mithradates II (to about 210 BC), Mithradates III (to about 190 BC), Pharnaces (to 170 BC), Mithradates IV (to about 150 BC), Mithradates V (to 121 BC), and then Mithradates VI Eupator, commonly called the Great. From the time of Pharnaces, the kings of Pontus were the allies of the Romans. However Mithradates VI revolted against their domination, slaughtering Roman colonists. The three wars he led against the Romans (88-84, 83-81, 74-64 BC) were unsuccessful, and finally his kingdom, which he had increased by the conquest of the seaboard from Bithynia to Colchis, Paphlagonia and Armenia, was lost to Rome (63 BC). His son Pharnaces II made an attempt to recover control of Pontus and Armenia but he was defeated at the Battle of Zila (Zile near Amasya) by Julius Caesar who told the Senate his victory pronouncing those famous succint words: " Veni, Vidi, Vici ", "I came, I saw, I conquered".