| Our civilization as we know it now didn't just start off | | | | known for his genius in war, statesmanship, diplomacy |
| as something completely unique, without owing | | | | and his unmatched honor and piety.l Cyrus the Great |
| anything to those that came before it. In fact, much of | | | | and the Persian Empire: Before there was Darius and |
| the way we do things has been developed from the | | | | Xerxes, the head honcho of the Achaemenid Dynasty |
| empires of the past. And a lot of their contributions and | | | | was Cyrus the Great. Under him the Persian Empire |
| their leaders are still admired to this day. Though their | | | | reached the unprecedented proportions of a |
| walls, cities and governments have long been extinct, | | | | super-state under a single administration. Cyrus was |
| these civilizations are to be thanked for the thousands | | | | none for being just, as he was one of the first great |
| of years of history that they imparted to us: | | | | rulers to actually have religious tolerance for the people |
| Among these great empires are:l Saladin and the Arab | | | | he conquered as well as a concern for human rights.l |
| Empire: Before the arrival of Islam, the Arabs were | | | | Asoka the Great and The Mauryan Empire: The |
| just a bunch of scattered tribes in the desert. But | | | | Mauryan Empire of Indian may not be the most well |
| when Muhammad arrived and spread the word of | | | | known empire in history, but it is certainly one of the |
| Allah, these tribes united under the symbol of the | | | | oldest. It was founded about 5000 years ago. It |
| crescent moon to form a formidable empire to rival all | | | | reached great heights with Asoka the Great, wherein |
| those of its time. The Arabs were known to make | | | | he made Buddhism the official religion of the empire. |
| amazing advancements in mathematics, astronomy | | | | Add to that developments to infrastructure and the |
| and medicine. Saladin led the Islamic warriors during the | | | | arts and you have a religion to span the centuries right |
| Middle Ages against the Christian crusaders. He was | | | | there. |