In 500 BC, Persia (modern Iran) was the most powerful state in the known world, ruling an area of more than two million square miles from the Balkans and Egypt to central Asia (nearly half of the world’s population). In 499 BC, Athens and a number of other Greek states rebelled against its empire and incredibly defeated it in the ensuing Persian Wars (390-379 BC).

The Greek historian Herodotus (d. c. 425 BC) wrote up those wars after traveling extensively around the whole region. He was as fascinated by different........

© The Spectator