Fall of the Achaemenid Empire

Timeline

1. -331Mesopotamia · MesopotamiaAfter the defeat at Gaugamela, Darius III abandoned his army and fled east; core imperial cities such as Babylon and Susa successively surrendered to Alexander, leaving the Persian central military and administrative system without effective capacity to resist.
2. -330Parthia · IranDarius was betrayed and killed by his generals, including Bessus, while fleeing eastward; Alexander then continued his advance east in the name of "avenging the Persian king," and the legitimate Achaemenid royal line thus came to an end.
3. -330Persepolis · PersiaThe Macedonian army captured the Achaemenid ceremonial capital Persepolis and set fire to grand structures such as the Hall of a Hundred Columns, destroying the empire's symbolic center; the Achaemenid Empire formally ceased to exist as an independent political entity.