The Achaemenid Persian people represent the Achaemenid Empire, an Antiquity Age civilization in Civilization VII.
The Achaemenid Persians' civilization ability is Hamarana Council, which gives their Infantry units +3 
Combat Strength when attacking. Their associated 
Wonder is the Gate of All Nations, and their unique assets are as follows:
| Asset | Description |
|---|---|
 Immortal
|
Heals 15  HP after defeating an enemy  Unit.
|
 Hazarapatis
|
Starts with the Initiative promotion, allowing packed Units to act immediately after deployment. |
 Pairidaeza
|
+2  Culture.+1  Gold.+5 Healing for Military Units.+1  Happiness from each adjacent  Quarter.
|
 Spada
|
-1 Gold Military Unit maintenance.
|
 Satrapies II
|
The Pairidaeza gains +1 Culture and +1 Happiness from adjacent Quarters. +1  Settlement Limit.
|
| Baziš
|
+5 Gold, +2 Happiness, and +2 Culture for every different civilization you have captured a  Settlement from.
|
 Kara
|
+50%  Production towards training Infantry Units.
|
| Angarium
|
+3 Gold for every  Town.
|
| Shahanshah
|
+3 Combat Strength for Units in enemy territory.
|
Intro[]
Persia sits astride the world, a kingdom so great that its residents call it simply Xšāça, “the Kingdom.” Commanding trade routes and the armies to defend them, the rulers of Persia claim all that is worth having for their own.
Tips and hints[]
Persia may provide strong incentives for military conquest, but with the Angarium Tradition and Baziš Civic, it is also an economic powerhouse.
Strategy[]
Persia is a straightforward military civilization with several hidden advantages in its events and traditions. The core gameplay revolves around building large numbers of infantry units and expanding through conquest. What sets Persia apart is the sheer number of bonuses that support this strategy.
Immortals[]
A key unit in Persia's arsenal is the Immortal, which replaces the Spearman and heals 15 HP upon defeating an enemy. While this might seem underwhelming compared to unique units which benefit from direct combat bonuses, such as the Legion and the Hoplite, the Immortal's healing allows Persia to maintain aggression without needing downtime for recovery.
This synergizes well with Persia's Hamarana Council ability, which grants +3 Combat Strength to attacking infantry units. This bonus is further enhanced by the Shahanshah tradition, which provides an additional +3 Combat Strength in enemy territory. As a result, an Immortal gains a total +6 Combat Strength when pushing into enemy land while simultaneously healing as it secures ground.
However, Immortals offer little defensive utility when fighting in neutral or friendly territory. This makes staying on the offensive crucial. Before unlocking Shahanshah, positioning is less critical, but attacking as often as possible — especially targeting enemy ranged units — is key to keeping your armies healthy.
The Hazarapatis and Persian military strategy[]
Persia's unique 
Commander, the Hazarapatis, further enhances this playstyle by starting with the Initiative promotion. This allows units to deploy without consuming 
Movement, even in difficult terrain, making it easier to set up attacks. This is vital for maximizing Persia's offensive bonuses.
Hazarapatis also progresses quickly through the Assault track, and it is recommended to prioritize the Order commendation as soon as possible. When combined with Persia's bonuses, this can grant Immortals up to +12 Combat Strength (or +7 if they are not at full health), leading to an impressive +18 total Combat Strength when attacking in enemy territory alongside their Commander.
Further promotions such as Field Medic and Resolute improve the Immortal's healing capabilities, while Mobility helps optimize positioning.
Optimal military production and civic path[]
To prepare for war, Persia should focus on mass-producing Immortals rather than maintaining a balanced military. By combining the Drills social policy (+30% infantry production) with the Persian Kara tradition (+50% infantry production), you can achieve a staggering +80% Production bonus toward infantry units — enough to overwhelm most opponents. This can be further combined with Despotism to get up to +110% Production towards infantry.
Additionally, Persia benefits from a +30% production bonus toward the Gate of All Nations, which should be a high priority before your first war. Unfortunately, this wonder is located deep in Persia's unique civics, making it somewhat inconvenient to access early.
The ideal civic path is:
- Discipline (for a free Commander)
- Discipline Mastery (to unlock the Gate of All Nations)
- Persia's unique civics (to unlock powerful traditions)
Depending on your starting location, leader, and Culture output, you should also consider when to get:
- Mysticism (for a pantheon)
- Tactics (for Drills and, if fast enough, the Terracotta Army)
If your Culture output is low, skipping these and rushing Spada and Baziš mastery instead is advisable given how big of a benefit you will gain from Persia's unique traditions. In terms of technology, Bronze Working should be a priority to unlock Immortals, and this is usually the ideal point to upgrade your units and declare war. Despotism again comes in handy to get you to Bronze Working faster, though arguments can be made for Classical Republic (you also need to rush civics and will have extra Culture from your unique improvement).
Economic considerations in peacetime[]
Persia has a few economic bonuses, but warfare remains its primary focus. In peaceful scenarios, Persia's main economic advantages include:
- +3
Gold per Town from Angarium - +1 Gold and +1 Culture per Pairidaeza (though its adjacency restrictions limit its effectiveness)
- +2 Settlement Limit and +5 Gold per conquered City from another civilization from their unique civics
While the extra Gold per City is useful, it arrives late and is not impactful enough to justify specifically targeting unique civilizations.
[]
Beyond its explicit bonuses, Persia benefits from powerful events that can grant free Immortals under specific conditions, such as building a Barracks or losing an Immortal in battle.
Additionally, killing an enemy unit with an Immortal triggers a special quest chain that involves:
- Defeating your choice of an infantry or ranged unit
- Defeating a cavalry unit
Completing this chain rewards a choice between a free Immortal or Hazarapatis. The Hazarapatis Commander is the superior choice due to its high value and cost, making this quest a high priority.
Transitioning to the next age[]
Persia transitions well between ages thanks to strong traditions (especially Shahanshah) and a spammable unique improvement. Upon advancing, Persia automatically unlocks Mongolia and the Abbasids, offering distinct strategic paths:
- Mongolia is a natural choice for continued warfare, but its cavalry focus can make transitioning difficult. To prepare, consider pre-building cavalry and ranged units before the Antiquity Age ends, as they will play into Mongolia's bonuses (ranged units convert to Keshig). If pursuing this route, delete Immortals before the transition and replace them with other unit types (the unit limit for the transition is 8 plus 4 per Commander).
- The Abbasids are a Science- and Specialist-focused alternative that allows for better use of conquered land. They are difficult to unlock naturally, as they require 3 Camels in your empire, making Persia one of the few civilizations that can reliably access them.
Other civilizations, such as Spain or the Songhai, provide strong follow-up options due to their powerful unique infantry, but they are unreliable to unlock and generally less effective than Mongolia if you manage your military transition correctly.
Civilopedia entry[]
Greek writers portrayed Persia as a land of luxury and despotism, full of god-kings who marshaled vast wealth and resources to invade hardy Western outposts. They tell a story of decadent despotism raging against rugged individualism. But it is not entirely the truth.
“Persia” is the Greek term for the area often referred to as Iran. The region has been embedded in nearly all of Old World antiquity: neighboring Greece, India, China, and northern Europe. The Sumerians overlapped Iran from Mesopotamia, and the Elamite civilization arose in the region as early as 6,000 years ago. However, the story about a recognizable Iranian people begins with the fall of the great Mesopotamian powers – namely Assyria. Ashurbanipal’s final loss of the region came at the hands of the Medes, Persian pastoral nomads who had lived alongside the Elamites since around 1000 BCE.
The scope and scale of the Median Empire remain contested – Greek sources point to a well-organized realm, but this image lacks corroboration elsewhere. Regardless, in 553 BCE, Cyrus (eventually called Cyrus the Great) revolted against the Medes. After he won, he expanded the Persian Empire and defeated the Lydians (led by the famously wealthy King Croesus) and Babylon. In the latter conflict, Cyrus entered Hebrew history and is credited with freeing Jews from servitude before rebuilding Jerusalem.
Cyrus founded the Achaemenid dynasty, named after his family, which came to define Persia for many. His successors expanded the empire into Egypt and Libya, and across the Black Sea into parts of what is now Ukraine and Macedon. That was when they ran into a conflict that defines them to this day.
At the time, much of western Asia Minor – modern-day Turkey – was composed of Greek city-states, some of which were controlled by Persia. The Greek states were too weak to take on Persia themselves, so the independent Athens helped fund the rebellion of these Aegean states. Persia ultimately regained control of these territories, but later Achaemenid kings, such as Darius (522-486) and Xerxes (486-465), would remember this insult. Xerxes led a massive force into Greece, easily taking most of the northern territories, but fought to a humiliating standstill at Thermopylae, where a force of thousands of Greeks delayed a Persian army fifty times their size. The most dramatic claim was that a force of 7,000 Greeks held out against three million Persians, but these numbers are likely vastly inflated. To make matters worse, the Greeks later routed the Persian navy at the Battle of Salamis.
At home, the Persians expanded the scale and scope of the empire, creating a common currency and building a regulated system of satrapies – what might be likened to the later system of viceroys, where an appointed governor manages a nearly autonomous part of the empire. Some of these satrapies were minor, others were fabulously wealthy – especially those in Egypt and India (meaning the region that is now part of Pakistan). To foreground the wealth and might of their center of power, the Persians built Persepolis, a city of wonders with palaces and temples so marvelous that historians are divided over whether or not it was actually used as a regular metropolis.
The Achaemenids spoke Elamite until Aramaic and Old Persian overtook it in popularity. Most Persian rulers were Zoroastrian, a monotheistic religion with influences on later faiths; it emphasized the struggle between good and evil, a world of warring angels and demons, and free will to choose between the two. Zoroastrian priests, or magi, were suppressed under Cyrus, but Darius and Xerxes openly embraced the faith.
Ironically, in 330 BCE, the Achaemenids fell to a Greek invasion led by another “Great” – Alexander. After Alexander’s death, the Seleucid Empire (founded by Alexander’s general) established a Greek kingdom in Persia until the Parthians re-established Iranian dominance. Of course, Iran exists today, and Persian influence extends beyond Iran; it had a profound impact on the Abbasids, the Mughals, and most other nations in the area.
Cities[]
Citizens[]
| Males | Females |
|---|---|
| Ariomardus | Artistun |
| Arsames | Cassandane |
| Arsites | Drypetis |
| Bardiya | Parmida |
| Cambyses | Parysatis |
| Gaumata | Phaedymia |
| Hydarnes | Roxana |
| Otanes | Sisygambis |
| Oxyathres | Stateira |
| Sogdianus | Amytis |
Age Transition Quotes[]
When age progress reaches 100% or player gets eliminated/retires, one of these quotes will be read depending on the last legacy path completed:
- Culture: "The great monuments of Persia were as diverse as its armies--and like its armies, exemplary."
- Economic: "It was not easy keeping mouths fed and armies equipped. Persia's traders knew this, and ensured the vitality of their goods flowed freely."
- Military: "Few others could match the Persians' strength, fewer their courage, and none their glory."
- Science: "The Persians were wise to collect the knowledge they learned. Their people could understand themselves, and so would those who came after."
- Defeat: "The great armies of Persia disbanded, but their fight was far from over. Rebuilding can only begin when weapons are put aside."
Trivia[]
- The Achaemenid Persian civilization's symbol is a Persian griffin, called sēnmurw in Old and Middle Persian or šērdāl (شیردال) in Modern Persian, a symbol often used in Achaemenid art that appears in carvings and as column-heads at Persepolis.
- The Achaemenid Persian civilization ability uses the Old Persian word hamarana (𐏃𐎶𐎼𐎴), which means "battle" and refers to strategic meetings held before battles.
- The Achaemenid Persian background art depicts the northern entrance of the Queen's Palace at Pārsa (Persepolis), with the Apadana or Gate of all Nations visible in the background.
Soundtrack[]
| Original Track | № | Based on | Credits | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Persia (Antiquity Age)" | 15 | Chaharpareh Mahur Navâ-ye Ney Morqe Sahar |
Composed by Geoff Knorr Performed by Amir Vahab & Sandro Friedrich |
4:50 |
Gallery[]
.jpg "Achaemenid Persian city in-game (Civ7).jpg (1.97 MB)")
.png "Immortal in-game (Civ7).png (1.06 MB)")
.png "Hazarapatis in-game (Civ7).png (885 KB)")
.png "Pairidaeza in-game (Civ7).png (923 KB)")
.png "Gate of All Nations in-game (Civ7).png (3.38 MB)")
.png "Achaemenid Persian Background (Civ7).png (1.33 MB)")
Videos[]
See also[]
- Achaemenid in other games
- Persian in other games
External links[]
| Civilization VII Civilizations [edit] | |
|---|---|
| Antiquity | |
| Exploration | |
| Modern | |
| 1 Requires DLC | |