An ancient kingdom that rose up in mythic times and ruled a small part of Asia. Then Media took the land of the Assyrians and held it for no great time, but it was destroyed after four generations. The Persians conquered the Medes, and for more than two hundred years they held the rule.[1] Then the dynasty of the Macedonians conquered the land of the Persians. After the death of Alexander[2] it began to endure worse and in the time of the successors of Alexander, it was itself weakened and was conquered by the Romans. For the Greek forces were not worthy to be compared with them. For the Athenians ruled only the coast for seventy-eight years;[3] the Lacedaimonians ruled the Peloponnese and the rest of Greece for a whole thirty years and then were stopped by the Thebans.[4] The city of the Romans ruled the whole world, whatever was not inaccessible, for forty-five years beyond seven hundred -- until the consuls were Claudius Nero (for the second time) and Calpurnius Piso[5] -- having no rival.