The history of the reception of the ancient world has become an established field of research in classics, the focus, however, is on the Greco-Roman world, while research on the reception of the Achaemenid Empire has so far played a subordinate role. The contributions collected in this volume now focus on the history of the Achaemenid Empire. The chronological spectrum of the individual articles ranges from antiquity to contemporary times. European and North American ideas are considered as well as the construction of the Achaemenid history in Iran during the 20th century. The contributors use a broad spectrum of different sources as a basis for their analysis of the respective reception - classical literature and the Bible, Baroque opera, paintings, movies as well as Persian art in North America. Finally, the notions of the Achaimenid Empire in the history of culture and ideas are considered in detail.