Question
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Answer
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What prophet was born on the Iranian plateau between 1000 and 1500 BC, founding a religion that is still practiced today?
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Zoroaster
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Who founded the Achaemenid Persian empire in the 500s BC?
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Cyrus the Great
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What Mesopotamian capital did that ruler conquer in 539 BC?
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Babylon
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Who ruled the Persian empire at its greatest extent around 500 BC, when it ruled over more than 40% of the world's population?
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Darius the Great
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Who succeeded the above, appearing in the Bible under the name Ahasuerus?
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Xerxes the Great
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What modern-day country did the above ruler invade in the 480s BC, with an army reported to be 1 million strong?
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Greece
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What name was given to that army's elite group of 10,000 soldiers?
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The Immortals
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What was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire? (also the name of a 2007 animated movie)
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Persepolis
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What Greek ruler conquered Persia?
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Alexander the Great
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What Persian empire, rivals of ancient Rome, were famous for firing arrows backwards while retreating on horseback?
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Parthian Empire
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What branch of mathematics is Persian scholar Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi considered the "father" of?
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Algebra
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What group of people invaded the Iranian plateau in 1219, eventually reducing the population by 75%?
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The Mongols
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What universalist religion was founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 1863?
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Bahá'í Faith
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What was the title of the Iranian ruler who was overthrown in 1979?
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Shah
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What country's embassy did Iran invade in 1979, taking 52 hostages?
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United States
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What cleric was made Supreme Leader after the 1979 revolution?
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Ruhollah Khomeini
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What was the religious title of the above?
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Ayatollah
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What British writer did that leader threaten with a death edict in 1989?
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Salman Rushdie
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What military force, established in 1979, do some people consider to be the most powerful institution in the country?
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Revolutionary Guards
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What country did Iran fight a war against in the 1980s?
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Iraq
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(also the name of a 2000 graphic novel and made into a 2007 animated film)
(For those who don't get it: al-Khwarizmi was for so many time on the cover of Baldor's Algebra, the quintessential algebra book in Latin America)