The Venn Diagram of the Ancient Near East

When you picture the Old Testament story and indeed the flow of the story of the ancient world, I think it's okay to put Egypt off a little bit by itself. But then your first mega empire in the ancient Near East is Assyria and then Babylon and then Persia. We see his name all over the Bible. Cyrus has a couple of sons who factor prominently. He's got Cambyses and Bardia, Cambyses rules for a little while and then dies under curious circumstances than his kid brother gets killed by Darius I before he ever really has a chance to get his feet under him.