Modern knowledge about governance and administration has its origins in ancient civilizations, particularly that of the Persian Empire. By conquering virtually the entire known world of antiquity in a single generation, the Persians changed the world’s political and administrative history for ever and established themselves as masters of empires, bureaucracy, government, and public administration. This paper discusses some of the early Iranian traditions of administration and bureaucracy from the beginning around 6000 B.C. The focus here, however, is on the Persian Achaemenid period. It is worth noting that while the ancient city states of Athens and Sparta were busy discussing alternative forms of political systems and at times fighting each other, Persians were already efficiently administering the largest and mightiest empire the ancient world had ever seen. The following pages address (a) Iran prior to the Persian Empire; (b) the Persian Empire and the contribution of Cyrus the Great towards bureaucracy; (c) Darius’s administrative reforms; and in conclusion (d) Persian legacies of, and implications for, modern public administration