You certainly remember the (somewhat ephemereal) success of the many cultural CD-ROMs that appeared on the shelves five years ago to offer quality presentations of painters, museums, cities or historical periods (they were flourishing just before Christmas of course). Even if it did not disappear completely, this market seems to have been overwhelmed by the Internet and its nearly endless source of information.
Today, this is a 100% digital museum that you can find on the Internet: The musée Achéménide (the Achaemenid Museum). But if you no longer have to queue up in the entrance, the presentation of these museums is not always perfect. This is exactly what attracted me here: The excellent quality of the presentation of the web site of Collège de France where Pierre Briant, professor of “Histoire et civilisation du monde achéménide et de l’Empire d’Alexandre”, opened an exceptionnal set around the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
Here, you will find 8000 objects, including coins, seals, photographs and no less than 32,000 text documents or comments. The enormous data comes from the best scientific institutions (Le Louvre, British Museum, Bibliothèque Nationale de France and many others). This makes it a powerful tool for the scientific researcher and a very pleasant visit for the common tourist.
Another good web site about the Persian Empire: Persia.