The Queen's party was held at one of her exclusive palaces at nearby Parsa. Unfortunately, the party was by invitation only and reporters were not allowed inside. According to Farnaka, the King's uncle and the head of the court administration, more than 2000 guests attended the birthday party-mostly members of the royal court and foreign dignitaries. 100 sheep were slaughtered and 2000 jars of wine were brought in for the guests' consumption.

There was surely a lot of singing, dancing and merrymaking. Many gifts were exchanged. The Persian Times wishes His Majesty a happy birthday!

The Royal Road is the first asphalt road in the world.

This road is the safest road in the entire Empire. Many watchmen protect the road so you can't find any bandits anywhere. Tourists, postmen, and government officials can travel day or night.

Every 18 miles you can find an inn where you can eat, sleep, and find fresh horses. These posts are called "angareion" in Persian.

Communication has improved significantly on this road where one can find state of the art smoke and light signals to send messages to far away places.

So go ahead. Pack your bags and check out this wonderful road for yourself!

As many readers know, cuneiform is a kind of writing with wedge-shaped characters. In the past, we Persians had to utilize Elamite or Babylonian cuneiform. However, today we have our own cuneiform invented by King Darius.

Persian cuneiform is much simpler than the Elamite one. It has only 36 characters, which represent both vowels and consonants. It also contains 5 logograms, which stand for commonly used words. Persian cuneiform has to be written from left to right.

Go to your local governor and receive your monthly bonus for your new baby.

For baby boys: 2 jars of flour and 10 quarts of wine.

For baby girls: 1 jar of flour and 5 quarts of wine.

Remember, the more babies you have, the more bonus you get. Those families with most boys will receive a special gift from His Majesty the King himself. So don't delay, have more babies!

Color your lips and chicks with red ochre.

Use green malachite, a copper compound, to paint your eyes.

Take care of your skin. Unlike the Egyptians who love to get tanned, we Persians want to preserve our fair skin. Never stay in the sun. Don't leave home without a parasol.

Your hands feel dry? Then use the wide variety of creams available in the market. The one I use is made of lion fat, rose water, and saffron. It's very expensive, but I recommend it to those who can afford it. It makes miracles!

If you don't have time to take bath, use perfumes instead. As you know, we Persians are the inventors of perfumes, and we use all kinds of perfumes. Unlike the Babylonians, we avoid those sticky scented oils. I recommend rose water or acacia perfumes for both men and women.

Food and wine will be provided. Salary: 2 to 6 shekels a month depending on your experience. Apply at the local government office.

Must be able to work full-time.

Excellent benefit provided: Paid maternity leave for five months.

Excellent salary offered: 30 quarts of wine and beer, 50 quarts of grain and vegetables each week plus annual meat rations.

Qualified candidates must apply in person to Farnaka, the Court Administrator immediately.