What was the largest empire of the ancient near east?

Question: What was the largest empire of the ancient near east!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

The Achaemenid Persian Empire at the time of Darius the Great (around 500 BC) was the largest empire in terms of land mass in ancient times!.
The Mongols were not from the near east and theres and the Ottoman's empires originated in the early and late medieval period respectively, not ancient times, though the Mongolians were the largest at that time!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Steatopygiaphile is correct, but it should be added that Alexander's empire was larger than the Persian empire at its height!. You could disqualify this because the origin of Alexander is not near-eastern, but his empire certainly included that territory and was arguably more important to him than Macedonia was!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Ottoman Empire and Mongol Empire -
they were good enough that they reached Italy, which is friggin far into Europe, considering that one was based in the Middle East and the other in ChinaWww@QuestionHome@Com