The archaeal basal transcription machinery resembles the core components of the eucaryal RNA polymerase II apparatus. Thus, studies of the archaeal basal machinery over the last few years have shed light on fundamentally conserved aspects of the mechanisms of transcription pre-initiation complex assembly in both eucarya and archaea. Intriguingly, it has become increasingly apparent that regulators of archaeal transcription resemble regulators initially identified in bacteria. The presence of these shared bacterial-archaeal regulators has given insight into the evolution of gene regulatory processes in all three domains of life.