Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCEThe Achaemenid Persian Empire, at its greatest territorial extent under Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE), held sway over territory stretching from the Indus River Valley to southeastern Europe and from the western Himalayas to northeast Africa. In this book, Matt Waters gives a detailed historical overview of the Achaemenid period while considering the manifold interpretive problems historians face in constructing and understanding its history. This book offers a Persian perspective even when relying on Greek textual sources and archaeological evidence. Waters situates the story of the Achaemenid Persians in the context of their predecessors in the mid-first millennium BCE and through their successors after the Macedonian conquest, constructing a compelling narrative of how the empire retained its vitality for more than two hundred years (c. 550-330 BCE) and left a massive imprint on Middle Eastern as well as Greek and European history. |
Contents
Tracking an Empire | 5 |
The First Half | 19 |
Anatolian Kingdoms | 29 |
A New Empire | 35 |
Empire in Transition | 52 |
5 | 73 |
6 | 92 |
Xerxes the Expander of the Realm | 114 |
Other editions - View all
Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE Matt Waters Limited preview - 2014 |
Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BCE Matt Waters No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
Achaemenid Empire Achaemenid period Achaemenid Persian Aegean Ahuramazda Akkadian Alexander Alexander’s Anahita Anatolia ancient Anshan Aramaic archive army Arrian Arshama Artaphernes Artaxerxes II Artaxerxes II’s Asia Assyrian Astyages Athenian Athens Babylon Babylonian Bactria Bardiya battle Bisitun Inscription Cambyses campaign century city-states command conquest context Ctesias Cyrus Darius I’s Darius II death defeat Diodorus earth and water Eastern Ecbatana Egypt Egyptian Elam Elamite Empire’s evidence example expedition Figure Gaumata Greek Greek sources Hellespont Herodotus Hystaspes III’s invasion of Greece Ionia Iran Iranian King King’s Kuhrt Lydia Macedonian Mardonius Medes Media Megabyzus military modern Murashu Nabonidus Ochus Old Persian Parsa Parysatis Pasargadae Persepolis Fortification Persian Empire Persian forces Pharnabazus portrayed rebels references region reign revolt royal ideology royal inscriptions rule ruler Sardis satrap scholars Scythians Smerdis Sogdianus Spartans Susa tablets territory Thrace throne Thucydides tion Tissaphernes tomb tradition translated victory Xenophon Xerxes Zoroastrian