A History of Ancient Persia: The Achaemenid Empire

A History of Ancient Persia: The Achaemenid Empire is a book by Maria Brosius. You can download this PDF e-Book at bottom of this article.

From Introduction

In the past few decades, Achaemenid history has established itself as an exciting and multifaceted area of study and research. Thanks to many academic publications looking at aspects of the empire or indeed covering the history in its entirety, the subject has become accessible to students and graduates, while concise histories offer non‐specialists and general readers a way into the subject. Several recent exhibitions on ancient Persia, some of them travelling across the globe, have brought the splendour of the Persian court, the immensely rich art found across its territories and in the far corners of the empire, to life. Most recently, a magisterial sourcebook on the Persian empire written by Amélie Kuhrt has given the academic community an invaluable tool to learn about the wealth of written sources on Achaemenid Persia.

This has not always been the case. A few years ago, an exhibition on the Persian empire in the British Museum in London was aptly entitled ‘Forgotten Empire. The World of Ancient Persia.’ For the longest time the study of Persian history had fallen, figuratively speaking, ‘between the cracks’. It was a history outside the core of Near Eastern studies whose focus was ancient Mesopotamia, and a time period which fell out of its remit. For Classical Studies and Ancient History, it lay outside their European core. It popped up only when its history brushed against the Greek world, and the emphasis then was on the wars, not the diplomatic relations. It is due to the pioneering work of a few individuals over the past centuries, who doggedly beat the odds, went astray, either from their classical path or their Near Eastern studies, and pursued their interest in the language, history and archaeology of Achaemenid Persia, that the empire, indeed, was not forgotten. …

Contents

1. The Arrival of the Persians on the Iranian Plateau
2. The Persians
3. Parsua and Parsumash
4. Kurash of Parsumash
5. The Indigenous Population of the Iranian Plateau: The Elamites
6. The Neighbours in the North: The Medes
7. Media in Herodotus
8. Near Eastern Sources on the Medes
9. The Establishment of Empire: Cyrus the Great
10. Cyrus II and Media
11. A Folktale or a Tool for Legitimacy?
12. The Conquest of the Lydian Kingdom
13. Cyrus and the Ionian Greeks
14. The First Royal City of the Persians: Pasargadae
15. The Conquest of Babylon
16. A Peaceful Conquest?
17. Political Astuteness
18. The Scythian Campaign
19. Cyrus II, Conqueror and Empire‐Builder
20. Worthy Successor: Cambyses II
21. The Succession of Cambyses II
22. The Power of Propaganda
23. The Demotic Papyrus
24. Cambyses’s Depiction in Herodotus
25. The Apis Bull
26. The Apis Bull and the Death of Cambyses
27. The Killing of His Sister‐Wife
28. Fratricide
29. From Bardiya to Darius I
30. The Succession of Darius I
31. Herodotus’s Version of Events
32. Darius’s Version: The Inscription of Bisitun
33. The Death of Bardiya
34. Herodotus and the Bisitun Inscription: A Comparison
35. A Murder Mystery
36. Darius the Achaemenid
37. Teispes
38. The Royal Line of Kings
39. Dynastic Marriages
40. The Consolidation of Empire
41. Royal Cities
42. Pasargadae
43. Susa
44. Parsa – City of the Persians
45. Foreign Policy
46. The Scythian Campaign
47. The Athenian‐Persian Alliance of 508/7
48. The Ionian Revolt
49. The Sequence of Events
50. Problems in the Historical Account
51. The Punitive Campaign of 490
52. The Face of Empire
53. Achaemenid Kingship
54. The Power of Royal Imagery
55. Royal Ideology
56. Persian Religion
57. Funerary Customs
58. Persepolis: The Microcosm of Empire
59. The Royal Court
60. Gift‐Giving
61. Rhyta
62. The Women of the Court
63. The King’s Friends and Benefactors
64. Courtiers
65. Refugees and Foreigners
66. The Organisation of Power
67. The Satraps
68. The Satrapies
69. The Great Satrapy of Bactria
70. The Status of the Caucasus Region and Thrace
71. Administering the Empire
72. Royal Correspondence
73. Taxes and Tribute
74. The Administration of Persepolis
75. Royal Roads
76. Taking up the Baton: Diplomacy and Foreign Policy
77. from Xerxes I to Artaxerxes II
78. The Reign of Xerxes
79. Xerxes’s Succession
80. Quashing Rebellions in Egypt and Babylonia
81. The War in Greece
82. The State of Play in Greece
83. The Persian Army on the March
84. Thermopylae and Artemisium
85. The Fall of Athens and the Battle of Salamis
86. Attempts at Diplomacy
87. The Battle of Plataea
88. Xerxes in Asia Minor
89. The Story of Xerxes and the Wife of Masistes
90. … And a Story Retold
91. The Beginning of the Myth
92. Medising
93. Perserie
94. After the War
95. Artaxerxes I
96. The Death of Xerxes I and the Succession of Artaxerxes I
97. Revolts in Bactria and Egypt
98. Rebellion in Egypt 464–454
99. The Revolt of Megabyxus
100. The Peace of Callias
101. Judaea Under Artaxerxes I
102. Continuity in Persepolis
103. Succession Trouble in
104. Rebellions in the Empire
105. The Royal Building Programme Continued
106. Persia Re‐enters Greek Politics
107. The Bilateral Treaty of 411
108. Artaxerxes II
109. The War of the Brothers
110. Persian Affairs in Asia Minor
111. Evagoras of Salamis
112. Revolt in Egypt 404/400–343/2
113. The Winds of Change
114. City‐Rulers and Local Dynasts of the Western Empire
115. The Hecatomnids
116. Perikle of Limyra
117. The Political Level
118. The kings of Sidon
119. Stele of the King of Byblos/Gubal
120. Rebellions in Western Asia Minor 366–359/8
121. Datames
122. Ariobarzanes
123. Orontes
124. The Death of Artaxerxes II
125. A Whole New Ballgame: The Reign of Artaxerxes III and Artaxerxes IV
126. The Succession of Artaxerxes III
127. Egypt
128. Athenian–Persian Relations 349–342
129. The Death of Artaxerxes III and the Reign of Artaxerxes IV
130. A Good King in the End: Darius III
131. The Succession of Darius III
132. Battling Negative Propaganda
133. External Threat
134. The Macedonian Invasion
135. Granicus
136. Issus
137. Gaugamela
138. The Royal Cities
139. The Death of Darius III
140. In the Footsteps of the Persian Kings?
141. Bibliography
142. Index

A History of Ancient Persia: The Achaemenid Empire (PDF)