Ancient Persia
A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE

This is a succinct history of ancient Persia in the Achaemenid period, 550–330 BCE.

Matt Waters (Author)

9781107009608, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 January 2014

274 pages, 31 b/w illus. 6 maps
15.7 x 23.1 x 2 cm, 0.64 kg

'Ancient Persia is, in the best sense of the word, a handbook; Waters's notes, bibliographical references, and suggestions for further reading hit the right notes and the right works for beginners. … Welcome aids include a full timeline, numerous in-text figures and illustrations, as well as a detailed stemma of the Achaemenid dynasty.' London Review of Books

The 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.

1. Introduction: tracking an empire
2. Forerunners of the Achaemenids: the first half of the first millennium BCE
3. Persia rising: a new empire
4. From Cyrus to Darius I: empire in transition
5. Darius the king
6. Mechanics of empire
7. Xerxes, the expander of the realm
8. Anatomy of empire
9. Empire at large: from the death of Xerxes to Darius II
10. Maintaining empire: Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III
11. Twilight of the Achaemenids
12. Epilogue
Appendix A. Timeline
Appendix B. Chronological chart of Achaemenid Persian kings
Appendix C. Lineages (family tree) of the Achaemenid royal family
Appendix D. Further readings.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]