The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period / Edition 1

by Amélie Kuhrt

Overview

Bringing together a wide variety of material in many different languages that exists from the substantial body of work left by this large empire, The Persian Empire presents annotated translations, together with introductions to the problems of using it in order to gain an understanding of the history and working os this remarkable political entity.

The Achaemenid empire developed in the region of modern Fars (Islam) and expanded to unite territories stretching from the Segean and Egypt in the west to Central Asia and north-west India, which it ruled for over 200 years until its conquest by Alexander of Macedon.

Although all these regions had long since been in contact with each other, they had never been linked under a single regime. The Persian empire represents an important phase of transformation for its subjects, such as the Jews, as well as those living on its edges, such as the European Greeks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415552790
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	1072
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Amelie Kuhrt is an Ancient Historian specialising in the Middle East, particularly the history of Mesopotamia and Iran in the first millennium BC. She is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at UCL and Fellow of the British Academy.

Table of Contents

1. The Sources Part I. Prehistory and Formation of the Empire (c.750-520) 2. The Medes 3. Cyrus the Great 4. The Reign of Cambyses 5. From Cambyses to Darius I Part II. Achaemenid History and its Problems 6. The Empire under Darius I: Expansion, Revolt, Consolidation 7. The Reign of Xerxes 8. From Artaxerxes I to Darius II's Last Years 9. Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III 10. The Fall of the Achaemenid Empire Part III. Kings and Kingship 11. Images of Empire, Royal Ideology and the Cultic Framework 12. The Organisation of the Court 13. Mechanisms of Power Part IV. Achaemenid Imperial Organisation 14. Tribute, Tax, Imposts 15. Routes and Communication Networks 16. Bureaucracy, Production, Settlement 17. Unity and Diversity

Editorial Reviews

'Amelie Kuhrt is an invaluable guide. Not only has she assembled all the material on the Archaemenids that most historians will ever need, but she has also provided commentaries on it that are models of informed and balanced scholarship.' – Times Literary Supplement

'[T]he books do indeed constitute the most complete collection of source material for Achaemenid history that has yet been assembled... Kuhrt’s volumes will be an indispensable tool for all those interested in the Persian Empire for a very long time to come. The author is to be congratulated on a magnificent achievement that makes a fundamental contribution to studies of the Achaemenid period. This was recently recognized by the award to Amélie Kuhrt by the Islamic Republic of Iran of a Book of the Year prize for 2010.' - Palestine Exploration Quarterly

From the Publisher