The Persians

Author: Geoffrey Parker
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780236980
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
Now in paperback, this is a history of an incomparable culture whose influence can still be seen, millennia later, in modern-day Iran and the wider Middle East. During the first and second millennia BCE a swathe of nomadic peoples migrated outward from Central Asia into the Eurasian periphery. One group of these people would find themselves encamped in an unpromising, arid region just south of the Caspian Sea. From these modest and uncertain beginnings, they would go on to form one of the most powerful empires in history: the Persian Empire. In this book, Geoffrey and Brenda Parker tell the captivating story of this ancient civilization and its enduring legacy to the world. The authors examine the unique features of Persian life and trace their influence throughout the centuries. They examine the environmental difficulties the early Persians encountered and how, in overcoming them, they were able to develop a unique culture that would culminate in the massive, first empire, the Achaemenid Empire. Extending their influence into the maritime west, they fought the Greeks for mastery of the eastern Mediterranean—one of the most significant geopolitical contests of the ancient world. And the authors paint vivid portraits of Persian cities and their spectacular achievements: intricate and far-reaching roadways, an astonishing irrigation system that created desert paradises, and, above all, an extraordinary reflection of the diverse peoples that inhabited them.

Persians

Author: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 1541600355
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 489

Book Description
A stunning portrait of the magnificent splendor and enduring legacy of ancient Persia The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. From the palace-city of Persepolis, Cyrus the Great, Darius, Xerxes, and their heirs reigned supreme for centuries until the conquests of Alexander of Macedon brought the empire to a swift and unexpected end in the late 330s BCE. In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran, a book that completely reshapes our understanding of the ancient world.

The Persians

Author: Aeschylus
Publisher: Wyatt North Publishing, LLC
ISBN:
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 80

Book Description
The Persians is a classic tragedy of Aeschylus' , written circa 472 B.C.

The Persians

Author: Homa Katouzian
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300121186
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 452

Book Description
In recent years, Iran has gained attention mostly for negative reasons—its authoritarian religious government, disputed nuclear program, and controversial role in the Middle East—but there is much more to the story of this ancient land than can be gleaned from the news. This authoritative and comprehensive history of Iran, written by Homa Katouzian, an acclaimed expert, covers the entire history of the area from the ancient Persian Empire to today’s Iranian state. Writing from an Iranian rather than a European perspective, Katouzian integrates the significant cultural and literary history of Iran with its political and social history. Some of the greatest poets of human history wrote in Persian—among them Rumi, Omar Khayyam, and Saadi—and Katouzian discusses and occasionally quotes their work. In his thoughtful analysis of Iranian society, Katouzian argues that the absolute and arbitrary power traditionally enjoyed by Persian/Iranian rulers has resulted in an unstable society where fear and short-term thinking dominate. A magisterial history, this book also serves as an excellent background to the role of Iran in the contemporary world.

Persians and Other Plays

Author: Aeschylus
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Book Description
The volume brings together four major works by one of the great classical dramatists: Prometheus Bound, translated by James Scully and C. John Herrington, a haunting depiction of the most famous of Olympian punishments; The Suppliants, translated by Peter Burian, an extraordinary drama of flight and rescue arising from women's resistance to marriage; Persians, translated by Janet Lembke and C. John Herington, a masterful telling of the Persian Wars from the view of the defeated; and Seven Against Thebes, translated by Anthony Hecht and Helen Bacon.

The Persians

Author: Gene R. Garthwaite
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9781557868602
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
The Persians is a succinct narrative of Iranian history from the time of Cyrus the Great in 560BC to the present day. A succinct narrative of Iranian history from the time of Cyrus the Great in 560BC to the present day. Traces events from the rise of the Persian empire, through competition with Rome and conquest by the Arabs, through to the re-establishment of a Persian state in the sixteenth century, and finally the Islamic Revoltuion on 1979 and the establishment of the current Islamic Republic. Uses the most recent scholarship to examine Iran's political, social and cultural history. Focuses on rulership as a central theme in Iranian identity. Also shows how land, language and literature relate to Iranian identity.

History of the Persian Empire

Author: A. T. Olmstead
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226826333
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 671

Book Description
Out of a lifetime of study of the ancient Near East, Professor Olmstead has gathered previously unknown material into the story of the life, times, and thought of the Persians, told for the first time from the Persian rather than the traditional Greek point of view. "The fullest and most reliable presentation of the history of the Persian Empire in existence."—M. Rostovtzeff

Persian Fire

Author: Tom Holland
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307386988
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Book Description
A "fresh...thrilling" (The Guardian) account of the Graeco-Persian Wars. In the fifth century B.C., a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold, and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the Great King of Persia, and thereby saved not only themselves but Western civilization as well, is as heart-stopping and fateful as any episode in history. Tom Holland’s brilliant study of these critical Persian Wars skillfully examines a conflict of critical importance to both ancient and modern history.

The World of Persian Literary Humanism

Author: Hamid Dabashi
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674067592
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
Humanism has mostly considered the question “What does it mean to be human?” from a Western perspective. Dabashi asks it anew from a non-European perspective, in a groundbreaking study of 1,400 years of Persian literary humanism. He presents the unfolding of this vast tradition as the creative and subversive subconscious of Islamic civilization.

The Persians

Author: Maria Brosius
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134359845
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
The only book of its kind to cover both the Achaemenid period and the thousand years following Alexander's conquest, The Persians explores the period from the seventh century BC, to the seventh century AD, and presents a comprehensive introduction to ancient Persia. Incorporating recent research, and translated sources from a wide range of corpus material, Maria Brosius explores the history of Persia, and brings a new understanding of Persian society and culture and the structures on which these empires were built: the king and his court; religion and culture; art and architecture. From the lands of Egypt to the Indus River, from the Russian Steppes to the Indian Ocean, Brosius has provided an up-to-date account of the three empires of pre-Islamic Iran, and discussing key topics such as women, religion and art and architecture, she presents a clear survey of the history of these empires. Providing additional reading references along with frequent source citations, students of ancient Persia will find this an invaluable addition to their course studies.