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A generation ago the Achaemenid Empire was a minor sideshow within long-established disciplines. For Greek historians the Persians were the defeated national enemy, a catalyst of change in the aftermath of the fall of Athens or the victim of Alexander. For Egyptologists and Assyriologists they belonged to an era that received scant attention compared with the glory days of the New Kingdom or the Neo-Assyrian Empire. For most archaeologists they were elusive in a material record that lacked a distinctively Achaemenid imprint. Things have changed now. The empire is an object of study in its own right, and a community of Achaemenid specialists has emerged to carry that study forward. Such communities are, however, apt to talk among themselves and the present volume aims to give a professional but non-specialist audience some taste of the variety of subject-matter and discourse that typifies Achaemenid studies. The broad theme of political and cultural interaction reflecting the empire's diversity and the nature of the sources for its history is illustrated in fourteen chapters that move from issues in Greek historiography through a series of regional studies (Egypt, Anatolia, Babylonia and Persia) to Zarathushtra, Alexander the Great and the early modern reception of Persepolis.

Thucydides' Portrait of Tissaphernes Re-Examined (John Hyland); Xenophon's Wicked Persian, or What's Wrong with Tissaphernes? Xenophon's Views on Lying and Breaking Oaths (Gabriel Danzig); On Persian Tryphe in Athenaeus (Dominique Lenfant ); Treacherous Hearts and Upright Tiaras: the Achaemenid King's Head-dress (Christopher Tuplin); Darius I in Egypt: Suez and Hibis (Alan Lloyd); Indigenous Aristocracies in Hellespontine Phrygia (Frédéric MaffreEric Raimond); Babylonian Workers in the Persian Heartland during the reign of Cambyses (Wouter Henkelman & Kristin KleberMargaret Cool Root ); Boxus the Persian and the Hellenization of Persis (Nicholas Sekunda); The Philosopher's Zarathushtra (Phiroze Vasunia); Alexander the Great: ‘Last of the Achaemenids’? (Robin Lane Fox); ‘Chilminar olim Persepolis’: European Reception of a Persian Ruin (Lindsay Allen); Pottering around Persepolis: Observations on Early European Visitors to the Site (St John Simpson).

amyntoros wrote:So, if anyone has access to a wonderful university library or the desire (and the funds!) to purchase this book do, please, post and tell us more about the articles within.

marcus wrote:
BTW, did I ever boast to everyone on this Forum that I am, finally, getting to Iran at Easter? I know there are Pothosians who have managed to travel there, so I'm hardly breaking new ground ... but for various personal and professional reasons this had become a little bit of a crusade (forgive the slightly controversial choice of word!) and I'm dead chuffed that I'm finally realising it. So, come early-April, I shall be at Persepolis!

ATB

marcus wrote:Well, I've put it on my Amazon wishlist, as I have a (significant) birthday coming up and ... well ... you never know!

karen wrote:I'm afraid to ask how much that book costs, Amyntoros. It sounds just wonderful. One thing I'll always love Mary Renault for; you just can't think of Persians as an "overreaching cabal of effete and decadent barbarians," or a foil, or anything but real people... once you've read The Persian Boy.

karen wrote:YOU TWO MUST TAKE INNUMERABLE PICTURES allowing the rest of us to join you vicariously on your trips!

I am hoping to go to Greece, esp. Makedonia, in the spring, but at this point it seems a real long shot financially. Unless I get a certain book grant, though in truth that's a long shot too.

karen wrote: I'm afraid to ask how much that book costs, Amyntoros. It sounds just wonderful. One thing I'll always love Mary Renault for; you just can't think of Persians as an "overreaching cabal of effete and decadent barbarians," or a foil, or anything but real people... once you've read The Persian Boy.
Karen