num_pages: 208
description: From the mid 6th century BC, Persian kings ruled over peoples and territory stretching from Northern Libya to Central Asia. Incorporating the ancient civilizations and former imperial centres of Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia, Persian rule created the first land-based world empire. This great diversity of subject peoples and historical traditions became a key theme of imperial ideology. For 250 years, the empire fostered international communication and cultural exchange to an unprecedented degree. The Persian expedition into Greece in the early 5th century BC became one of the most influential events in defining a European identity set apart from Asia. Dynastic rule was brought to an end by Alexander the Great's lengthy invasion of the empire from 331 BC during which nearly all the territory allied to the Persians was brought under Macedonian rule. In the continuing conflict the empire broke up, but it bequeathed a rich store of cultural and historical traditions to its Hellenistic and Roman successors. After providing a simple introduction to the kinds of written sources containing information about the Persian empire, the author gives a survey of the cultural and political history underlying the birth of Persian power. The chapters that follow trace the evolution of the monarchy and describe the invasion of Greece and later political intrigues from the Persian point of view. The historical framework is supplemented with a description of the palace architecture and luxury culture characteristic of Persian rule, as well as accounts of individual ways of life within the empire. The book closes by placing Alexander's invasion in a Persian context and provides a unique survey of surviving traditions of the empire and the rediscovery of its royal capitals at Persepolis and Susa.
language: English
title: The Persian Empire A History /anglais
titlecomplete: The Persian Empire A History /anglais
genres: Ancient History, Research, Nonfiction, History
ratings_count: 49
publisher: BRITISH MUSEUM