Persia Books
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W. W. Norton & Company (01 April 1999)Price: $12.21 -
Penguin (Non-Classics) (28 January 2003)Price: $10.40 -
W. W. Norton & Company (17 March 2007)Price: $19.77 -
Princeton University Press (28 September 2009)Price: $19.77 -
Penguin Classics (29 April 2003)Price: $7.91
Definition
Darius' first capital was at Susa, and he started the building programme at Persepolis. It is during his reign that mention is first made of the Royal Road, a great highway stretching all the way from Susa to Sardis with posting stations at regular intervals. The Old Persian language appears in royal inscriptions, written in a specially adapted version of cuneiform. Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Persian Empire eventually became the largest empire in human history up until that point, ruling and administrating over most of the then known world.
In 499 BC Athens lent support to a revolt in Miletus which resulted in the sacking of Sardis. This led to an Achaemenid campaign against Greece known as the Greco-Persian Wars which lasted the first half of the 5th century BC. During the Greco-Persian wars Persia made some major advantages and razed Athens in 480 BC, But after a string of Greek victories the Persians were forced to withdraw. Fighting ended with the peace of Callias in 449 BC. In 404 BC following the death of Darius II Egypt rebelled under Amyrtaeus. Later Egyptian Pharaohs successfully resisted Persian attempts to reconquer Egypt until 343 BC when Egypt was reconquered by Artaxerxes III of Persia.
In 334 BC-331 BC Alexander the Great defeated Darius III in the battles of Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela, swiftly conquering the Persian Empire by 331 BCE. Alexander's empire broke up shortly after his death, and Alexander's general, Seleucus I Nicator, took control of Persia, Mesopotamia, and later Syria and Asia Minor. His ruling family is known as the Seleucid Dynasty. Greek language, philosophy, and art came with the colonists. During the Seleucid Dynasty throughout Alexander's former empire, Greek became the common tongue of diplomacy and literature.
The Seleucid empire was far from stable, as it was difficult to assert control over the vast eastern domains of the Seleucids. Diodotus, governor for the Bactrian territory, asserted independence in around 245 BC, although the exact date is far from certain, to form the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. The Seleucid satrap of Parthia, named Andragoras, first claimed independence, in a parallel to the secession of his Bactrian neighbour. Soon after however, a Parthian tribal chief called Arsaces took over the Parthian territory around 238 BC to form the Arsacid Dynasty — the starting point of the powerful Parthian Empire.
Articles
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Herodotus (484-425 BCE) the Greek historian who wrote extensively on the Persian Empire, here describes Persian customs as they would have been practiced around the year 430 BCE at Susa and other Persian communities. The passage, from Book I of his Histories, is interesting in the way Herodotus contrasts the behavior and values of the Persians with those of the Greeks, with the Persians seeming to come off more favorably:
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The term mausoleum, since the Roman era, has meant any large-scale tomb. It is what we think of today as a big marble building that houses the remains of the deceased. The term mausoleum, though, has very specific origins that can be traced back to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. This monument was the grandiose tomb of Maussollos, the king of Caria (a province in the Persian Empire) and a Governor for the king of Persia in the mid fourth century B.C. Completed in 350 BC, it was likely built by Maussollos' wife/sister Artemisia on the coast of Halicarnassus, the capital city of his territory. Hailed for its opulence and architectural splendor, the tomb was a dedication from a grieving widow to her beloved husband.
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After securing the eastern Mediterranean seaboard and Egypt, Alexander pushed east into Mesopotamia with the intention of bringing Darius to battle. After crossing the Euphrates river unopposed, he marched his army eastward along the foothills of the Armenian mountains before crossing the Tigris.
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The Battle of Pelusium in 525 B.C. was the decisive conflict between the Pharaoh Psametik III (also known as Psammenitus) and the Persian leader Cambyses II. Cambyses, upset that Psammenitus' father, Amasis, had sent him a `fake daughter' , decided to invade Egypt to avenge the insult. Cambyses had asked for Amasis' daughter for a concubine and Amasis, not wishing this life for his daughter, sent the daughter of the late king Apries. This woman, insulted, told Cambyses her true identity and Cambyses could not bear to be affronted by Amasis. By the time he mounted his campaign, however, Amasis had died and Psammenitus was Pharoah.
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Links
- FORGOTTEN EMPIRE the world of Ancient Persia
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/forgottenempire/