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

by Amélie Kuhrt

The Achaemenid dynasty (550-330 BC) ruled over the first and largest 'world empire' in history: the Persian empire extended from the Babylonians in the east to the Jews and Greeks in the west, with fingers of control in the fringes of the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere. Its sheer size was a factor in its destruction by Alexander the Great, yet long after its dismemberment its influence can be seen in the development of Judaism, the Old Testament of the Bible, and the formation of classical Greece.

Studying Achaemenid history has therefore been difficult in the past because original sources include texts from hugely disparate origins, many different languages and various periods in history; the risk is to rely too heavily on prejudiced and often inaccurate Greek and Roman sources.

Am lie Kuhrt presents here an unprecedented collection of key texts to form a complete and balanced representation of all aspects of the empire, in her own translations from their original Greek, Old Persian, Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Egyptian or Latin.

Kuhrt selects from classical writers, the Old Testament, royal inscriptions, administrative documents and Babylonian historical writing, as well as examining evidence from archaeological sites. All material is accompanied by a detailed introduction to the sources and guidelines to their interpretation.

A truly monumental achievement, this collection will prove to be the ultimate resource for any student of Persian history, from undergraduate level to the most advanced scholar.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Iran

1072 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Born 1944, she is a historian specialist in the history of the ancient Near East.

Reviews

[Briana Grenert]

I read most of volume one over the course of my semester on Persia and the Greeks.
The sources themselves are awesome, but the organization is horrendous. Could we get some Chapter headers, please?

[Joseph Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am breaking my number one rule here by rating this before I have finished it, but considering it is >1,000 pages, many of which are 2,500-year old accounting entries recorded on clay tablets, I can give myself a little grace.

According to the back cover, it is "the most complete collection of raw material for reconstructing the Achaemenid Persian Empire in existence..." and I'd believe it. The author translated (from multiple dead languages) much (or maybe all) of the material herself, annotated all of it and arranged it in chronological and topic order. Reading this may be my new life's work. 5 Stars

[Nima ُShoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

متاسفانه خاطرم نیست کجا خوندم ولی در این کتاب هم اشاره‌ای بهش شده که در متن کتیبه‌های متقدم هخامنشی بین سال‌های ۵۵۰ تا ۴۰۰ قبل از میلاد فقط نام اهوره‌مزدا دیده میشه.
و در کتیبه‌های متاخر هخامنشی ( در اصل از زمان اردشیر دوم به بعد) شاهد اضافه شدن اسامی مهر و ناهید به اهوره‌مزدا هستیم.

[Atena · Rating 4 out of 5]

خلاصه و عاقلانه.