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From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire

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Arguably, western historical tradition started with Herodotus trying to tell the story of the vast Persian Empire to the East of the Greek city states. Since then, western history of Persia has always been written from a Greek perspective, which was biased with a strong propagandist agenda.

Pierre Briant has sought to overcome this long-ingrained Greco-centric view of the Persian empire through a very detailed & deeply analytical history which integrates all existing knowledge on the first full-scale Empire in Southwest Asia. Writing originally in French in mid-90s, Briant approaches this history with 1) an analytical approach to the political narrative which seeks to lay bare the ideological elements ingrained in the Greek texts and 2) a sweeping overview of the politico-socio-economical organization of the vast Empire built on evidence verified on local levels. What emerges clearly was the Persian Empire as a viable politico-economical super-structure that layered on top of deep-rooted local traditions. The Empire infrastructure sustained for the 200 years that the classical Greek culture flourished, and that this infrastructure was inherited-- though not sustained-- by Alexander and his companions through conquest.

This is a heavy tome as Briant tried to overcome a very deep-rooted academic historiographical tradition, so at times the writing can be tedious. Also, this book does not seek to cover Zoroastrianism at all (beyond describing the royal Achaemenid ideology which the author neither identifies nor disscoiates with Zoroastrianmism). However, the freshness in perspectives, plus the very well-rendered, top quality translation, makes the book a truly 'value-for-money' purchase in my view.

Dear Friends,

This book is not light reading for the casual dilletante, it is a scholarly book by a world renowned author who has produced the last book to be writted on the Achaeminid Persian Empire pending the discovery of a huge new archive of inscribed tablets that will provide a new book A NEW LOOK AT THE PERSIAN EMPIRE: THE X CUNEIFORM TABLET ARCHIVES.

I took a course on the Achaemenid Persian Empire from Professor Pierre Briant when he was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute in 1997 when I was in graduate studies in ancient history there. He is fully conversant in every piece of literature and archaeological evidence on the subject.

Be prepared for a lot of reading, the book is 1196 pages long,everything is referenced. The actual text starts on page 13 and ends on page 876, the other 300 pages are research notes, pages 977 to page 1050. There are indexes on personal names and topics. The Bibliography is from page 1059 to page 1124, a full 65 pages!

Those of you interested in numismatics will be sorely disappointed unless you have been unable to find a convenient genealogical table of the Achaemenid Dynasty

My own interest at the present time is in anceint weapons, also an area that is not covered by this book. I for one would like to see a book titled ARMS AND ARMAMENT OF THE ANCIENT ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE that would illustrate swords, daggers, spears, missile weapons, armor, helmets, horse trappings, chariots and anything else in the field.

If you share my interest in ancient weapons, please feel free to join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancientweapons or emai me at jpisc98357@aol.com. For those of you interested in a broader based discussion of anceint Iran, there has been a new discussion group formed. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Iranica-L There is not yet any content to the group which has staked out the eras from pre history until the Muslim conquest in the 7th Century.
There is a good site if you are interested in the Parthians at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Parthia-L The participants of this group are heavily into numismatics.

This book is not a good source for artifact studies, there are no photographs at all and the iconography illustrated is all done with line drawings. The maps are adequate but are not plentiful.

For those interested in a supplement to this book that will give you a real taste of what the Empire's captial looked like, I would recommend Persepolis Recreated, a book and DVD that reconstructs the great palaces of Persepolis using modern graphics technology. It is available for $85. from the producer, Farzin Rezaeian. Call (708)386-2720 to place your order.

Best regards, John Piscopo

This book is one of the best books on this subject and it covers rise and fall of Achaemenid Empire in details. Pierre Briant has showed his ability to use his extensive research to seek the truth about this great civilisation and he has examined Babylonian inscriptions and Egyptian documents to support it.
The theory of decadence of Persian Empire was introduced by some scholars and it has dominated the
Studies of ancient Persia but this book gives us an opportunity to study new evidence and to overcome the Hellenocentric view which has infiltrated Iranian studies.
I salute Pierre Briant for his dedication and love for Iranian history and for giving us such a valuable
Book and I recommend this book to readers with passion for Iranian history and to those who seek the truth about the past.

This is, as other reviewers have pointed out, a comprehensive but very challenging book, one that requires some background knowledge of the Persian Empire before starting. The translator, Peter T. Daniels, at the end of his introduction recommends that the non-specialist reader start with Wiesehofer's Ancient Persia, an excellent book in its own right and one that complements Briant's magisterial tome. Academic reviews I have seen endorse this, and I strongly agree with them.

Pierre Briant's book "From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire" is probably the best book on the Persian Empire thus far. Pierre Briant use not only the western sources but also the eastern sources on the Persian Empire. He painstaking pieces together just about every bit of info on the Persian Empire to give the reader a panorama view of their culture. If you are intrested in the History of Persia this is a great book have on the book shelf!

What would have happened,if we did not know much about The Roman Empire ?
That is unfortunatly what Greek culture has prevented the world ,to know about the persian Empire !
While, The cultural contribution The Greeks have offered the world, is undeniable....
yet, 2500 years ago, they were just small city states,who as far as global imporatnce, were too small and insignificant........yet, thier advantage in recording history has influenced the currant intelectual circles,far more than thier true comparetive historical value .....
Persian History , has been consistantly marginalized by the western historians....perhaps with a little mixture of twenteith century racism.
The issue is not that " The Winners of wars " will get to write histroy.....
The real issue is that " woners of means of documetation ,and writing " ," will get to change history ".
This Book, is just a start to balance the western vision of History........

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is over 1000 pages, counting notes, and is very comprehensive in its scope. Briant not only provides a very thorough political narrative of the Persian Empire but also covers social, military, religious, and economic matters. The author does a brilliant job of explaining the sources, or lack thereof, and providing equal time to all of the available sources: from the heavily biased Histories of the Greek Herodotus to recently uncovered archaeolgical inscriptions. The translation from the original French is also very solid. This book is without peer in the realm of Persian History, and is unlikely to be replaced as the standard work on the subject for a long time. Truly a great read for anyone interested in ancient history.

This book is discussing pre-Islamic era of Iran. This book is discussing founder of Iran Zamin Cyrus the Great who found daynasty of Hakhamanishian. This dynasty came to an end by invasion of Alexandra.