From Samarkhand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire (Hellenistic Culture & Society) [Hardcover]

Susan Sherwin-White (Author), Amélie Kuhrt (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hellenistic Culture & Society | Publication Date: February 15, 1993

The empire created by Alexander the Great's general, Seleucus, constituted the largest Hellenistic kingdom of the successor states: yet this is the first substantial treatment of Seleucid history to appear for fifty years. The authors approach this important and successful state from new perspectives, seeing it as part of the Middle Eastern world rather than solely in Greco-Roman terms, and arguing that the Seleucid state is best understood as heir to the great Achaemenid Persian empire and earlier Middle Eastern states.
They investigate the economies, social structures, political systems, and cultures of the many peoples making up the empire, and analyze, in the context of colonialism and imperialism, such evidence as exists for cultural changes, including Hellenization.
The book makes accessible the great variety of new and important documents that have been recently discovered. It will be welcomed by students, teachers, and all readers with an interest in Hellenistic and Middle Eastern history.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susan Sherwin-White is Honorary Research Associate of Royal Holloway and Bedford New College. Amélie Kuhrt is Reader in Ancient Near Eastern History at University College, London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 261 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (February 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520081838
• ISBN-13: 978-0520081833
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > History > Middle East > Syria

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Major Contribution to the Study of the Seleucid Empire, April 8, 2005

By 

Octavius (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: From Samarkhand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire (Hellenistic Culture & Society) (Hardcover)

This treatise on the Seleucid empire along with other works by the authors are the only major studies done on this subject in over 50 years. Despite its poor editing, this book brings together more recent discoveries and theories as to the formation, administration, expansion, and cultural impact of the Seleucid empire in the Middle East, India, and Central Asia.

Out of the three dynasties that inherited Alexander The Great's vast empire, the Seleucid Empire has been studied the least and brushed off as a sickly empire that was doomed to collapse from its inception despite being the largest and richest of those three. The reason for this conclusion wasn't based so much on historical evidence but the lack of it. Susan Sherwin-White and Amelie Kurt present their own alternative theories about the evolution of the Seleucid empire in an attempt to dispel such misconceptions. They argue that the empire was not one of colonial dominance and segregation but rather one of integration and tolerance as originally envisioned by Alexander The Great. They argue that the vastness of the empire and the diversity of cultures simply made it impossible for the Greeks to hold it for over 200 years by policies of force, colonization and segregation. They support these theories by referring to direct classical sources, later classical texts, and archeological information. This book is a major contribution to the study of the Seleucids as previous scholars such as Tarn simply didn't have the knowledge of the major archeological finds that were uncovered after he published his works in the mid-twentieth century.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is seriously in need of important and recent information on the Seleucid empire. Other sources like Tarn are simply too old and limited in their source materials to provide a thorough analysis of this neglected subject. The book is extremely hard to find, trust me, as I had to inquire for over a year with almost every vendor in the world only to find that none of them had it available. Amazon, and Alibris seem to be the ones that are most likely to have a copy available from time to time. If you want to get this work, I recommend you get it as soon as it becomes available because there are few copies out there. It's possible that another edition is on the way but that may be long in the future if ever at all. As a last note, the book is not suited for the casual reader as its jacket claims; one would at least need to have a thorough background on Alexander The Great if not Persian and Greek history. The book is also expensive at $100-$150 and not really in the price range of someone who only has a limited interest in the subject. A very good book to go with this one is A. K. Narain's 'Coin Types of the Indo-Greek Kings" that focuses on the Seleucid kingdoms of the Indus valley and Bactria: its several studies focus primarily on numismatic evidence along with archeological and literary sources. The works and theories of the authors as to the development and administration of the Seleucid kingdoms complement each other and therefore make a great pair of books to own.