Persians: The Age of the Great Kings

"In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of the Persian Empire and the world it ruled. The Achaemenids, monarchs of the First Persian Empire, ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the Steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. From the palace-city of Persepolis, Cyrus the Great, Darius, Xerxes, and their heirs passed laws, raised armies, received tribute, and reigned supreme over their empire. Despite internal revolts, succession struggles, and even regicides, the Achaemenid empire thrived for more than two centuries until the conquests of Alexander of Macedon brought the empire to a swift and unexpected end in in the late 330s BCE. For too long the history of ancient Iran has been written from the perspective of its Greek conquerors, whose pejorative 'histories' have been reiterated by classicists down to the present day. Llewellyn-Jones instead privileges authentic Iranian sources-inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology-to present, for the first time, the definitive history of the Achaemenid Empire as it saw itself. He reorients our understanding of the ancient world and shows how the First Persian Empire was in fact the world's first superpower-an empire built, unusually for imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. In modern Iran, secular and Islamic regimes alike have drawn from this rich cultural heritage to justify their authority. Original and authoritative, Persians is a stunning portrait of the magnificent splendor and enduring legacy of the long-vanished world of ancient Persia"--