Ancient Persia: A Concise History Of The Achaemenid Empire 550-330 Bce

The Achaemenid Persian Empire was one of the most powerful empires in the world for over two hundred years. This book provides a detailed history of the empire, focusing on the interpretive problems historians face in constructing and understanding its history. The book offers a Persian perspective even when relying on Greek textual sources and archaeological evidence.

The Achaemenid Persian Empire, at its greatest territorial extent under Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE), held sway over territory stretching from the Indus River Valley to southeastern Europe and from the western Himalayas to northeast Africa. In this book, Matt Waters gives a detailed historical overview of the Achaemenid period while considering the manifold interpretive problems historians face in constructing and understanding its history. This book offers a Persian perspective even when relying on Greek textual sources and archaeological evidence. Waters situates the story of the Achaemenid Persians in the context of their predecessors in the mid-first millennium BCE and through their successors after the Macedonian conquest, constructing a compelling narrative of how the empire retained its vitality for more than two hundred years (c. 550-330 BCE) and left a massive imprint on Middle Eastern as well as Greek and European history.