Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions and Classical Sources
- Acknowledgments
- Map
- 1 Introduction: Tracking an Empire
- 2 Forerunners of the Achaemenids: The First Half of the First Millennium BCE
- 3 Persia Rising: A New Empire
- 4 From Cyrus to Darius I: Empire in Transition
- 5 Darius, the Great King
- 6 Mechanics of Empire
- 7 Xerxes, the Expander of the Realm
- 8 Anatomy of Empire
- 9 Empire at Large: From the Death of Xerxes to Darius II
- 10 Maintaining Empire: Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III
- 11 Twilight of the Achaemenids
- 12 Epilogue
- Appendix A – Timeline
- Appendix B – Chronological Chart of Achaemenid Persian Kings
- Appendix C – Lineages of the Achaemenid Royal Family
- Appendix D – Further Readings
- Notes
- Index
1 - Introduction: Tracking an Empire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions and Classical Sources
- Acknowledgments
- Map
- 1 Introduction: Tracking an Empire
- 2 Forerunners of the Achaemenids: The First Half of the First Millennium BCE
- 3 Persia Rising: A New Empire
- 4 From Cyrus to Darius I: Empire in Transition
- 5 Darius, the Great King
- 6 Mechanics of Empire
- 7 Xerxes, the Expander of the Realm
- 8 Anatomy of Empire
- 9 Empire at Large: From the Death of Xerxes to Darius II
- 10 Maintaining Empire: Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III
- 11 Twilight of the Achaemenids
- 12 Epilogue
- Appendix A – Timeline
- Appendix B – Chronological Chart of Achaemenid Persian Kings
- Appendix C – Lineages of the Achaemenid Royal Family
- Appendix D – Further Readings
- Notes
- Index
Summary
If you should wonder how many are the lands that Darius the King held, behold the sculpted figures who bear the throne, then you shall learn, then it shall become known to you that the spear of the Persian man has gone forth far. Then it shall become known to you that the Persian man has given battle far away from Persia.
Tomb of Darius I, Naqsh-i Rustam, (DNa §4, Figure 1.1)Darius I (reigned 522–486 BCE) ruled the Achaemenid Persian Empire at the height of its territorial extent: from the Indus River to the Danube River and from the western edge of the Himalayas to the Sahara Desert. In its scope and durability, and in its ability to project and maintain its power, the Achaemenid Empire was unprecedented in world history. Its equal was not seen again until the height of the Roman Empire under Augustus and his successors in the first and second centuries CE.
The Achaemenid Empire retained its vitality for over two hundred years (550–330 BCE) and left a massive, if not always readily discernible, imprint on subsequent Near Eastern and European history. To the ancient Greeks, the Persian Empire was an object of fear and fascination: Persia served as the great “Other” from the Classical period onward. The Greeks framed the historical and cultural narratives of the West, and their perspective led to the development of many key East- West stereotypes that persist today.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Ancient PersiaA Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE, pp. 5 - 18Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014