Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE

The book Ancient Persia by Professor Matt Waters is a scholarly work which is well-researched and well-written. It is scrupulously objective. It is a concise history of the Achaemenid Empire, the first world empire established by Cyrus the Great and which lasted for 220 years. Because of its unique geopolitical location Iran has been attacked many times by different tribes and armies. Some of these invasions had been very brutal and savage during which monuments, works of arts, libraries, and records have been destroyed. Therefore, the surviving histories of the great Persian empires of Acaemenids and Sasanians have been those of Greeks, Romans, and non-Persians. The primary examples are Persian histories written by Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon. These works, however, seemed to be a mixture of facts, legends, sensational tales, and propaganda. Based on excavations, historical documents in museums and libraries, and the study and learning of ancient languages modern scholars are working hard to separate facts from fiction and present objective histories of ancient civilizations. Professor Waters’ book is a good example of this trend. Whenever, he finds a discrepancy, exaggeration, or a piece of propaganda in the histories written by Greeks or other Western historians Professor Waters logically refutes it. The book traces the Achaemenid Empire from Cyrus the Great to Alexander invasion of Persia. Each king and historical personality is explained clearly and objectively. Of particular interest in the book are those of the three charismatic historical figures of Cyrus the Great, King Darius, and Xerxes. This book is recommended to readers who are looking for a high-quality scholarly work on ancient civilizations.

This is an excellent overview of the Persian Empire. It is well written, concise and highly readable. The author uses written Greek and Persian sources as well as the results of archeological studies. He clearly points out areas of controversy and presents all sides, not just relying on a single source, such as Herodotus. The book covers all of the kings of the empire and topics such as cuneiform, Zoroastrianism, Persian capitals and the use of throne names. I particularly liked the many maps and the fact that the black and white photographs are printed on glossy paper (as is the whole book), making them very clear. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in leaning more about this fascinating subject. What is in the book: The book is divided into 12 chapters, as follows: 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. Epilog

Waters does a good job constructing a narrative based on pretty thin sources. He is, however, of the Herodotus bashing school and since we are so dependent upon Herodotus for much of our limited understanding of the Persians this becomes tiresome and perhaps unfair. Nevertheless, this is a useful book on an under-studied topic and I would recommend it for anyone interested in the Persian Empire.

I am not a scholar, just a Persian history nerd. And I have read many and many and many .... books on Persian history from this period. Most, almost all, are rewrites of the information that was written and has been passed to us from some of Persia's enemies in their historical narritives. There is little information about the Persians from the mouth of the Persians themselves. As such, the stories that circulate about the Persian empire from this time period are contradictory and at most, unlikely. In this work, Matt Walters attempts to clean up the information that is presented. He looks at historical detail obtained about the Persian empire from many sources and places and is able to peice together a more likely series of events of this time period. It is truely an excellent text if you are interested in the the acutal events that may have taken place in this time period. It shows the reader that what is considered Persian history from the Greek perspective, is just that ... it is what the Greeks may have anticipated or thought, but not at all in line with what the Persians were planning or thinking. I hope that there will be more work of this caliber to come in the near future.

This was purchased for a college class and is great. The author offers compelling narrative of what could be a dense and boring account. Worth the money

I agree with the reviewer who complained of "turgid prose", and also the reviewer who thought that the book could have benefited from a good editor. The author repetitiously complains of the Greek historians for "stereotyping" the Persians and not reporting from the Persians' point of view. Unfortunately, the Greeks are all we have, and their works were fully covered and critiqued by scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries. To lessen the Greek flavor of the historical narrative he abridges the narratives written by the Greeks historians, making the storyline lifeless and dull. Given that Waters cannot and does not add anything to the history narrated by the classical authors, my interest was: what has modern research added? The author discusses the administrative tablets found at Persepolis, but does not find much to say about them of general interest. Official Babylonian records sometimes confirm or contradict points of detail in the Greek narratives, but do not add anything to the story. More interesting are the records of a powerful family of Mesopotamian capitalists who administered landed estates on behalf of the Persian nobility - the similarity to western feudal practices ("knight service" in England under the Normans) is very striking. He also mentions the dealings of a powerful bureaucratic family in Egypt, some of whose records have survived. The new materials do not add much to the historical record provided by the Greeks, but it is good that the author includes them to make the record as complete as possible. A blurb on the back cover describes the book as a "compact presentation" of the history of the Achaemenid empire, which is a fair description. Ghirshman's and Olmstead's histories of Iran/Persia are much more fun to read.

An absolutely delightful read, I couldn't put it down until I flipped the back cover. Well written and well researched, Dr. Waters has a very firm grasp on the historical prevelance of this period. A must have addition for any historical library. I sincerely hope there is more to come from this brillant educator.

I liked this book a lot. It is accessible for a person who knows basically nothing about Ancient Persia and who wants to understand how historians know what they know about that civilization. The author also does not shy away from explaining where historians differ from each other in their interpretations of the (limited) available evidence.

I have been looking for a book like this for years. It makes clear what we do know and what we don't know about Achaemenid Persian history. There is, it seems, a lot more that we don't know - and once you realise that you don't have to keep searching for it. If that makes sense! It does to me anyway, as I no longer feel the need to search for more information now that I know that it is not available.

EXCELLENT!

Excellent book. It provides a lot of detail without becoming too academic. The author is fair and unbiased as one can be. The book is well written and an easy read. If you like ancient history, you will like this book.

Just amazing!

An excellent contribution to the history of the Achaemenids.