The contrast between this archaeological exposition and the narrative paraphrases of the more literary sources suggests that it may be of more interest to Classics teachers than learners; but those teachers could probably find ways to make use of it.

Autorentext
Matt Waters is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is the author of Ctesias' Persica and Its Near Eastern Context and Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BCE, among other works.

Klappentext

The Persian Empire was the world's dominant geo-political force from the later sixth century to its conquest by Alexander in the 330s BCE. Much of the empire's territory was conquered by its founder, Cyrus the Great. King of the World provides the most cohesive and readable portrait of the ruler, whose immense impact on ancient civilization is not fully appreciated.

Inhalt

• Preface

• Figures and Maps

• Chronological Chart/Table

• Timeline

• Chapter 1 - Introduction: The Kings of Anshan

• Scope and Scale: The Cusp of the First World Empire

• An Achaemenid Renaissance

• Setting the Historical Stage

• Persians and Iranians

• The Kingdom of Anshan/Parsumash among the Great Powers pp. 14-23

• Cyrus I

• A Royal Heirloom

• What's in a (Throne) Name?

• Endnotes

• Chapter 2 - An Irresistible Force

• A New Son Rising

• Cyrus and Cassandane

• The Daughters of Cyrus: Atossa and Artystone

• Endnotes

• Chapter 3 - On the March

• Median Problems

• (More) Dreaming of Cyrus

• Cyrus' War with Astyages

• Go West, Young Man

• Endnotes

• Chapter 4 - The Chosen One

• The Conquest of Babylonia

• Cyrus' Babylonian Inscriptions

• The Cyrus Cylinder

• Royal Inscriptions from Uruk and Ur

• The Verse Account

• A Time of Transition

• Endnotes

• Chapter 5 - The Imperial Project

• (Re)Ordering the World

• The Roads Go Ever On

• The Persian Army

• A Unifying Ideology

• More Territory, More Capitals

• Pasargadae

• Tomb of Cyrus

• Gate R

• Palaces S and P

• Paradise Found, The Royal Garden

• The Zendan and the Tall-i Takht

• Exit Pasargadae

• Cyrus the Polytheist

• Endnotes

• Chapter 6 - Legacies

• The Death of Cyrus

• Reality and Imagination

• Recalling Cyrus: Alexander III of Macedon

• Subtle but Formidable Remembrances

• Conclusions: New out of Old

• Endnotes

• Appendix A - On Sources

• Endnotes

• Appendix B - Translation of the Cyrus Cylinder

• Appendix C - Teispids and Achaemenids

• Endotes

• Bibliography