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Home > Greece & Persia > Period Study: The Persian Empire, 599-465BC > Further Reading
Introduction - Greece & Persia
Period Study: The Persian Empire, 599-465BC
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DS 1: From Tyranny to Democracy, 546-483BC
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DS 2: Athens in the Age of Pericles, 462-429BC
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DS 3: Alexander the Great, 356-323BC
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Below you'll find an annotated version of the further reading list for this chapter (p. 65).
Brosius, M. Lactor 16: The Persian Empire from Cyrus II to Artaxerxes I (London: KCL, 2000)
All the key sources translated with a short commentary.
Herodotus, The Histories, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt; introduction and notes by John Marincola (London: Penguin 1996)
A classic translation of Herodotus, with a detailed introduction which examines his method and aims.
Kuhrt, A. The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period (London: Routledge 2007)
A tour de force: all the relevant sources for the period, with detailed commentary. A simply wonderful resource.
Strassler, B. (ed.) The Landmark Herodotus (New York: Pantheon, 2007)
Another translation of Herodotus, in a volume which also contains a large number of short essays on Greece and Persia as appendices. These offer excellent introductions to a number of topics.
Briant, P. From Cyrus to Alexander (Winona Lake: Eisenbraun, 2002)
A wonderful, scholarly account of the Persian Empire, written in French but translated into English. Note that this book is very expensive and so most likely used in a library by a teacher.
Harrison, T. Writing Ancient Persia (London: Bloomsbury Academic 2011)
An undergraduate level introduction to reconstructing Persian history.
Kuhrt, A. The Ancient Near East, Volume 2 (London: Routledge 1995), chapter 13
A useful overview of Persian history in the wider context of Near Eastern history.
Llewellyn-Jones, L., King and Court in Ancient Persia 559 to 331 BCE (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013)
An undergraduate level examination of the Persian kings and their courts.
Gould, J. Herodotus (London: Bloomsbury 1989)
The classic undergraduate introduction to Herodotus as a historian.
Hamel, D. Reading Herodotus (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 2012)
An entertaining and highly readable guide through Herodotus’ Histories. A great starting point for readers new to Herodotus.
Holland, T. Persian Fire (New York: Anchor 2006)
An exciting and detailed introduction to the Persian Wars for the general reader.
Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions: Translations and commentary on all the surviving inscriptions commissioned by the Persian kings.
The Archaeological sites of Persepolis and Pasargadae:A website dedicated to presenting research and reconstructions from both sites.
The Conquest of Babylon: translations and commentary on all the key texts relating to Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon, including the Nabonidus Chronicle.
The biography of Udjahorresne, an Egyptian courtier who worked for Cambyses.