Tag: Achaemenid Empire

Johnson, David M., Gabriel Alexander Danzig and Rodrigo Illarraga (eds.). 2026. Debating Cyrus: Leadership in Xenophon’s ›Cyropaedia‹ (Xenophon Studies 2). Berlin: De Gruyter.

Is Xenophon’s Cyrus the Great the model leader he seems to be, or does his apparent success actually demonstrate the dangers of imperialism and one-man rule?

Debating Cyrus gathers contributions from many of the world’s leading scholars in Xenophontic Studies, and features scholars with a wide range of approaches to reading classical texts. Our essays discuss the surprisingly subtle techniques Xenophon employs, and study topics including ambition, the rule of law, hunting, tragedy, romance, and the use Cyrus makes of love and fear. A cluster of essays considers Cyrus’ one apparent failure — the failure to ensure his kingdom will prosper after him. Other essays show what we can learn about the Cyropaedia by comparing it to other works by Xenophon and his contemporaries.

Our aim is not to resolve the debate about Cyrus, a debate that will live on as long as readers care about Xenophon’s magisterial account of the founder of the greatest empire of his day and disagree about what sort of leadership to expect from a leader like Cyrus. Our goal is to prepare readers to engage in the debate themselves.

Zaccarini, Matteo. 2024. Erodoto e le donne: La presenza femminile nelle Storie. Rome: Carocci.

Elena partì da Sparta con i Troiani, ma, forse, fu una fuga volontaria più che un rapimento. La regina di Lidia, disonorata dal marito, congegnò una vendetta esemplare e teatrale. L’etera Rodopi, in origine una schiava, divenne una figura leggendaria grazie alla fama e a un monumento eccezionali. L’uomo più potente al mondo, il Gran Re persiano Serse, rischiò la rovina per via della rivalità tra donne di corte. In Grecia i Persiani furono sconfitti, ma la straordinaria Artemisia, unica donna tra le loro fila, uscì vincitrice su tutti. A guardar bene poi, la vittoria dei Greci fu dovuta anche a una bambina prodigio, Gorgo. E così via. Attraverso figure femminili ordinarie o eccezionali, le Storie di Erodoto indagano gli aspetti più profondi della natura umana, costruiscono un universo complesso e sfaccettato, insinuano il dubbio sul senso delle grandi guerre e sulle gesta dei grandi uomini. Di volta in volta con sottigliezza, ironia, tragica consapevolezza e incredibile modernità. Prima monografia sul tema, il volume analizza la narrazione del “padre della Storia” sul femminile e ripensa gli stereotipi sulla misoginia degli antichi Greci.

Hyland, John O. 2025. Persia’s Greek campaigns: Kingship, war, and spectacle on the Achaemenid frontier. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Persia’s Greek Campaigns offers a bold reassessment of the wars between the Achaemenid Persian kings and the Greek city-states (c. 499–449 bce). These conflicts, and especially Xerxes’s invasion of Greece (480–479 bce), are remembered as foundational events in Greek history, but the “Persian version” remains neglected. The Persians left no campaign narratives to compare with the Greek accounts of Herodotus and Aeschylus—but their documents, artwork, and artifacts offer the foundations for a new interpretive study. Achaemenid royal inscriptions, seals and documents from Persepolis, and texts from earlier Near Eastern empires illuminate Persian worldviews and approaches to frontier warfare. Persia’s Greek campaigns did not emerge from policies of infinite expansion or “East-West” struggle, but drew on a long tradition of Near Eastern royal display through expeditions to distant frontiers. Such campaigns advertised a king’s heroic credentials, possession of divine favor, and achievement of universal power. Xerxes’s journey from Iran to Athens marked the pinnacle of this tradition, combining ideological spectacles with masterful logistical preparation. It achieved its principal goals through the seizure and burning of Athens, but its unexpected and embarrassing defeats at Salamis and Plataea undermined the intended image of royal grandeur. The resulting transition to an era of diplomatic consolidation marked a vital step in the evolution of history’s first “world empire.”