Safaee, Yazdan. 2026. Women of the empire: Life and labor in the Achaemenid Persepolis Archives (Ancient Iran Series 20). Leiden: Brill.
This book offers a comprehensive examination of the status and roles of women within the socio-economic framework of the Achaemenid Empire. Drawing primarily on the Persepolis Fortification and Treasury Archives, it foregrounds the documentary evidence as a lens through which the lives, labor, and agency of women—both within royal institutions and beyond—can be critically assessed. Women of the Empire explores a range of thematic issues across its chapters, highlighting the diverse contexts in which women appear in administrative records and reconstructing their participation in the imperial economy.