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Persia : ancient Iran and the classical world / edited by Jeffrey Spier, Timothy Potts, and Sara E. Cole.

Contributor(s): Publisher: Los Angeles : J. Paul Getty Museum, [2022]Copyright date: ©2022Description: xiii, 418 pages : color illustrations, color maps, plans ; 30 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781606066805
  • 1606066803
Uniform titles:
  • Persia (J. Paul Getty Museum)
Subject(s):
Contents:
The Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BC -- Map -- Time Line of Achaemenid Kings -- Persia Before the Persians / Timothy Potts -- Shifting Identities in Pre-Achaemenid Iran: Elamites, Medes, and Persians / Wouter F. M. Henkelman -- Kingship in the Achaemenid Empire / Robert Rollinger -- Visual Arts of Collective Imperial Identity: from Persepolis to the Mediterranean / Margaret Cool Root -- The Greco-Persian Wars: Image, Effect, and Afterlife / Margaret C. Miller -- Greeks, Lydians, Carians, and Lycians in Achaemenid Asia Minor / Jeffrey Spier -- Persia in Cyprus / Antigoni Zournatzi -- The Achaemenid Empire: Catalogue 1-78 -- The Parthian Empire, ca. 247 BC-AD 224 -- Map -- Time Line of Seleucid and Arsacid Kings and Roman Emperors -- Alexander the Great and the Seleucids: Iran in the Hellenistic Period (ca. 330-150 BC) / Rolf Strootman -- The Parthian Empire / Jake Nabel -- Parthia and the Geography of Empire / Stefan R. Hauser -- In Search of Parthian Art: Arsacid Influence in the Representational Arts of the Parthian Empire / Lucinda Dirven -- Religion in the Parthian Empire / Albert de Jong -- Greek in Asia: Understanding Hellenism in Susa and Seleucia on the Tigris / Vito Messina and Miguel John Versluys -- The Parthian Empire: Catalogue 79-144 -- The Sasanian Empire: AD 224-561 -- Map -- Time Line of Sasanian Kings and Roman and Byzantine Emperors -- The Sasanian Empire / M. Rahim Shayegan -- The Royal Image in Ancient Persia / Matthew P. Canepa -- Persia and Rome: the Historical and Ideological Gaze / Touraj Daryaee -- Epilogue: the End of Antiquity in Iran and the Postclassical Inheritance / Hugh Kennedy -- The Sasanian Empire: Catalogue 145-209.
Summary: The founding of the first Persian Empire by the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great in the sixth century BCE established one of the greatest world powers of antiquity. Extending from the borders of Greece to northern India, Persia was seen by the Greeks as a vastly wealthy and powerful rival and often as an existential threat. When the Macedonian king Alexander the Great finally conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BCE, Greek culture spread throughout the Near East, but local dynasties—first the Parthian (247 BCE–224 CE) and then the Sasanian (224–651 CE)—reestablished themselves. The rise of the Roman Empire as a world power quickly brought it, too, into conflict with Persia, despite the common trade that flowed through their territories. Persia addresses the political, intellectual, religious, and artistic relations between Persia, Greece, and Rome from the seventh century BCE to the Arab conquest of 651 CE. Essays by international scholars trace interactions and exchanges of influence. With more than three hundred images, this richly illustrated volume features sculpture, jewelry, silver luxury vessels, coins, gems, and inscriptions that reflect the Persian ideology of empire and its impact throughout Persia’s own diverse lands and the Greek and Roman spheres.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-402) and index.

The Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BC -- Map -- Time Line of Achaemenid Kings -- Persia Before the Persians / Timothy Potts -- Shifting Identities in Pre-Achaemenid Iran: Elamites, Medes, and Persians / Wouter F. M. Henkelman -- Kingship in the Achaemenid Empire / Robert Rollinger -- Visual Arts of Collective Imperial Identity: from Persepolis to the Mediterranean / Margaret Cool Root -- The Greco-Persian Wars: Image, Effect, and Afterlife / Margaret C. Miller -- Greeks, Lydians, Carians, and Lycians in Achaemenid Asia Minor / Jeffrey Spier -- Persia in Cyprus / Antigoni Zournatzi -- The Achaemenid Empire: Catalogue 1-78 -- The Parthian Empire, ca. 247 BC-AD 224 -- Map -- Time Line of Seleucid and Arsacid Kings and Roman Emperors -- Alexander the Great and the Seleucids: Iran in the Hellenistic Period (ca. 330-150 BC) / Rolf Strootman -- The Parthian Empire / Jake Nabel -- Parthia and the Geography of Empire / Stefan R. Hauser -- In Search of Parthian Art: Arsacid Influence in the Representational Arts of the Parthian Empire / Lucinda Dirven -- Religion in the Parthian Empire / Albert de Jong -- Greek in Asia: Understanding Hellenism in Susa and Seleucia on the Tigris / Vito Messina and Miguel John Versluys -- The Parthian Empire: Catalogue 79-144 -- The Sasanian Empire: AD 224-561 -- Map -- Time Line of Sasanian Kings and Roman and Byzantine Emperors -- The Sasanian Empire / M. Rahim Shayegan -- The Royal Image in Ancient Persia / Matthew P. Canepa -- Persia and Rome: the Historical and Ideological Gaze / Touraj Daryaee -- Epilogue: the End of Antiquity in Iran and the Postclassical Inheritance / Hugh Kennedy -- The Sasanian Empire: Catalogue 145-209.

The founding of the first Persian Empire by the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great in the sixth century BCE established one of the greatest world powers of antiquity. Extending from the borders of Greece to northern India, Persia was seen by the Greeks as a vastly wealthy and powerful rival and often as an existential threat. When the Macedonian king Alexander the Great finally conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BCE, Greek culture spread throughout the Near East, but local dynasties—first the Parthian (247 BCE–224 CE) and then the Sasanian (224–651 CE)—reestablished themselves. The rise of the Roman Empire as a world power quickly brought it, too, into conflict with Persia, despite the common trade that flowed through their territories. Persia addresses the political, intellectual, religious, and artistic relations between Persia, Greece, and Rome from the seventh century BCE to the Arab conquest of 651 CE. Essays by international scholars trace interactions and exchanges of influence. With more than three hundred images, this richly illustrated volume features sculpture, jewelry, silver luxury vessels, coins, gems, and inscriptions that reflect the Persian ideology of empire and its impact throughout Persia’s own diverse lands and the Greek and Roman spheres.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition held at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa, Malibu, 6 April - 8 August 2022.