Persians: The Age of the Great Kings Hardcover – April 12, 2022

This is one of the best histories of classic Persia out there. The author does a good job of trying to focus on some different sources, although of course they still have to inevitably rely on much Greek writing as well. The author is perhaps a bit too forgiving of some of the problems with the Persian state, but I understand they are trying to compensate for the relatively unfair view many classic Greek, Roman and European writers had about the Persian Empire. Anyways, it's a good book and will provide you with a lot of information about Persia. Also fairly readable, even for the amateur historian.

Unbiased and beautifully written history of the Persians by the PersiansSince the era of the Greco-Persian Wars, the Persians themselves have been at the receiving end of a historiographic smear campaign in which they have been cast as the tyrannical oppressors of the free world. The Western intellectual commitment to the promotion of its own supposed singularity and superiority has been very damaging for the study of Persia’s history. It is time to rectify the long-standing injurious distortion that the Persians have suffered by giving ear to a genuine ancient Persian voice. The Persians were never out to destroy “democracy” (whatever “democracy” means in its ancient context). In fact, many Ionian Greek city states continued to practice “democracy” under Persian rule—after all, the Persians recognized the Ionian Greeks’ dislike of autocratic tyrants and they happily replaced them with democracies. Had the Achaemenids brought the mainland Greeks into their empire, they doubtless would have tolerated democracy there as well. They might even have encouraged it. A Persian victory over Sparta—the most oppressive freedom-denying slave state of antiquity—would have been a win for liberty. It would have put an end to Sparta’s terrorist-like hold over the rest of Greece. The idea that the Persians inhibited and held back Europe’s cultural development is absurd.The Persian VersionTruth-loving Persians do not dwell uponThe trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.As for the Greek theatrical traditionWhich represents that summer's expeditionNot as a mere reconnaissance in forceBy three brigades of foot and one of horse(Their left flank covered by some obsoleteLight craft detached from the main Persian fleet)But as a grandiose, ill-starred attemptTo conquer Greece - they treat it with contempt;And only incidentally refuteMajor Greek claims, by stressing what reputeThe Persian monarch and the Persian nationWon by this salutary demonstration:Despite a strong defence and adverse weatherAll arms combined magnificently together.-Robert Graves

Mr. Lloyd-Llewellyn-Jones who comes from Great Britain, in fact from Wales, has written and published recently a book about the first Persian Empire in human history. This empire is known as the Achaemenid Empire. He entitled his book ''Persians. The Age of the Great Kings''. This is a work of history which is written really skillfully as well as beautifully, in which the author fell in the limitless love with the object of his study. This fact alters some conclusions and evaluations the reader of this book encounters. It happens when one has an emotional approach to the topic with which one works. This Welsh admirer of anything Persian has offered to his reader, as he wrote himself, a ''Persian version'' of history. In my opinion he achieved his goal as much as the nature of the available sources and his own looking at the world by the Persian optics allowed him.Xerxes, who is mainly associated with the quite unsuccessful invasion of the Greek states, was the last ruler from the Achaemenid dynasty when during his reign the Persian state was in a good shape. After his assasination this state ''was feeling'' well for a short period of time, and times which followed it were only worse. The reasons for such a condition were among others the numerous arguments and rivalry within the Royal House which was ruling this giant country. These arguments and rivalry include also the ones between the very ambitious ladies of the ruling Royal House as well as the countless intrigues by eunuchs.Author cannot admit that the crisis of the Persian State started after the death of Xerxes and was constantly progressing. Court intrigues and influences of eunuchs were only growing with time weakening the central power. For example, Mausolus who died in 353 B.C., whose name gave to the future generations the term ''Mausoleum'', and his sweeping independence in ruling over his own satrapy, clearly demonstrates strong destabilizing tendencies in the Achaemenid state in the middle of the 4th century B.C. Mr. Llewellyn-Jones does not mention Mausolus in his book, albeit he points at the negative destabilizing processes and their numerous consequences, which were digesting the Persian state in the described historical period. In conclusion one can state that despite strong emotional affection towards the object of his study, the author tries to do his best to fulfill his duty as a historian.One can find it strange to encounter within this book the Elamite civilization, which flourished in the south west territories of modern Iran, included into the group of civilizations which were flourishing one after another in so-called Mesopotamia. These civilisations were interacting with each other profoundly and intensively. There are many examples for such interactions between these two civilisations. Even a famous stele of Hammurabi had been found in the territory of ancient Elamite Susa. It went there, because in the 12th century B.C. one of the Elamite kings took it as a war booty during one of his raids on the lands of Babylon, which was experiencing a difficult time those days.In contrast to Greeks who had for instance ''The Father of History'' Herodotus whose immortal work entitled ''Histories'' is mercilessly lashed by Mr. Llewellyn-Jones in many paragraphs of his book, Persians did not have a professional historiography in those days. Generally speaking, the author takes an incredible effort to deny allegedly always scurrilous western propaganda about Persians and their first great Empire. I must sincerely admit that not always he reaches his task in the best way. At this point one needs to mention in connection with the work of Herodotus, the author of the discussed work downgrades the meaning of the defeats in Greece, which the armed forces of the Persian Empire ultimately suffered badly in so-called Greco-Persian Wars.This what is of great importance in terms of the quality of message which is offered to the reader is the fact that the author openly writes about the sophisticated atrocities of the Achaemenid regime which were experienced by everyone who was not in agreement with this power. In this matter Persians were very capable pupils who had been following ''the best'' Assyrian patterns. Mr. Llewellyn-Jones deserves high praise for the intensive usage of preserved clay tablets, which have been excavated from the soils in the lands of ancient Mesopotamia.Alleged promotion of multiculturalism by the Persian authorities of those days is an exaggerated statement. They were tolerant only as much as they had to be in order to keep their state in one piece. This state lasted too short to even think about any form of ''Persification'' of the conquered peoples. Regardless of the above, Persians have a sort of national and cultural superiority complex with respect to the surrounding nations.This book is worth reading in order to extend the reader's horizons and knowledge. Although, one needs to read this work carefully due to the author's emotional approach to the described topic.

Lots of history books can get really dry and bogged down with boring details. This book avoids the traps of most history books. The author did a great job of making the storyline sound and easy to grasp.The middle third of the book talks a lot about the culture of the Persians, which would usually be the most boring part of a history book. But again the author did a great job of actually making it interesting and not painful to read.