Persians: The Age of the Great Kings - Paperback

by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (Author)

A stunning portrait of the magnificent splendor of ancient Persia and its enduring legacies for today's Iran.

"A brilliant feat of resurrection." -Tom Holland, author of Dominion

The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. From the palace-city of Persepolis, Cyrus the Great, Darius, Xerxes, and their heirs reigned supreme for centuries until the conquests of Alexander of Macedon brought the empire to a swift and unexpected end in the late 330s BCE.

In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world's first superpower--one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance.

This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran, a book that completely reshapes our understanding of the ancient world.

Author Biography

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the chair in ancient history at Cardiff University and is the former director of the Ancient Iran Program for the British Institute of Persian Studies. Cohost of the Biblical Time Machine podcast, he is the author of The Cleopatras and the forthcoming Babylon and lives in Taffs Well, Wales.