Book, Persian State, O[LS]

A Hellenist by training, a scholar of relations between the Greek and Eastern world, David Asheri offers, at the same time, a beautiful introduction to the knowledge of the Persian empire, and guides the reader, in a fascinating way, through some of the main themes of political and historical reflection ancient (and not only): the relationship between center and periphery, the monarchical ideal, the assertion of imperial power, religious 'tolerance'. Persian expansion, from the mountains of Iran to almost all of central and western Asia, led to the establishment of 'the first truly universal empire remembered in world history [...]'. The universality of the Achaemenid monarchy lies entirely in this grandiose attempt to unify the middle and eastern regions.