Xerxes: A Persian LifeYale University Press, 15 Αυγ 2015 - 288 σελίδες Xerxes, Great King of the Persian Empire from 486–465 B.C., has gone down in history as an angry tyrant full of insane ambition. The stand of Leonidas and the 300 against his army at Thermopylae is a byword for courage, while the failure of Xerxes’ expedition has overshadowed all the other achievements of his twenty-two-year reign. In this lively and comprehensive new biography, Richard Stoneman shows how Xerxes, despite sympathetic treatment by the contemporary Greek writers Aeschylus and Herodotus, had his reputation destroyed by later Greek writers and by the propaganda of Alexander the Great. Stoneman draws on the latest research in Achaemenid studies and archaeology to present the ruler from the Persian perspective. This illuminating volume does not whitewash Xerxes’ failings but sets against them such triumphs as the architectural splendor of Persepolis and a consideration of Xerxes’ religious commitments. What emerges is a nuanced portrait of a man who ruled a vast and multicultural empire which the Greek communities of the West saw as the antithesis of their own values. |
Περιεχόμενα
1 | |
17 | |
chapter two The Persian Empire | 35 |
chapter three The Image of a King | 69 |
chapter four The Religion of Xerxes | 88 |
The Cornerstone ofGreek Freedom | 109 |
The Wooden Walls | 139 |
chapter seven Persepolis | 160 |
Conclusion | 210 |
Appendix 1 Xerxes in Opera and Drama | 219 |
Appendix 2 The Birth of Persian Kings | 223 |
Appendix 3 The Chronology of Xerxes Advancethrough Greece | 226 |
Abbreviations | 229 |
Notes | 230 |
258 | |
268 | |
Άλλες εκδόσεις - Προβολή όλων
Συχνά εμφανιζόμενοι όροι και φράσεις
according to Herodotus Achaemenid Aelian Aelian VH Aeschylus Ahura Mazda Alexander Alexander’s Amestris ancient apadana Artabanus Artaxerxes Artemision Asia Athenian Athens Atossa Babylon Babylonian Bactria battle Book of Esther Briant Brosius brother building Cambyses campaign century Cimon commander Couperus Ctesias Cyrop Cyrus Darius daughter death Demaratus depicted described Diod Diodorus Esfandiyar eunuchs father Ferdowsi FGrH fleet garden Gaumata gods gold Greece Greek Gushtasp harem Hellespont Herodotus Herzfeld historians Hystaspes inscription interpretation Iranian king’s Kuhrt land later Leonidas Llewellyn-Jones Magi magus Mardonius Masistes mother Ottoman palace Pasargadae Pausanias perhaps Persepolis Persian court Persian Empire Persian king Plataea Plut Plutarch queen reign reliefs religion revolt royal ruler Salamis Sancisi-Weerdenburg Sardis Sassanian satrap says seems Shahbazi Shahnameh ships Spartan Stoneman story Strabo Susa temple Themistocles Thermopylae throne tomb tradition tree tribute troops Vidal Wiesehöfer wife women writers Xenophon Xerxes Zoroaster Zoroastrian