Ancient Persia

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines the history of Iranian peoples from their origins in the Eurasian steppes to the emergence, development, and fall of Achaemenid Persia – the first and, in Greek history, most significant Persian empire of pre-Islamic Iran. Beginning with the Indo-European and Indo-Iranian roots of Iranian culture in Central Asia, we will examine the social, linguistic, and religious diversification of Iranian peoples from the Pontic Caspian Steppe to the Middle East, leading up to the formation of organized states in the Iranian plateau. Here we will trace the rise of the Persian empire, its organization under Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, and their successors, and, in particular, its military, diplomatic, and cultural relations with the Greek-speaking world. By carefully evaluating evidence from a variety of sources (Greek : non-Greek, prose : poetry, and textual : material), students will achieve a solid understanding of the foundations of a civilization among the world’s most influential and critical to understand.