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Persians

The Age of The Great Kings

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Persians

By: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Narrated by: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
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About this listen

 PERSIANS is a definitive new history of the Persian Empire, the world's first superpower.

The Great Kings of Persia ruled over the largest Empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the Steppes of Asia, and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. At the heart of the Empire was the fabled palace-city of Persepolis where the Achaemenid monarchs held court in unparalleled grandeur. From here, Cyrus the Great, Darius, Xerxes, and their heirs passed laws, raised armies, and governed their multicultural Empire of enormous diversity.

The Achaemenids, however, were one of the great dysfunctional families of history. Brothers fought brothers for power, wives and concubines plotted to promote their sons to the throne, and eunuchs and courtiers vied for influence and prestige.

Our understanding of the Persian Empire has traditionally come from the histories of Greek writers such as Herodotus - and as such, over many centuries, our perspective has been skewed by ancient political and cultural agendas. Professor Llewellyn-Jones, however, calls upon original Achaemenid sources, including inscriptions, art, and recent archaeological discoveries in Iran, to create an authentic 'Persian Version' of this remarkable first great empire of antiquity - the Age of the Great Kings.

(P) 2022 Headline Publishing Group Ltd©2022 Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Ancient Civilization Middle East World Ancient History Royalty Africa Iran Thought-Provoking Ancient Greece

Critic reviews

A gripping and more Persian-centric story... Llewellyn-Jones is very good at righting the record
A lively and highly readable revisionist history of the rule of the Persian 'Great Kings.'
This book is as close as one can get to stepping back into the Persian Empire without the aid of a Tardis.
Superb, authoritative, and compelling, a fresh history of the Persian Great Kings that combines exuberant storytelling with outstanding scholarship that is both entertaining and bracingly revisionist, filled with a cast of ruthless conquerors, queens, eunuchs and concubines that brings the Persian world blazingly to life through Persian instead of the usual Greek sources. The result is a tour de force.
A masterful account and evocation of the history and culture of the first true world empire
Always lively, often challenging, this is a very welcome exploration of one of the greatest empires and cultures of the ancient world. Highly recommended
This is an engaging, pacy account of the Persian Empire which is based on a rich range of sources. Going right up to the use of Cyrus the Great in modern Iran, the 'Persian Version' on which Professor Lloyd-Jones focuses has much to tell us about how different cultures create history and use it to tell their stories
A brilliant feat of resurrection, restoring to the Persian Empire the colour, brilliance, and complexity that renders it one of the most fascinating and influential of ancient civilizations, and of which for so long, in most histories of antiquity, it has been bled.
Persians is a wonderful introduction to the ancient world's largest and most consequential empire. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is one of the foremost scholars of Achaemenid history, and he gives us a gripping account of the history of ancient Persia, tracking how a small tribal society in southwestern Iran came to be the world's first superpower.
For too long the world of Achaemenid Persia has been viewed through the eyes of often hostile foreigners. In this compelling investigation Llewellyn-Jones draws on a wealth of evidence - from imposing cliff-cut inscriptions to tiny seal-rings - to reveal the Persian Version of its empire's stirring history, far removed from the traditional stereotype. Spotlighting not just the royal dynasty but a wealth of other characters (including ambitious courtiers, a wily Egyptian administrator, a Greek slave-girl enmeshed in Persia's great power game) he brings to vivid life a sophisticated, highly complex, tightly run society with an acute sense of its place within the cosmos, where devotion to the Truth could coexist with cruelty and violence, and imperialism with cultural and religious tolerance. Clear, convincing, and meticulously researched, Persians, The Age of the Great Kings is not just a timely reassessment of the world's first superpower - it's a wonderfully accessible page-turner to boot
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This was an excellent listen! It is read by the author with real intelligence and clarity. He made the past really come to life. Plus, his Welsh accent was a lovely bonus!
The work is a really gripping history of the Persian empire. It is challenging, because the author argues, very persuasively, that Persia needs to be given its place in history and that reliance on western accounts of antiquity is misleading and wrong. The book is filled with interesting stories and great characters. I really enjoyed it and learned loads from it.

Fascinating new history of ancient Persia

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Excellent narration.
Throughly researched.
A must listen for any lover of people and history and a refreshing take on (in the final part ) on Irans modern history.

Superb.

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I enjoyed listening, it is educational & enlightening.
Please send me more of your well structured vocabulary audible books.
The unknown & controversial history of Iran needs more original reliable sources to enable the passionate reader to indulge in its interesting past .I am passionate history reader . I will always remain in search of high caliber history authors who deliver quality & style.It would be very helpful to know / to have References used to compile history books .Well done

Thank you
Professor Read

My Comments & Views

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Narrated by the author, this audiobook is a great review of an oft missed great empire of history, the Achaemenid Empire. Most of us have little knowledge of this empire and what we do have is from heavily biased Greek authors (who were long time enemies of the Persians). As such, for researching this Llewellyn-Jones used Persian documents primarily for information, Greek documents are used when their is no Persian documents or to show the difference about what each nation has said about the Persians. This book is in the 3 parts, the first an introduction to the Persian empire, covering the first few Kings who took Persia from a small group of nomads to a huge empire. The second section covers Persian culture in general and giving information on life in the empire and the vast differences between this middle eastern empire and our western empires. The third section then continues the history lesson covering the rest of the Persians monarchs and finishing with the collapse due to Alexander the Great. Llewellyn-Jones expects no pre-knowledge of the empire and does not get too detailed, leaving you overwhelmed but still gives plenty of information. As a narrator he has a voice that is very easy to listen to and you can tell his great interest and passion in the subject. I have been inspired to read more of his books and research papers.

A great book on an often forgotten great empire

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I view Iran and the middle east differently and with great respect and affection as a result!

Fascinating and timely!

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