Xerxes

A Persian Life

By: Richard Stoneman

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Hardcover | 15 August 2015 | Edition Number 1

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Hardcover
288 Pages

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23.99 x 16.49 x 3.1

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Xerxes, Great King of the Persian Empire from 486-465 BC, 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, archaeology, and the echoes of Xerxes' actions in later Persian literature to present the ruler from the Persian perspective. This illuminating volume does not whitewash Xerxes' failings-including an unsavory affair with his own niece, as well as a tendency to self-doubt-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. That perspective still infects Western perceptions of Iran and the Middle East.

Industry Reviews

'Recent scholarly approaches to the lives of ancient Iranian monarchs have opted for the Reception Studies approach, filtering the rulers through the long-lens of ancient and modern historiography. Not so Richard Stoneman. He boldly bucks the trend and in his Xerxes: A Persian Life proves that it is possible to write a very good biography of a long-dead Persian. He takes a cradle-to-grave (or harem-to-ossuary) approach in doing so and tackles the complex, conflicting, multi-layered sources with gusto.'-Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, THE -- Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Times Higher Education "A biography that awakens curiosity and whets the appetite for more information."-Kirkus Reviews Kirkus Reviews "Stoneman shows Xerxes in an exciting new light."?Choice Choice "Stoneman succeeds in offering a re-examination, or a biography as he calls it, of Xerxes' life and work... A useful companion for everyone interested in the Greek-Persian wars, the civilizations of the Near East and especially those unfamiliar with the Achaemenid Empire."-Michael Iliakis, Bryn Mawr Classical Review -- Michael Iliakis Bryn Mawr

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