Persians

The Age of the Great Kings

By: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Narrated by: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

A stunning portrait of the magnificent splendor of ancient Persia and its enduring legacies for today's Iran.

“A brilliant feat of resurrection.” -Tom Holland, author of Dominion

The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. From the palace-city of Persepolis, Cyrus the Great, Darius, Xerxes, and their heirs reigned supreme for centuries until the conquests of Alexander of Macedon brought the empire to a swift and unexpected end in the late 330s BCE.

In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance.

This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran, a book that completely reshapes our understanding of the ancient world.

Critic reviews

“There is a long legacy of misinformation around ancient Persian empires, the lives of its leaders, and greater Persian society. However, by examining the artifacts and monuments that remain, historian Llewellyn-Jones brings forth a view of ancient Persia that is rich in tradition and historical significance.”—Library Journal

“Immersive… Llewellyn-Jones expertly illuminates the decentralized, multicultural nature of the Achaemenid empire and offers valuable perspective on the modern Middle East, where the great kings of ancient Persia still feature in Iran’s national self-image. This is a valuable contribution to the understanding of ‘history’s first great superpower.’—Publishers Marketplace

“A brilliant feat of resurrection, restoring to the Persian Empire the color, 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.”—Tom Holland, author of Dominion

"Always lively, often challenging, this is a very welcome exploration of one of the greatest empires and cultures of the ancient world. Highly recommended."—Adrian Goldsworthy, author of Philip and Alexander

“Superb, authoritative, and compelling, a fresh history of the Persian Great Kings that combines exuberant storytelling with outstanding scholarship that is both entertaining and bracing 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.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem: The Biography

“Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones brings the men, women, and rich history of ancient Persia alive in technicolor splendor with energy, passion, and real understanding. This is immersive time travel of the highest order.”—Samira Ahmed, journalist and broadcaster

“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.”
—Touraj Daryaee, University of California, Irvine

“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.”—Helen King, professor emerita, Classical Studies, The Open University

Well-written Valuable History

A good knowledge of the Persians is vital to understanding ancient history. This is a great place to start. Based on careful research, good historical imagination (in the best sense), and realistic analysis, the author provides a corrective both to the Herodotan view that the Persians were oppressors determined to destroy Greek culture or an entirely peaceful and beneficial presence to their subject peoples. Very highly recommended.

Excellent read!

This is a thorough examination of Persian (Achaemenid) history challenging traditional Western assumptions. The author brilliantly acknowledges how Greek sources inform our understandings of Persian history while tactfully preferencing the rich source materials of cuneiform tablets, inscriptions, and other archaeological sources.

Divided into three sections, the first and third detail Achaemenid history using a narrative chronological approach demarcated by each king’s reign. The second section focuses on Achaemenid culture. Readers can listen to just sections 1 and 3 for a more narrative reading of Persian history. However, when read in totality, section 2 is a nice reprieve helping to contextualize Achaemenid culture. Having this understanding prior to reading section 3 better situates the subsequent dynastic squabbles that would ultimately lead to the empire’s conquest.

I would strongly recommend this book.

True Persian history

I love how thorough the author is and points our the Western biase towards Persia because their history was told by the Greeks. This is well researched. My only criticism is that I wish he'd had help from native Farsi speakers on some of the pronunciations.

So good I read it twice

This book is a must for any history buff! Such finese in capturing the essence of a truly great empire that westerners know next to nothing about. I’d say it’s an introductory course that would be incredible to introduce to younger audiences to elevate their understanding of world history, since we usually only get a glimpse and only from the conquerors POV. I have come away with such a better idea of how the Middle East and Iran itself has evolved over time and a newfound respect for the Persians.

excellent

Thorough and detailed, but not a boring recitation of facts. It is well written stories of history that are very listenable.