By Ali Ansari Professor Ali Ansari argues that world history takes on a different hue when seen through Persian eyes, as he takes the listener on a grand journey from ancient past to immediate present. Professor Ansari…
by Touraj Daryaee and Khodadad Rezakhani Abstract: Daryaee introduces the Achaemenid Empire’s administrative system and discusses its appeal as a comparatively non-violent Iron Age Empire when set against Assyria,…
by Touraj Daryaee Abstract: Daryaee provides a brief narrative history of the Achaemenid Empire, examining its unprecedented achievements in unifying diverse provinces and in administering these through the satrapy…
by Touraj Daryaee Abstract: Daryaee shows that despite elephants’ status as demonic creatures in Zoroastrianism and the Sasanian dynasty’s formalisation of this faith as the official religion in Persia, there was broad…
by Touraj Daryaee Abstract: This survey article accounts for the developments made in Iranian historiography in the 20th century, focusing on developments in understanding around philology, religious history,…
by Touraj Daryaee Abstract: Daryaee contends that Sasanian views of the past were not borne of historical ignorance of the Achaemenids and their achievements but rather the products of a conscious decision to turn away…
by Touraj Daryaee Abstract: Daryaee shows that Herodotus was not an infallible interpreter of foreign cultural practices by showing that his presentation of Persian court drinking practices misunderstood the centrality…
Abstract: Streaming the Past is a Science Communciation Project by Leiden University and the VALUE Foundation. Funded by a Science Communication grant from the Dutch Science Organisation (NWO), a team of three students…
By Janett Morgan How did the Greek view of Persia and Persians change so radically in the archaic and classical Greek sources that they turned from noble warriors into peacock-loving cross-dressers with murderous…
By Elspeth R. M. Dusinberre The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) was a vast and complex sociopolitical structure that encompassed much of modern-day Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and…
Image Credit: Mohsen Tebi on Unsplash