Shadows in the Desert Ancient Persia at War

by Farrokh, Kaveh; Frye, Richard Nelson; Bull, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781846031083
• ISBN10: 1846031087
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-24
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

The ruins of Persepolis evoke the best-known events of ancient Persia's history: Alexander the Great's defeat of Darius III, his conquest of the Achaemenid empire, and the burning of the great palace complex at Persepolis. However, most of the history of ancient Persia remains as mysterious today as it was to contemporary Western scholars. Compared to the world-famous Alexander, the many wars won by the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanian empires, and their revolutionary military technology, have been almost forgotten in the sands of the East. In its day, Persia was a superpower to rival Greece and Rome, and conflict between them spanned over a millennium. Through these wars, and trade, these foes learnt from each other, not only adopting elements of military technology, but influences in the arts, architecture, religion, technology and learning. In this beautifully illustrated book, Dr Kaveh Farrokh narrates the history of Persia from before the first empires, through their wars with East and West to the fall of the Sassanians. He also delves into the forgotten cultural heritage of the Persians, spread across the world through war and conquest, which, even after the fall of the Sassanians, continued to impact upon the Western world.

Author Biography

Dr Kaveh Farrokh has been researching the military history and technology of Persia for two decades. He obtained his PhD in 2001 from the University of British Columbia, where he specialized on the acquisition of Persian languages. He has given lectures and seminars in the University of British Columbia and has written articles for various journals. He is the author of Elite 110: Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642. He is currently acting as historical advisor on a film project titled Cyrus the Great, and will be appearing in a History Channel documentary on the Persian Empire in October 2006. The author lives in Vancouver, Canada.