Trouble in the West Egypt and the Persian Empire, 525-332 BC

by Ruzicka, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780199766628
• ISBN10: 0199766622
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Trouble in the Westprovides the first full and continuous account of the Persian-Egyptian War, a conflict that continued for nearly the two-hundred-year duration of the Persian Empire. Despite its status as the largest of all ancient Persian military enterprises- including any aimed at Greece- this conflict has never been reconstructed in any detailed and comprehensive way. Thus, Trouble in the Westadds tremendously to our understanding of Persian imperial affairs. At the same time, it dramatically revises our understanding of eastern Mediterranean and Aegean affairs by linking Persian dealings with Greeks and other peoples in the west to Persia's fundamental, ongoing Egyptian concerns. In this study, Stephen Ruzicka argues that Persia's Egyptian problem and, conversely, Egypt's Persian problem, were much more important in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean worlds than our conventional Greek-centered perspective and sources have allowed us to see. In looking at this conflict as one stage in an enduring east-west conflict between successive Near Eastern imperial powers and Egypt-one which stretched across nearly the whole of ancient history-it represents an important turning point: by pulling in remote western states and peoples, who subsequently became masters of Egypt, western opposition to Near Eastern power was sustained right up to the 7th century Arab conquests. For classicists and historians of the ancient Near East, Trouble in the Westwill serve as a valuable, and long-overdue, resource.

Author Biography

Stephen Ruzicka is Associate Professor of History, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and author of Politics of a Persian Dynasty.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Author's Note	p. xi
List of Illustrations	p. xiii
Maps	p. xiv
Introduction: Stories and Sources	p. xix
Persia and Egypt: The Historical Context	p. 3
Persian Success: Conquest and Kingship, 525-518	p. 14
Managing Egypt, 518-415	p. 26
Losing Egypt, 415-400	p. 35
Securing the Eastern Mediterranean, 400-395	p. 41
Into the Aegean, 394-392	p. 49
To Egypt: Preparations and Campaign, 391-387	p. 66
The Egyptian War and the King's Peace, 387-386	p. 77
Egypt Strikes Back: The Cypriot War and the Struggle for the Eastern Mediterranean, 386-379	p. 83
Preparing the Second Campaign: Engaging Greeks, 380-373	p. 99
Pharnabazus and Iphicrates' Egyptian Campaign, 373	p. 114
Court Politics and the Collapse of the Third Campaign, 372-365	p. 122
Egyptian Strategy Shifts: The Genesis of Tachos' Great Offensive, 364-361	p. 134
Tachos: Campaign and Collapse, 360-359	p. 145
Persian Counterattack, 359?	p. 151
Artaxerxes III: King and Commander, 358-350	p. 154
Loss and Recovery of the Middle Territory, 350-345	p. 164
Persian Success, 344-342	p. 177
From Artaxerxes III to Alexander IE, 342-332	p. 199
East, West, and Far West after the Persians: The Long View	p. 210
Kings of Egypt and Persia	p. 219
Timeline/Chronological Chart	p. 221
List of Abbreviations	p. 223
Endnotes	p. 227
Bibliography	p. 285
Index	p. 307
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