Download Sasanian Persia The Rise and Fall of an Empire International Library of Iranian Studies Touraj Daryaee Books

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Of profound importance in late antiquity, the Sasanian Empire is almost completely unknown today, except as a counterpoint to the Roman Empire. What are the reasons for this ignorance and why does the Sasanian Empire matter? In this brilliant and highly readable new history Touraj Daryaee fills a huge gap in our knowledge of world history. He examines the Sasanians' complex and colorful narrative and demonstrates their unique significance, not only for the development of Iranian civilization but also for Roman and Islamic history.

The Sasanians were the last of the ancient Persian dynasties and are best known as the preeminent practitioners of the Zoroastrian religion. In this concise yet comprehensive new book, Touraj Daryaee provides an unrivalled account of Sasanian Persia. Drawing on extensive new sources he paints a vivid portrait of Sasanian life and unravels the divergent strands that contributed to the making of this great Empire. Sasanian Persia is a unique examination of a period of history that still has great significance for a full understanding of modern Iran.

Download Sasanian Persia The Rise and Fall of an Empire International Library of Iranian Studies Touraj Daryaee Books

"It has been over 70 years since there was a book soley devoted to the Sasanian Empire and all its splendor. Because of this, it is a huge understatement to say how vital and invaluable this book is to students, scholars, and educated lay readers. Another strength of this book is the vast prestige of its author, Touraj Daryaee, a scholar of Iranian Studies with a focus of late antique Iran. Here is a concise list of the features and content the book has which are:

1. Covers the poltical, cultural, religious, textual, lingustic, and economic history of a rather neglected civilization.
2. Uses and relies a lot on native sources, which is a first as other books use mainly foreign souces from rivals and other contemporaries.
3. The book has a family tree of the Sasanian kings and queens and a extensive bibliography for further reading.
4. It has many stunning photos and illustrations.
5. Despite it being a rigorous academic book, it is written in a clear and accessibe way.

As I've mentioned above, the book basically covers everything about the Sasanian Empire and does in a groundbreaking way. I can't shower this book with more praise and I believe this work should be read by all students, scholars, and others who are interested in this inexplicably overlooked but incredibly glorious civilization."

Product details Series International Library of Iranian Studies Paperback 256 pages Publisher I.B. Tauris; Reprint edition (April 15, 2013) Language English ISBN-10 1780763786

Tags : Sasanian Persia The Rise and Fall of an Empire (International Library of Iranian Studies) (9781780763781) Touraj Daryaee Books,Touraj Daryaee,Sasanian Persia The Rise and Fall of an Empire (International Library of Iranian Studies),I.B. Tauris,1780763786,Iran - History - To 640,Iran;History;To 640.,Sassanids,Sassanids.,102906 Bloomsbury Academic Text,ANCIENT WORLD HISTORY,ASIA - HISTORY,Ancient - General,Ancient / General,Ancient Egypt,Ancient World,Ancient history,Ancient history to c 500 CE,Asia,Asia - India South Asia,Asia / India South Asia,Civilization,Great Britain/British Isles,HISTORY / Ancient / General,HISTORY / Asia / India South Asia,HISTORY / General,HISTORY / Middle East / General,History,History - General History,History/Ancient - General,History/Asia - India South Asia,History/Civilization,History/World,History World,Iran,Iran - History - To 640,Iran;History;To 640.,Middle East - General,Non-Fiction,Sassanids,Sassanids.,Scholarly/Undergraduate,TEXT,To 640,Ancient - General,Ancient / General,Asia - India South Asia,Asia / India South Asia,Civilization,HISTORY / Ancient / General,HISTORY / Asia / India South Asia,HISTORY / General,HISTORY / Middle East / General,History/Ancient - General,History/Asia - India South Asia,History/Civilization,Middle East - General,History - General History,Ancient World History,Asia - History,Iran,To 640,Ancient Egypt,Ancient World,History World,Ancient history,History,Ancient history to c 500 CE

Sasanian Persia The Rise and Fall of an Empire International Library of Iranian Studies Touraj Daryaee Books Reviews :

Sasanian Persia The Rise and Fall of an Empire International Library of Iranian Studies Touraj Daryaee Books Reviews

• This is an interesting book. It is well written and very informative. The emphasis is on topics such as the society of the Sasanian Empire, the religions of the empire, the languages that were spoken, trade, and how the empire was administrated. The political history – the individual kings, and the wars with Rome and Byzantium are covered in a total of only 38 pages. I was hoping more on these topics, causing my 4-star rating instead of 5-stars. Otherwise, I think that the book gave an interesting picture of this empire and its importance for the history of the region.
  
  The book utilizes end-notes, has 32 black and white photographs printed on glossy paper. It has one map at the beginning of the book, which I found to be of little use as only about a dozen important cities are shown, with some rivers (shown but not identified), along with some areas, such as Armenia, but without boundary demarcations. The book has a useful Sasanian Family Tree, which lists the Kings and others in the family line. It has a bibliography and index.
• It has been over 70 years since there was a book soley devoted to the Sasanian Empire and all its splendor. Because of this, it is a huge understatement to say how vital and invaluable this book is to students, scholars, and educated lay readers. Another strength of this book is the vast prestige of its author, Touraj Daryaee, a scholar of Iranian Studies with a focus of late antique Iran. Here is a concise list of the features and content the book has which are
  
  1. Covers the poltical, cultural, religious, textual, lingustic, and economic history of a rather neglected civilization.
  2. Uses and relies a lot on native sources, which is a first as other books use mainly foreign souces from rivals and other contemporaries.
  3. The book has a family tree of the Sasanian kings and queens and a extensive bibliography for further reading.
  4. It has many stunning photos and illustrations.
  5. Despite it being a rigorous academic book, it is written in a clear and accessibe way.
  
  As I've mentioned above, the book basically covers everything about the Sasanian Empire and does in a groundbreaking way. I can't shower this book with more praise and I believe this work should be read by all students, scholars, and others who are interested in this inexplicably overlooked but incredibly glorious civilization.
• I had to purchase this book for my UCI course on Ancient Persia (the author of this book teaches this course) and even though the Roman Empire was the dominant empire of late antiquity, the Sasanian Empire stands out as the dominant hegemon of the Middle East during the epoch of late antiquity, constituting the last chapter of pre-Islamic Iranian history.
  
  The most notable aspect of Sasanian Persia was the fact that a new religion came into being in the form of Manicheanism, named after the Persian prophet Mani (whom I refer to as the Persian Gandhi because the faith he propagated embraced non-violence). Because Manicheanism co-existed with Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism in the Sasanian era, one can comprehend the unprecedented degree of tolerance for diverse religious faiths in Sasanian Persia.
• First off, this book is a vital one for the study of Sassanian history since there really isn't anything else like it in English. This book and its companion book Sasanian Iran Portrait of a Late Antique Empire are the only books for a general audience that are devoted solely to the Sassanians. There are a few other books that deal with specific issues within the Sassanid empire such as The Sasanian Era (a collection of essays), Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran (which argues about a specific issue within the empire), and Sasanian Society Warriors, Scribes, Dehqans (an analysis of one aspect of Persian society). There are also a number that deal with the Sassanians within the context of greater Iranian history including Frye's excellent The Heritage of Persia The Golden Age of Persia,Ancient Persia, and Arsacids and Sasanians Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia. There are also foreign language books that deal solely with the Sassians such as 'L'Iran sous les Sassanides' and 'Grundzüge der Geschichte des sasanidischen Reiches.' But in English these two books are it.
  
  While his previous book dealt with the political history this one covers the social, economic, and religious background. Both of these work best in tandem.
  
  There aren't really any problems with this book that couldn't be solved by a good editor or proofreader. There are many examples of sentences which show that the author is not a native English speaker and display rather an excess of punctuation. Such as from the Introduction "Do we stay silent for the fifth century and make do with what we have, which is very little, or try, according to historians, to do a reading against the grain?" The introduction also gets the chapters wrong. He says that the chapter order is 1. Political, 2. Religious, 3. Economic, 4. Sociological, and 5. Textural. In reality the chapters go 1. Political, 2. Social, 3. Religious, 4. Textural, 5. Economic. This isn't a particularly major problem here but it is symptomatic of a greater lack of care and attention to detail throughout the book. I actually think that the publishers are more to blame for this than the author since they are a small printing company and seem to be filled with Iranian speakers. As such they are unlikely to do as thorough a job of proofreading as a larger publisher would.
  
  The first chapter is a political narrative of Sassanian history. Dr. Daryaee has really been quite lazy here since it is nothing but an abbreviation of his first book. It provides nothing new and in many cases even includes the exact same wording. Here's page 25 from that book "What was the lie? In effect, although Philip had promised to allow the Iranian control of Armenia, he did not actually cede Armenia to the Sasanians." Compare that with page 7 of this book "What was this lie? In effect, although Philip had promised to give Iranians control over Armenia, he did not cede Armenia to the Sasanians." One or two words changed is still paraphrasing. If it wasn't his own work that he copied this would be plagiarism. As it is it's just very lazy. How hard would it be to rewrite the entire section? If you've got the time or the money I'd recommend that book over this chapter. This one abbreviates the other a bit too much and is unclear in several sections. But reading both will gain you nothing. It's about half the length and contains the same information.
  
  As with his last book there are several anti-Western comments and complaints of prejudice, but they are so toned down that I probably wouldn't have even noticed them if I hadn't read that book first. This makes the book that much more readable since, let's face it, nobody likes to hear foreigners tell them how bad they are. Especially when they're unfair about it and especially when they're from places like Iran which, as you may know, doesn't have the greatest of governments right now. So well done on that score. Hopefully Dr. Daryaee will follow through on his promise to write a more in depth work about some of the topics covered in here because I would very much like to read it. This work is really just an introduction to the Sassanians and hopefully there will be more to come.
• This is a comprehensive, easily readable, well-researched and very enlightening book on one of the most fascinating periods of Iranian history. A must-read for any lover of history.