Persians
The Age Of The Great Kings
By Lloyd LLewwllyn-Jones
I picked up this book to gain a bit more substance to my
general feeling that Cyrus and Darius were great benevolent kings. I wanted more insight and the book certainly
delivered. Turns out the Achaemenid
held rule over Persian Empire for a two hundred years (~550 -330 BCE). It was a classic familial royal dynasty, with
classic familial intrigue, including assassins, poisoning, and conquests. Wrapped
into this family were brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, mothers, concubines,
and lastly eunuchs. It seems eunuchs played
a major part in the executions of palace tasks, which positioned them in the
thick of the whispering plots. The prime
King names were:
- Cyrus
II “the Great” (550–529 BC)
- Cambyses
II (529–522 BC)
- Darius
I (522–486 BC)
- Xerxes
I (486–465 BC)
- Artaxerxes
I (465–425 BC)
- Xerxes
II (425–424 BC)
- Darius
II (423–404 BC)
- Artaxerxes
II (404–359 BC)
- Artaxerxes
III (359–338 BC)
- Arses
(338–336 BC)
- Darius
III (336–330 BC)
The book lacked maps of which I recommend you have next to
you while reading. Over time of conquest
Persian Empire spanned east to west from Pakistan to Euro Asia north to south
from the Black and Caspian Seas to Egypt and the Indus Valley (India). Each King had a hand in a new conquest, new
palace, and maintaining the peace of their conquest. The reader is made aware that what gave the
Ruler Kings a benevolent reputation is they allowed those they conquered for
the most part to continue their beliefs and way of life. So one may reflect on who the founding fathers
of the USA modeled their governance on?
The book concludes with a chapter King Alexander the Great on
the conquest of the Great Persian. And an
epilogue on how this history shapes the minds of modern day Iranians, of which
I have an affinity for. Missing in this
history is Persia from 530 BCE to 600 AD under Alexander rule and then Muslim
rule, and then the crucial story of Iran
from 1905 through 1979 of secular politics, and finally the brutal IRGC rule
from 1979 to present day.
Why is this history important to me? Because it helps re-enforce my hope for the
IRGC to be removed from Iran.
To come are the excerpts from the book… promise
