Annotated Bibliography
Jacob Wright
MAJ Garriott
ERH 201WX-01
Date:10/15/18
Word Count: 1643
Help Received: Writing Center, Chicago Manual of Style, Library search engine, Wiki for the authors, google
Abbott, Jacob. History of Xerxes the Great. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1854. Chapters 3 and 5
Xerxes relied on the advice of Artabanus, his uncle, whose decision it was to give the throne to Xerxes to begin with and Mardonius, the commander-in-chief of Xerxes’ armies. Mardonius wanted war with the Greeks as it would bring him glory and everlasting fame should he a quite himself heroically on the battlefield. Artabanus however cautioned Xerxes against war with the Greeks. Xerxes eventually decided to conquer the Greeks relying on the experienced nobles and officers who had fought the Greeks during the reign of the previous king Darius I. Xerxes had to wait until winter passed before crossing the Hellespont into Greece. The bridge at the Hellespont was destroyed during the winter at which point Xerxes was enraged and ordered the Hellespont be whipped as a symbol of his power over nature its self. The men that had built the bridge that had collapsed were not so lucky and Xerxes had them all beheaded.
Beny, Roloff. Iran elements of Destiny. McCelland and Steward, 1978. Plate 246.
Modern Persia although it has been taken over by Arabs and Islam during its expansion period still exhibits forms of the ancient practices of the Achaemenid Persians. The tribes’ people that lived in the mountains still live in much the same way as they have for the entirety of human history. In fact, the tribes provide Xerxes one tenth of the cavalry that he used to invade Greece in the 5th century BCE. The tribes have formed a core part of Persian history often the force of change driving out invaders and empire builders despite their simple lifestyles. Tribes children still learn in the traditional style that their ancestors learned, often in a tent rather than in brick and mortar schools.
Cook, J.M. The Persian Empire. New York: Schocken Books, 1983. Chapter 15.
Since the Achaemenid Persians were so successful at war and conquest they amassed a lot of wealth and spent it on vast building projects. Darius build his palaces to be fortress like as seen at Susa and Persepolis. Xerxes decorated these palaces with the Egyptian statues of his father, once again nodding to the multiculturalism of the Achaemenid Persian empire. The Gateway to all the lands is at the bottom of a great stairway leading to the palace flanked on either side by a pair of colossal Cherubim from Assyrian mythology. Darius made sure to record all the peoples whose labor, material and art that contributed to the building of the great palace at Susa were recorded and preserved. Achaemenid art was mainly focused on reliefs. It does not appear that many Medes art styles have surfaced yet at the time of writing this book and that the main artistic style in Achaemenid Persia is Assyrian in nature.
John Manuel Cook was a British archeologist educated at Marlborough college and went to king’s college, Cambridge. I intend to use this source to get a closer look at what sources Darius I drew from when building his palace at Persepolis.
Frye, Richard Nelson. The Heritage of Persia. Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, . P. 91.
The kings of Persia and often the Persians themselves often adopted the of the peoples that they conquered. This might stem from the idea that the king should be present in all societies and thus adopted the dress of the conquered peoples for this aim. The Persian king in ancient Achaemenid is supposed to be king of kings and adopts a new name upon there coronation being re-born in a sense. The king of kings takes on the identity as a god in the Persian pantheon during and after their life. They also serve in a religious capacity as a high priest of sorts. The king is supposed to be elected from among there peers, this is seen with the rise of Darius I when he rallies the great tribal leaders of Persia to his cause to over through the Usurper.
Richard Nelson Frye was a professor of Iranian and central Asian studies at Harvard. I intend to use this source to demonstrate the adaptability of the Persians to new cultures and demonstrate that the clothes styles that they wear are rhetorical in that they seek to find a closer understanding of their subject peoples rather than wipe out their culture.
This is a picture of a relief at the palace at Persepolis built by Darius I and finished by Xerxes I. This relief is important because it is demonstrating a ritual in which the subjects from across the empire would bring tribute to the king of the Persian empire. The people are wearing their traditional clothes of their own culture rather than adopting the Persian style. This establishes who is in charge of the empire without resorting to violence. The power is softer than that depicted in Assyrian art work which is often a violent hunt of some kind. The art work conveys a message of who is in charge but allows for the subject peoples to retain their own cultural identities. This is better than the alternative where there would be war and the tribute is a small price to pay for protection rather than as a conquering warlord.
The image originates from the Encyclopedia Iranica. I intend to use this source as an explicit piece of rhetoric created by the Achaemenian Persians to influence their subjects and is what I will be building towards throughout the essay.
Olmstead, A.T. History of the Persian Empire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959. Chapter 14.
After defeating the Usurper Darius set about reforming the Achaemenid Empire. Darius even wrote an auto biography of which some parts have survived until today. Darius implemented laws rather than judgements to reform his empire thus ensuring that any act that he carried cultures that they conquered. They even adopted the code of Hammurabi which was a Babylonian invention that the Achaemenids found useful as a list of key decisions that could be considered eternally valid. Although we have found many copies of Hammurabi’s law code very few of Darius’ laws have survived the passage of time. This might be because there were not as many copies made of them or they might not have been continued in use after Darius’ death. Darius was close to a monotheist in contrast to the Babylonians who were polytheist.
Olmstead was a professor who specialized at Assyriology. He died before completing the book, but his colleagues completed it and published. This source establishes the character of Darius I and what kind of king he was as an administrator rather than a conqueror. This helps with understanding the latter works in the palace at Persepolis.
Sykes, Percy. A History of Persia. 3rd ed. London: Mac Millan and Co., 1951. Chapters 13 and 14
At the height of its power Persian history and documents were written in writing often in clay. These were often related to the bureaucracy of the empire. From these sources it is possible to read about the different Persian kings and their conquests including dynastic disputes. It is interesting in that Cyrus the Great founder of the Achaemenid empire as it was understood had a dynastic dispute after his death. From that point forward there would be two dynastic trees in the empire trying to get control. This resulted in a couple of small civil wars but nothing that seriously threatened the empire until it’s collapses to the Macedonians. Court intrigue becomes particularly valuable from a rhetorical point of view as there was an attempt to usurp the empire after the death of Bardiya where Magian the usurper tried to keep his death a secret and the throne for himself. Eventually Darius I head of the second house of the line of Achaemenid defeated the usurper with the aid of the noble .
Sir Percy Sykes was a British general in first World War and was an honorary secretary of the Royal Central Asian Society. With this text I will establish the context for how Darius became a king of the Achaemenid empire.
Rogers, Robert Williams. A History of Ancient Persia. New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1929. Chapter 3.
The Religion of the Iranians and the Medes changed over their history. In the beginning they were polytheist worshiping several deities and had a fair many Animistic ideas in the religion. Eventually the idea of a good and bad spirits developed in folk lore most likely brought over from the Indians and their religious practices. This good and bad belief eventually became known as Zoroastrianism after the great profit Zarathustra named Zoroaster by the Greeks. The profit appears to be one of simple means living a simple life. There is little know about Zarathustra other than where his fathers house was located and that he often preached in Bactria converting the king Vishtaspa who lived in that city. Since Zoroaster relied on the king to lift his religion from poverty the religion was therefore bound to the state as the junior .
Robert Williams Rogers was a professor of exegetical theology at Drew Theological Seminary. I intended to use this source to establish a cultural narrative that will explain why it appears that the latter kings are tolerant to the cultures that they have subjugated. It also explains why the kings of Persia were so powerful in that they dominated the religion followed by their core subjects rather than be subject to the influence of a high priest of some kind.