Ctesias' Persica and Its Near Eastern Context

Regular price €21.99
Regular price €27.50 Sale Sale price €21.99
Quantity:
In stock with our UK publisher. 14-28 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
14 days return policy Shipping & Delivery
A01=Matt Waters
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Matt Waters
automatic-update
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=DSBB
Category=HBJD
Category=HBJF1
Category=HBLA
Category=HBTB
Category=NHC
Category=NHD
Category=NHG
Category=NHTB
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=0
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Language_English
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
softlaunch

Product details

  • ISBN 9780299310943
  • Weight: 257g
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 30 Jan 2020
  • Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns
The Persica is an extensive history of Assyria and Persia written by the Greek historian Ctesias, who served as a doctor to the Persian king Artaxerxes II around 400 bce. Written for a Greek readership, the Persica influenced the development of both historiographic and literary traditions in Greece. It also, contends Matt Waters, is an essential but often misunderstood source for the history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.

Waters, as a historian of Persia with command of Akkadian, Elamite, and Old Persian languages in addition to Latin and Greek, offers a fresh interdisciplinary analysis of the Persica. He shows in detail how Ctesias' history, though written in a Greek literary style, was infused with two millennia of Mesopotamian and Persian motifs, legends, and traditions. This Hellenized version of Persian culture was enormously influential in antiquity, shaping Greek stereotypes of effeminate Persian monarchs, licentious and vengeful queens, and conniving eunuchs. Waters' revealing study contributes significantly to knowledge of ancient historiography, Persian dynastic traditions and culture, and the influence of Near Eastern texts and oral tradition on Greek literature.

More from this author