A History Of Persia

Persia was one of the great powers of the ancient world and ruled from the Indus to the Danube and from Egypt to the steppes of Central Asia.

Their early kings such as Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes are found in the Bible and in the literature of their enemies the Greeks. In all there were three phases of Empire the Achaemenids who fought the Greeks and the Parthians and Sasanids who resisted the Romans. Their religion of Zoroastrianism still persists to this day. With the coming of Islam in the 7th century much was to change. Persia in the Middle Ages and early modern period continued to be a significant and distinctive power. With the Islamic Revolution under the Ayatollah it entered yet another phase and, as Iran, the country is very much in the news today. This 12 week course will follow the history and culture of Persia over the last 3000 years of history.