Robert Rollinger: The Achaemenid Persian World Empire

We welcome Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck) to deliver the four-part 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series on the theme, “The Achaemenid Persian World Empire.”

Overview

The series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history, namely, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE), the central power of a (proto-)globalized world, and the driving force behind many cultural developments, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources, both written and archaeological, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization, and its impress on the antique world.

The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources, including the many biases, old and new, that still guide modern scholarship, the unique identity, sense of purpose, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity.

Lecture 1: Monday, April 11, 4:00 pm

An Afro-Eurasian “Hyperpower” and Its Ancient Near Eastern Roots (First Millennium BCE)

The lecture focuses on the structure, genesis, and historical setting of the Achaemenid Empire. It discusses major aspects of the royal ideology, the position of the Great King, and the Empire’s resilience in periods of crisis.

Lecture 2: Wednesday, April 13, 4:00 pm

Whither the Achaemenid Empire? Towards a New Connected History of Afro-Eurasia in Antiquity

In this lecture, the history of the Achaemenid Empire as a powerful engine of transregional connectivity, affecting all of Afro-Eurasia, is explored. Of import is not only the Empire’s capacity to boost dynamic developments, which may be qualified as an early example of globalization, but also its ability to sustain cultural individuation processes and tolerate autonomous political formations.

Lecture 3: Monday, April 18, 4:00 pm

Space and Universality: The Long Life of the Achaemenid Mental Map in Antiquity and Beyond (Sixth Century BCE – Sixth Century CE)

The Achaemenid Empire ushered a new world order, based on a novel conception of political geography, which, combined with an innovative language of power, served to legitimize Achaemenid imperial/universalist claims. The longevity and impact of the Achaemenid imperial “model” and its language of power constitute the themes of the third lecture.

Lecture 4: Wednesday, April 20, 4:00 pm

Empire and Borderlands at Interplay: A Structural Approach (First Millennium BCE – First Millennium CE)

The Achaemenid Empire represents a major evolutionary step in the longue durée of Afro-Asian state formations. The fourth lecture aims at illustrating the indebtedness of the Achaemenid polity to ancient Near Eastern and Afro-Asian precedents, while exploring its unicity in light of the interplay between the imperial center and the borderlands.

Reception to follow final lecture on April 20.