The State of Achaemenid Studies

Abstract

This conference is intended to be the first in a series of conferences which – in the tradition of the Groningen “Achaemenid History Workshops” of the 1980s/1990s – like its predecessor, aims to highlight new perspectives in Achaemenid studies. As one of the first participants in the AHWs, I will give a brief overview of the state of research at the present time. Based on the AHWs – with their thematically bound, but at the same time also newly determining approaches to the hierarchies of tradition/sources and the expressiveness and intent of the testimonies – this paper will present and evaluate the state of research in the following fields of investigation: (a) on the situation of tradition in light of the new finds and the reassessment of source material; (b) on recent tendencies in the formation of theory, the questioning and methodology of Achaemenid research, and on recent forms of scholarly organization; (c) on old and new fields of research, including the most important new findings resulting from their treatment particularly on the position of the Persian empire in global-historical and Near Eastern as well as in epoch- spanning imperial and reception-historical contexts; (d) on the diversity of representations of the empire in later political and cultural, as well as transmission, contexts. This last part draws heavily on the approach of Strootman/Versluys (2017:9;16-17), in particular their distinction between Persianism (“ideas and associations revolving around Persia and appropriated in specific contexts for specific (socio-cultural or political) reasons”) and Persianization as a term for political and cultural influence of the Persian empire on contemporaries and posterity.