The Achaemenid Persian Empire and Imperial Transformations in the Ancient Near East

Recorded: July 3, 2023
Event: Achaemenid Workshop 2
Citation: Rollinger, Robert. "The Achaemenid Persian Empire and Imperial Transformations in the Ancient Near East." Pourdavoud Institute: Achaemenid Workshop 2 (July 3, 2023).

by Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)

The talk sets the Achaemenid-Persian Empire in its historical contexts with a special perspective on the imperial turn. It sketches the major historical developments from Neo-Assyrian through Seleucid times and highlights the varying processes of continuities, changes and breaks.

About the Speaker

Robert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck. His main research areas are the history of the Ancient Near East and the Achaemenid Empire, contacts between the Aegean World and the Ancient Near East, ancient historiography, and the comparative history of empires. Recent publications include Imperien in der Weltgeschichte. Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (co-edited; 2014), Mesopotamia in the Ancient World. Impact, Continuities, Parallels (co-edited; 2015), Alexander und die großen Ströme. Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (2013), Short-term Empires in World History (co-edited; 2020), A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (co-edited; 2021), Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (co- edited; 2022) or Decline, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (co- edited; 2022).