TEHRAN – The Persian translation of the book “Persians: The Age of the Great Kings” written by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones has been released in the bookstores across Iran.

Shahrbanoo Saremi has translated the book and Qoqnus Publishing House has brought it out in 390 pages, IRNA reported.

The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. From the palace-city of Persepolis, Cyrus the Great, Darius, Xerxes, and their heirs reigned supreme for centuries until the conquests of Alexander of Macedon brought the empire to a swift and unexpected end in the late 330s BCE. 
 
In “Persians: The Age of the Great Kings,” originally published in 2022, the historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance.

Llewellyn-Jones has successfully dealt with the scarcity of sources on the subject. Despite the abundance of information about the Achaemenids in Greek historians such as Xenophon and Herodotus, he has chosen to treat their accounts with a touch of skepticism, and rightfully so. Given the history of the Greco-Persian wars, the Greeks may not have been impartial narrators of the history of Persia. 

Llewellyn-Jones has therefore extensively used non-Greek sources to illustrate the origins of the Achaemenids and frequently countered Greek historians on their general representation of Achaemenid kings. For instance, the author’s portrayal of Cambyses, unlike the common portrayal of him as an inept king, depicts him as powerful and resilient, even if not as competent as Cyrus. 

The author has used archaeological findings and non-Greek textual sources such as Babylonian cuneiform tablets extensively in order to avoid a Hellenocentric approach and instead to reconstruct what possibly could be the “Persian version”.

The book is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran. It completely reshapes our understanding of the ancient world.

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is a Welsh professor of ancient history, with a focus on ancient Iran, in particular the Achaemenid (550–330 BC) period. Before this, he specialized in the study of ancient Greece. Since 2016, he holds the chair of ancient history at Cardiff University. Prior to that, he served at the classics department of the University of Edinburgh, where in 2015, he became professor of ancient Greek and Iranian studies.

Llewellyn-Jones is also the director of the ancient Iran program at the behest of the British Institute of Persian Studies. He regularly contributes to BBC History, History Today, and World History, among others. He has authored numerous monographs, several books, and has edited and co-edited numerous works.

SS/SAB