Pierre Briant
In the footsteps of the empire of the Great Kings. A historiographical survey (1931-2023)
More extensive than the Roman Empire ever was, the Achaemenid Empire, born in the middle of the 6th century and overthrown by Alexander and his armies between 334 and 323, unitedpeoples and countries of immense linguistic and cultural variety between the Indus and the eastern Mediterranean, and from Central Asia to the first cataract of the Nile, for more than two centuries. Testifying to the first and only period when all the peoples and countries of the region were brought together in an integrated imperial construction, its history represents a unique reference for all those who wonder about the cohabitation of different ethnic groups and populations within the wider Middle Eastern space.
Yet its study has long been neglected, sidelined by the history of Greece, Egypt and Mesopotamia. Monumental and fascinating, this book tells how the history of the Persian-Achaemenid Empire gradually became an autonomous field, covering an immense space-time, from the Indus to the Balkans, over more than two centuries. In reconstructing the stages and pace of this exceptional historiographical renaissance, the author shows how the various specialties learned to work together, not simply to reconstitute the history of this or that part of the Empire (Asia Minor, Egypt, Palestine, Babylonia, Persia, Iran, etc.), but also to write a true imperial history, to which each specialty makes its own specific contribution. Based on a colossal amount of knowledge and documentation, as well as on numerous eyewitness accounts, this landmark work is also impressive for the human depth it brings to this collective adventure.
Briant P., Sur les traces de l'empire des Grands rois. Enquête historiographique (1931-2023), Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2025, 1156 p.
EAN : 9782251456706
Publication : 4 april 2025
