REVIEW BY MARC DeSANTIS Alexander the Great of Macedonia is one of the best-known figures of ancient history. Comparatively large amounts of written material concerning his short but extraordinarily eventful life have survived from ancient times. This is a boon…
REVIEW BY MICHAEL TUNNICLIFFE During the Twenty-seventh Dynasty (c.525-404 BC), Egypt was part of the sprawling Persian Empire. Material survivals from this time are scarce, and the Persians themselves left few documents relating to Egypt. One important exception comes from…
Alexander the Great’s ambitions of conquest took him far from his Macedonian home and into Asia and Babylon, where he died. Ursula Sims-Williams investigates the mythical legacy of Alexander in the East, where different traditions cast him variously as an accursed figure, a philosopher-king, and even a prophet.
Alexander the Great: the making of a myth is at the British Library in London until 19 February 2023.
One archaeological milestone this year is the centenary of the founding of the Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (DAFA) in 1922. Their century of research has included investigations at Aï Khanoum, a Hellenistic city on the banks of the Oxus…
Neil Faulkner analyses one of history’s greatest tactical triumphs.
Epic Iran is the appropriately grand title of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s ambitious new exhibition, which explores 5,000 years of Iranian history through 350 objects that represent the country’s art and culture – taking us from the beginnings of civilisation, via the ancient palaces of Persepolis, right up to the present day.
Which king, crowned in 550BC, was the founder of the Achaemenid empire, the first Persian empire?