Historiographical Controversies Involving the Rise of the Achaemenid Empire

The political background to the rise of the Achaemenid Empire remains elusive and the subject of important shifts in scholarly consensus over the past four decades. Specifically, scholarly perceptions regarding the importance of the Medes as imperial predecessors of the Persians, the dynastic unity of Cyrus II and the Darius I, and the Iranian character of the pre-Darian kings have been called into question. This presentation provides an overview of the changing paradigms, and counter theories, along with a call for a more synthetic and less radical approach to the sources.
About the Speaker
Reza Zarghamee is both a practicing attorney - a partner in the international firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP - and a Fellow in Ancient History at the University of St. Andrews, where he obtained his PhD in 2022 for a thesis, entitled “Mythical Models: Reflections of Iranian Traditions in the Classical Accounts of Median and Early Achaemenid Royalty.” An adaptation of this dissertation is currently pending publication by the University of Edinburgh Press’ Studies in Ancient Persia Series, edited by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. Previously, he authored Discovering Cyrus (2013), a historical biography of Cyrus the Great. He has authored articles that have been published or are in press regarding leadership in ancient Persia, the religious aspects of Achaemenid royal ideology, the Iranian component to Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, and the background to the legend of Rostam, the great hero of the Shahnameh.