Ancient History

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Internet Ancient History Sourcebook:
Persia

See Main Page for a guide to all contents of all sections.

• Persia: General
• The Persian State: Acheamenids (560-330 BCE)
• The Persian State: Parthia and Arcsacids (247 BCE-226 CE)
• The Persian State: Sassanids (224-636 CE)
• Persian Religions
• Art and Architecture
• Modern Perspectives on Ancient Iran

Note: To continue investigation of Medieval Persian Culture, see the Islamic History Sourcebook

• WEB Encyclopedia Iranica
  Very detailed entries, but only D and E are online. [At Internet Archive]
• WEB Parthia.com
  Focused on a later period of Persian history than covered in this class, but still a good entrance to all things Persian.

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• Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): On the Customs of the Persians [This Site]
• Cyrus (b.580-r.560/59-529 BCE, ): Cylinder Recording Conquest of Babylon (mid 6th Cent. BCE) [At British Museum]
• WEB Cyrus the Great (r.560/59-529 BCE) [Website]
  Illustrations of the great Persian King.
• Xenophon: When Cyrus the Great was a Boy [At this Site]
• Kurash (Cyrus) the Great: The Decree of Return for the Jews, 539 BCE [At this Site]
  From Persian and Biblical sources.
• Greek Reports of Babylonia, Chaldea, and Assyria [At this Site]
  From Herodotus. Includes accounts of the Persian conquest.
• Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): Queen Tomyris of the Massagetai and the Defeat of the Persians under Cyrus [At this Site]
• Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): The Persians Reject Democracy/Darius' State Organization [At this Site]
• Seal of Darius (r. 521-486 B.C.) [At Livius.org]
• Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Life of Artaxerxes (r. 465-424)[At MIT]
• Accounts of Persian "Despotism" and Law, c. 430-300 BCE [At this Site]
• WEB Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions [At U Chicago]

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• WEB Parthia.com
• Persia and its Religious Mix to 300 AD [Modern Account at Internet Archive]

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• The Karnamik-I-Ardashir, or The Records of Ardashir, [At this Site]
  The records of Ardashir, Founder of the Sassanian Kingdom
• The Story of King Vahahran & his Queen, c. 300 CE [At this Site]

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• WEB Avesta Page [Website]
  A significant collection of Zoroastrian texts.
• The Selections of Zadspram [At EAWC]
• Zoraster Repulsed By Everybody Gatha: Yasna 46 [At enteract.com]
• Gatha of the Choice Zaraththustra reveals the exemplary choice which took place at the beginning of the world. Gatha: Yasna 30 [At enteract.com]
• Second Gatha of the Choice Gatha: Yasna 31 [At enteract.com]
• Zoroastrian Dualist Cosmogony: Ohrmazd and Ahriman Greater Bundahishn 1:18-26 [At enteract.com]
• Ahura Mazda Teaches Yima How to Save all the Best and Fairest in the World Vivavdat,' Fargard II [At enteract.com]
• A Mazdean (Zoroastrian) Sacrifice to the Sun Khorshed Yasht 1-5  [At enteract.com]
• The Crossing of the Cinvat Bridge and the Roads to Heaven and Hell Menok I Khrat' I, 71-122 [At enteract.com]
• The Yatkar-I-Zariran, or Memoirs of Zarir [At this Site]
  This is supposed to be a "history" of the early struggle of the Zarathustrians around the time of Zarathustra.
• Sir Monier Monier-Williams: The Towers of Silence, 1870
  The Parsees (modern Zoroastrians) in Bombay in the 19th century.

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• WEB Persopolis [At Stanford]
  Short account and many images of the city.
• WEB Iran Photo Album [At OZnet]

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NOTES:

Dates of accession of material added since July 1998 can be seen in the New Additions page.. The date of inception was 4/8/1998.

Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or location]. Locally available texts are marked by [At this Site].

WEB indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.

The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook is part of the
Internet History Sourcebooks Project