This groundbreaking, five-volume series offers a comprehensive, fully illustrated history of Egypt and Western Asia (the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran), from the emergence of complex states to the conquest of Alexander the Great. Written by a diverse, international team of leading scholars whose expertise brings to life the people, places, and times of the remote past, the volumes in this series focus firmly on the political and social histories of the states and communities of the ancient Near East. Individual chapters present the key textual and material sources underpinning the historical reconstruction, paying particular attention to the most recent archaeological finds and their impact on our historical understanding of the periods surveyed.

The fifth and final volume of the Oxford History of the Ancient Near East covers the period from the second half of the 7th century BC until the campaigns of Alexander III of Macedon (336-323 BC) brought an end to the Achaemenid Dynasty and the Persian Empire. Tying together areas and political developments covered by previous volumes in the series, this title covers also the Persian Empire's immediate predecessor states: Saite Egypt, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and Lydia, among other kingdoms and tribal alliances. The chapters in this volume feature a wide range of archaeological and textual sources, with contributors displaying a masterful treatment of the challenges and advantages of the available materials. Two chapters focus on areas that have not enjoyed prominence in any of the previous volumes of this series: eastern Iran and Central Asia. This volume is the necessary and complementary final component of this comprehensive series.

Karen Radner is Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Nadine Moeller is Professor of Egyptian Archaeology at Yale University.

D. T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University.

Preface
Time Chart
The Contributors
Abbreviations

49: Saite Egypt (Alexander Schütze)
50: The Neo-Babylonian Empire (Michael Jursa)
51: The Kingdom of Lydia (Annick Payne)
52: The Southern Levant and Northern Arabia in the Iron Age (Juan Manuel Tebes)
53: Early Saba and Its Neighbors (Norbert Nebes)
54: The Persian Empire under the Teispid Dynasty: Emergence and Conquest (Matt Waters)
55: The Persian Empire under the Achaemenid Dynasty, from Darius I to Darius III (D.T. Potts)
56: The Satrapies of the Persian Empire: Persia and Elam (Gian Pietro Basello)
57: The Satrapies of the Persian Empire: Media and Armenia (Giusto Traina)
58: The Satrapies of the Persian Empire in Asia Minor: Lydia, Caria, Lycia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia (Hilmar Klinkott)
59: The Satrapies of the Persian Empire: Babylonia and Assyria (André Heller)
60: The Satrapies of the Persian Empire: Ebir-nari / Syria (Peter R. Bedford)
61: The Satrapies of the Persian Empire in Egypt (Damien Agut-Labordère)
62: The Northeastern Regions of the Persian Empire: Bactriana, Sogdiana, Margiana, Chorasmia, Aria, Parthia, the Sakas and the Dahae (Michele Minardi)
63: The Southeastern Regions of the Persian Empire on the Indo-Iranian Frontier: Arachosia, Drangiana, Gedrosia, Sattagydia, Gandhara and India (Pierfrancesco Callieri)
64: The Persian Empire in Contact with the World (Robert Rollinger)
65: The Persian Empire: Perspectives on Culture and Society (Maria Brosius)

Index