Amelie Kuhrt is an Ancient Historian specialising in the Middle East, particularly the history of Mesopotamia and Iran in the first millennium BC. She is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at UCL and Fellow of the British Academy.

'Amelie Kuhrt is an invaluable guide. Not only has she assembled all the material on the Archaemenids that most historians will ever need, but she has also provided commentaries on it that are models of informed and balanced scholarship.' - Times Literary Supplement '[T]he books do indeed constitute the most complete collection of source material for Achaemenid history that has yet been assembled... Kuhrt's volumes will be an indispensable tool for all those interested in the Persian Empire for a very long time to come. The author is to be congratulated on a magnificent achievement that makes a fundamental contribution to studies of the Achaemenid period. This was recently recognized by the award to Amelie Kuhrt by the Islamic Republic of Iran of a Book of the Year prize for 2010.' - Palestine Exploration Quarterly

• 1. The Sources Part I. Prehistory and Formation of the Empire (c.750-520) 2. The Medes 3. Cyrus the Great 4. The Reign of Cambyses 5. From Cambyses to Darius I Part II. Achaemenid History and its Problems 6. The Empire under Darius I: Expansion, Revolt, Consolidation 7. The Reign of Xerxes 8. From Artaxerxes I to Darius II's Last Years 9. Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III 10. The Fall of the Achaemenid Empire Part III. Kings and Kingship 11. Images of Empire, Royal Ideology and the Cultic Framework 12. The Organisation of the Court 13. Mechanisms of Power Part IV. Achaemenid Imperial Organisation 14. Tribute, Tax, Imposts 15. Routes and Communication Networks 16. Bureaucracy, Production, Settlement 17. Unity and Diversity

Amelie Kuhrt is an Ancient Historian specialising in the Middle East, particularly the history of Mesopotamia and Iran in the first millennium BC. She is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at UCL and Fellow of the British Academy.

'Amelie Kuhrt is an invaluable guide. Not only has she assembled all the material on the Archaemenids that most historians will ever need, but she has also provided commentaries on it that are models of informed and balanced scholarship.' - Times Literary Supplement '[T]he books do indeed constitute the most complete collection of source material for Achaemenid history that has yet been assembled... Kuhrt's volumes will be an indispensable tool for all those interested in the Persian Empire for a very long time to come. The author is to be congratulated on a magnificent achievement that makes a fundamental contribution to studies of the Achaemenid period. This was recently recognized by the award to Amelie Kuhrt by the Islamic Republic of Iran of a Book of the Year prize for 2010.' - Palestine Exploration Quarterly

• 1. The Sources Part I. Prehistory and Formation of the Empire (c.750-520) 2. The Medes 3. Cyrus the Great 4. The Reign of Cambyses 5. From Cambyses to Darius I Part II. Achaemenid History and its Problems 6. The Empire under Darius I: Expansion, Revolt, Consolidation 7. The Reign of Xerxes 8. From Artaxerxes I to Darius II's Last Years 9. Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III 10. The Fall of the Achaemenid Empire Part III. Kings and Kingship 11. Images of Empire, Royal Ideology and the Cultic Framework 12. The Organisation of the Court 13. Mechanisms of Power Part IV. Achaemenid Imperial Organisation 14. Tribute, Tax, Imposts 15. Routes and Communication Networks 16. Bureaucracy, Production, Settlement 17. Unity and Diversity