Review by Choice Review
Recent years have witnessed a slight surge in academic interest in and publications on the Sasanian Empire of Persia, primarily known to Western audiences as the eastern and, arguably, most organized and powerful adversary of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Most of these, however, are rather specialized studies aimed at professionals. The present book is a succinct overview of the Sasanian Empire's political history, interspersed with observations on its political, social, and economic aspects from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives; that is, how the empire's characterizing traits were formed and changed over the 400 years that the Sasanians ruled over a vast area extending from the Euphrates to Central Asia. Apart from providing an accessible introduction to the subject, the advantage this book has over its predecessors is an admirable attempt by Daryaee (UC-Irvine), himself an Iranian and world-renowned Sasanian scholar, to remove the Sasanian Empire from the shadow of the Roman-Byzantine Empires. His "de-Eurocentrization" and "indigenizitation" of Sasanian studies introduces a fair amount of eastern sources often overlooked or marginalized in writings by Western scholars. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduate and beginning graduate students as well as those interested in the Late Antique period. K. Abdi Dartmouth College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
