Ctesias' Persica and its Near Eastern context / Matt Waters.

By:

Waters, Matthew W. (Matthew William) [author.]

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Wisconsin studies in classicsPublisher: Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2017]Copyright date: ©2017Description: 1 online resource (xiii, 159 pages) : illustrations, mapContent type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9780299310936
0299310930

Other title:

Available from some providers with title: Ctesias' Persica in its Near Eastern context

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Ctesias' Persica and its Near Eastern context.DDC classification:

935/.05 23

LOC classification:

PA3948.C9 W38 2017eb

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

The eunuch in-between -- Semiramis, queen of battle -- A different kind of education for Cyrus -- The inverted hero's many faces.

Summary: The Persica is an extensive history of Assyria and Persia written by the Greek historian Ctesias, who served as a doctor to the Persian king Artaxerxes II around 400 BCE. Written for a Greek readership, the Persica influenced the development of both historiographic and literary traditions in Greece. It also, contends Matt Waters, is an essential but often misunderstood source for the history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Waters, as a historian of Persia with command of Akkadian, Elamite, and Old Persian languages in addition to Latin and Greek, offers a fresh interdisciplinary analysis of the Persica. He shows in detail how Ctesias' history, though written in a Greek literary style, was infused with two millennia of Mesopotamian and Persian motifs, legends, and traditions. This Hellenized version of Persian culture was enormously influential in antiquity, shaping Greek stereotypes of effeminate Persian monarchs, licentious and vengeful queens, and conniving eunuchs. Waters' revealing study contributes significantly to knowledge of ancient historiography, Persian dynastic traditions and culture, and the influence of Near Eastern texts and oral tradition on Greek literature.

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The Persica is an extensive history of Assyria and Persia written by the Greek historian Ctesias, who served as a doctor to the Persian king Artaxerxes II around 400 BCE. Written for a Greek readership, the Persica influenced the development of both historiographic and literary traditions in Greece. It also, contends Matt Waters, is an essential but often misunderstood source for the history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Waters, as a historian of Persia with command of Akkadian, Elamite, and Old Persian languages in addition to Latin and Greek, offers a fresh interdisciplinary analysis of the Persica. He shows in detail how Ctesias' history, though written in a Greek literary style, was infused with two millennia of Mesopotamian and Persian motifs, legends, and traditions. This Hellenized version of Persian culture was enormously influential in antiquity, shaping Greek stereotypes of effeminate Persian monarchs, licentious and vengeful queens, and conniving eunuchs. Waters' revealing study contributes significantly to knowledge of ancient historiography, Persian dynastic traditions and culture, and the influence of Near Eastern texts and oral tradition on Greek literature.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-149) and indexes.

The eunuch in-between -- Semiramis, queen of battle -- A different kind of education for Cyrus -- The inverted hero's many faces.

Print version record.

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