The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. By Mehrdad Kia. Empires of the World. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2016. 2 vols. Acid free $198 (ISBN 978-1-61069-390-5). E-book available (978-61069-391-2).

This encyclopedia is the first English language reference source to focus exclusively on ancient Iran during the period of its great empires before the arrival of Islam from 700 BCE to 651 CE. The major empires were the Medes, the Achaemenids, the Seleucids, the Arsacids (Parthians), and the Sasanians. Ancient Iran covered a geographic area that varied over time. At its greatest expanse the Achaemenid Empire (559–330 BCE) ruled territory continuous from Thrace in southeastern Europe to the Indus River in India. Almost as large was the Seleucid Empire (305–125 BCE) which was not Iranian or Persian but Macedonian, founded by one of Alexander the Great’s generals after his death. With the expansion of the empires through military conquests and the administrative control of vast geographic areas, Kia emphasizes that languages, ethnicities, religions, and cultures of the Persian empires were very diverse and that Persia itself was actually a southern province of Greater Iran.

This work provides 241 essays ranging from a few paragraphs to several pages on important places, events, ideas, cultures, people, and state organizations and institutions. The essays are written for high school and college students and also general readers who may not have knowledge of the period. As a research tool the essays are clearly written and provide good descriptions and historical narrative. Each essay is followed by cross references to other entries and a list of sources for further reading. These sources include primary source collections such as Persian documents and histories written by Greek and Roman authors. Secondary sources range from histories and archaeological studies from the 18th century to recent years. The entries are arranged into several thematic sections. This allows readers to examine related information in sections about cities and archaeological sites, kings and queens of each dynasty, military and administrative organizations, general overviews of each empire, and people who contributed to military and political leadership, culture, and religion. Both volumes provide an index covering the set. There are thirty-eight selected primary source documents, each introduced with explanatory text and the source for each document. Also, Kia introduces the work with a historical narrative of Ancient Iran, and he provides a chronology, outline of the dynasties, glossary of terms, and selected bibliography. Excellent photographs and a few small maps enhance the work, although more space for larger maps would have been helpful to readers.

Among the sources listed after each entry, the most prevalent is the Encyclopaedia Iranica available in print and freely available online at www.iranicaonline.org. Although it is much broader than Kia’s work, it is a major scholarly source of information for all aspects of the Persian empires. It offers much longer, more detailed essays and bibliographies on topics compared with Kia’s encyclopedia, but Kia’s work is intended for a broader audience. More general reference sources for ancient history in English are also helpful for the history of ancient Iran but may not offer the same detail as can be found in Kia’s work or ironicaonline.org. These include Brill’s New Pauly (Brill, 2007–) and The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Wiley Blackwell 2012).

Kia’s work is highly recommended as an important contribution to the reference literature on ancient Iran accessible to a wide range of users.—David Lincove, History, Public Affairs, Philosophy Librarian, Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus