The Armies of Ancient Persia: The Sassanians (Paperback)
The Sassanians
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 504
Illustrations: 16pp colour plates, tactical maps and diagrams
ISBN: 9781399024815
Published: 8th August 2023
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Throughout most of the classical period, Persia was one of the great superpowers, placing a limit on the expansion of Western powers. It was the most formidable rival to the Roman empire for centuries, until Persia, by then under the Sassanians, was overwhelmed by the Islamic conquests in the seventh century AD. Yet, the armies of ancient Persia have received relatively little detailed attention, certainly in comparison to those of Rome. This work is the first of three volumes that will form the most comprehensive study of ancient Persian armies available.
The Sassanians, the native Iranian dynasty that ousted their Parthian overlords in AD 226, developed a highly sophisticated army that was able for centuries to hold off all comers. They continued the Parthians’ famous winning combination of swift horse archers with heavily-armoured cataphract cavalry, also making much use of war elephants, but Kaveh Farrokh interestingly demonstrates that their oft-maligned infantry has been much underestimated.
The author, born in Athens, Greece, and expert in ancient Persian languages and military history, has been researching the military history and technology of Persia for a quarter of a century. He draws on the latest research and new archaeological evidence, focusing on the organization, equipment and tactics of the armies that dominated the ancient Middle East for so long.
Enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a number of Plates, Figures, Tables, and Historical Timeline of the Sassanian Empire, Maps, forty-seven pages of Notes, a twenty page listing of References, and a thirty-one page Index, "The Armies of Ancient Persia: The Sassanians" is a seminal work of original scholarship and highly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Persian Military History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, military historians, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Armies of Ancient Persia: The Sassanians" is also available in a digital book format.
Midwest Book Review
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The book is well researched, edited, organized and written
Richard A. Gabriel - History Net
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About Kaveh Farrokh
The author, born in Athens, Greece and expert in ancient Persian languages and military history, has been researching the military history and technology of Persia for a quarter of a century. He obtained his PhD in 2001 from the University of British Columbia, where he is now a lecturer. He is also Head of the Department of Traditions and Cultural History of the Waalm School of Cultural Diplomacy. He has written three previous books on Persian military history. The second, Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War (Osprey, 2007) has been translated into Russian and Persian, received the Best History Book Award of 2008 and was cited as among the top 3 history books of 2008 by the Independent Book Publishers Association in the USA.