Читать книгу A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set - Группа авторов - Страница 111

For a very long time, the reconstruction of the history of the Achaemenid‐Persian Empire was mainly based on classical sources. These sources created successful master narratives that primarily focused on the Persian Wars at the beginning of the fifth and on the downfall of the empire at the end of the fourth centuries BCE. Although these sources altogether originate from the western fringes of the empire presenting a biased view on the Greeks' eastern neighbors, our view of the Achaemenid‐Persian Empire is still considerably determined by these sources and their perceptions of the Persians. In the last 35 years a considerable change of perspective took place among specialists, giving way to a much more critical approach in evaluating these sources. Although there is still some disagreement about the adequate place of these sources within a modern history of the Achaemenid‐Persian Empire (Harrison 2011), it can hardly be doubted that they are of inestimable value for any reconstruction of Achaemenid‐Persian history.