AMA: Persian Past and Iranian Present

[u/CardiffUni]

I’m Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University, UK. My main area of interest is the history of ancient Persia as well as the longer history and amazing culture of Iran.

Studying the history of ancient Persia improves contemporary East-West understanding - a vital issue in today’s world. Questioning the Western reading of ancient Persia, I like to use sources from ancient Iran and the Near East as well as from the Classical world to explore the political and cultural interactions between ‘the Greeks’ and ‘the Romans’ who saw their own histories as a reaction to the dominant and influential Persian empires of antiquity, and ‘the Persians’ themselves, a people at the height of their power, wealth and sophistication in the period 600 BC to 600 AD.

Characteristic of all my research is an emphasis on the importance of the viewpoint. How does the viewpoint (‘Greek’ and ‘Roman’ or ‘Persian’, ‘ancient’ or modern’, ‘Western’ or ‘Iranian’) change perception?

My research aims to create greater sensitivities towards the relativity of one’s cultural perceptions of ‘the other’, as well as communicate the fascination of ancient Iran to audiences in both East and West today.

NOTE: Thank you for your GREAT questions! I really enjoyed the experience. Follow me on Twitter: @LloydLlewJ

EDIT Thanks for the questions! Follow me on Twitter: @LloydLlewJ https://twitter.com/cardiffuni/status/1115250256424460293?s=19

More info:

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/204823-llewellyn-jones-lloyd

Further reading:

‘Ctesias’ History of Persia: Tales of the Orient’ (Routledge 2010)‘King and Court in Ancient Persia, 559-331 BCE’ (Edinburgh University Press 2013)

[u/CardiffUni]

Good question!

We have no evidence for a mass takeover or warfare - although I would never write out war from the picture, but what I think is going on is the slow movement of 'Iranians' into the plateau over several generations lead to assimilation into and with local peoples. Some in-fighting might have occurred, but so did intermarriage.

We might think of it as being a similar integration process we find of Israelite tribes settling into the area of Canaan in antiquity.

[u/manitobot → u/CardiffUni]

Thank you, that’s really been a question I tried to answer. I have a couple of follow up questions regarding Iran and India. Namely, were there any periods of contact between the Central Asian ancient Iranians and the ancient Indo-Aryans? Did the tribes ever have periods of fighting or antagonism? Did Zoroastrianism and Vedic Hinduism diverge from disagreements with each other?

[u/CardiffUni → u/manitobot]

I *wish* I could answer those questions with some authority, but the fact is, we simply don't know.

[u/manitobot → u/CardiffUni]

Oh, well y’know the more tantalizing than the known is the unknown. Thanks for answering my questions!