Fantastic thematic historical exploration

As a student of history, I found this exploration to be filled with both crucial details that made me re-think ancient times and anecdotal cultural cues that wove a fascinating tale in my mind. Great balance of archaeological historical evidence, secondary sources and myth debunking!

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Completely worthwhile!

I never really gave the Persians too much thought, and certainly almost no credit in terms of their success. Professor Lee frames the entire course in a more balanced perspective of the Persian empire than is typical. Overall, this course really made me realize how integral the Persians are to classical history; their impact on past and present times is remarkable.

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Ancient History Does Not Get Much Better Than This

Would you consider the audio edition of The Persian Empire to be better than the print version?

Not sure. I do not have the print version of any of the Great Courses. This category of Audible products is unique.

Have you listened to any of Professor John W. Lee’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not yet but if he has any others available I definitely will consider purchasing them.

Any additional comments?

John Lee really made the history of the Persian Empire come alive for me. This is a difficult subject to teach because so much of the evidence was destroyed by Alexander the Great--and then buried under so many later layers of history. However, John Lee did a fantastic job of putting all of the evidence in context (in a manner that did not require one to have a PHD in Archaeology to understand) which allowed listeners to form more complex conclusions about the ancient Persians than the remaining biased sources state.

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Magnificent! Simply magnificent.

Professor Lee has put together as comprehensive, objective and complete a treatment of the Achaemenid Persian Empire as any I have come across, covering not just event history, but analyzing Achaemenid Persia in the context of of the larger forces of history, and covering such aspects as travel and communications in the Empire, and the lives and status of women. If you want to learn about the Achaemenid Empire, start here!

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The Persian Empire.

Most of what we know about the Persian empire is what we read from the ancient Greeks. This course gives you a better perspective.

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A 360 degree view of Ancient Persia

This is a great course for people new to studying ancient history or people that have studied it for years.
For periods I was familiar with, like Alexander's invasion of Persia, Prof. Lee does a great job of presenting the Persian viewpoint which is very thought provoking.
Topics like the role of women in Persia, the economy of the period, and the daily lives of everyday people were covered in penetrating detail with reference to the ancient sources.
The downside of the overall excellent presentation is that Professor Lee is too in love with the topic and appears to sometimes dismiss Greek sources completely while presenting Persian sources with little criticism.

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Not bad.

This feels like a HS level set of lectures. Professor assumes everyone has some anti-Persian historical viewpoint. Hint, if someone is sitting down to listen to 12 hrs + of lectures, it's safe to assume objectivity is expected. Also Prof, anyone who takes 300 seriously from a historical stance, isn't a fan of history, they are a moron. I guess he must teach bunch of morons? We paid for this, we aren't being force fed it in some bleak classroom setting, thanks for making it feel like it. Unfortunate really.

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The Purrrsians

I enjoyed the subject matter a lot. But the performance of the lecturer was a bit annoying. He has a tendency to place the incorrect emphasis on the wrong syllable in many of the ancient names of individuals and places. I'm sure he would insist his pronunciation is the correct way but it's different from all other pronunciation I have heard in other lectures. And he stretches many words, as if talking to a child. He pronounces Persia as Purrrsia or Purrrsian in about 90% of the course, very annoying. But the material was fascinating

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Good... not great

Dr. Lee is obviously very knowledgeable in his subject and many of the lectures (particularly the earlier ones) are very good. However, this course is at its worst when it is trying to argue against pre-conceived notions about Persia that most modern listeners would never have had to begin with. Unfortunately, Dr. Lee does this quite a bit. One example is his lecture on Persian women where he draws stereotypes about the ancient rights of Greek women in order to show us that what we thought we knew about Persian women is all wrong. I never assumed Persian women were less advantaged than Greeks?? He uses unfavorable Greek comparisons and anecdotal evidence from royal class women instead of spending that time telling us more about the role of women in the wider Iranian cultural context which would have been much more interesting. I was also not convinced by his argument that Persia wasn't in decline in the mid-4th century. I understand why he does this but again I think he's fighting to hard against tendencies that the average listener doesn't have. Egypt was lost, the Greeks made inroads into Asia Minor and there were other internal problems... sounds like relative decline to me. Of course that doesn't mean the civilization was in danger of imminent collapse which I think should have been his point. All in all though I was happy to see a course on Persia offered on Audible and I much enjoyed it despite its flaws.

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The other side of the coin

It is brilliant to have the story of the Persians from a non Greek view point, and how the image of Persia has been used differently by different people. A fascinating course.

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