Women of the Empire - (Ancient Iran) by Yazdan Safaee (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book investigates the status and roles of women in the Achaemenid Empire through the Persepolis archives, analyzing their presence in both royal and non-royal contexts and highlighting their participation in labor, administration, and the imperial economy.

Book Synopsis

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the status and roles of women within the socio-economic framework of the Achaemenid Empire. Drawing primarily on the Persepolis Fortification and Treasury Archives, it foregrounds the documentary evidence as a lens through which the lives, labor, and agency of women--both within royal institutions and beyond--can be critically assessed. Women of the Empire explores a range of thematic issues across its chapters, highlighting the diverse contexts in which women appear in administrative records and reconstructing their participation in the imperial economy.

About the Author

Yazdan Safaee, PhD (2024), Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, is a postdoctoral researcher in that university. He has published a monograph and several articles on Achaemenid Persia, including a book in Persian about Darius III: The Last Great King (Tehran, 2016).