Classical scholarship, anthropology, and the historiography of the Achaemenid Persia (1900-1940) : an intellectual inquiry
The overarching aim of this thesis is to see how the ancient Iranian world in general, and that of the Achaemenid Empire (550-331 BC) in particular were depicted by the (mainly) British academics and intellectuals during the first four decades of the twentieth century. The significance of this period (along with its preceding fifty years) lies in the way in which comparative philology was playing an increasingly pivotal role in a number of academic disciplines. Because of the supposed Indo-European commonalities between the Greeks and Persians, many were compelled to frame these peoples within an entirely new set of spatial boundaries that was mostly defined by a demographic hypothesis, which recommended that the late Bronze Age Indo-European intruders from the Steppes were one of the main causes of a fundamental cultural shift in the region. The intellectual underpinnings of this new approach were manifold. These included ideas pertaining to race, culture (and the manner of its prehistoric acquisition), language, and mythological heritages. In addition, since Romantic Hellenism, almost exclusively, defined the way in which the Persian Wars and the conquests of Alexander were related by the classically-trained
Samiei, S.
Classical scholarship, anthropology, and the historiography of the Achaemenid Persia (1900-1940) : an intellectual inquiry. The overarching aim of this thesis is to see how the ancient Iranian world in general, and that of the Achaemenid Empire (550-331 BC) in particular were depicted by the (mainly) British academics and intellectuals during the first four decades of the twentieth century. The significance of this period (along with its preceding fifty years) lies in the way in which comparative philology was playing an increasingly pivotal role in a number of academic disciplines. Because of the supposed Indo-European commonalities between the Greeks and Persians, many were compelled to frame these peoples within an entirely new set of spatial boundaries that was mostly defined by a demographic hypothesis, which recommended that the late Bronze Age Indo-European intruders from the Steppes were one of the main causes of a fundamental cultural shift in the region. The intellectual underpinnings of this new approach were manifold. These included ideas pertaining to race, culture (and the manner of its prehistoric acquisition), language, and mythological heritages. In addition, since Romantic Hellenism, almost exclusively, defined the way in which the Persian Wars and the conquests of Alexander were related by the classically-trained
classical_scholarship anthropology historiography achaemenid persia intellectual inquiry overarch_aim see ancient iranian world general achaemenid empire particular depict mainly british academic intellectual first significance period along lie way comparative philology play increasingly pivotal_role number academic_discipline suppose indo_european commonality greeks many compel frame people within entirely_new set spatial boundary mostly define demographic hypothesis recommend late_bronze_age indo_european one_main cause fundamental cultural shift region intellectual underpinnings new manifold include idea pertain race culture manner prehistoric acquisition language mythological heritage addition since romantic hellenism almost_exclusively define way persian_wars conquest alexander relate trained