The impact of the Achaemenian Empire on ancient history has been analyzed many times, although its historical importance remains too frequently considered in light of the conflict with the Greek World. Such a current framework is based on the more or less hidden idea that Western "freedom" was facing an Oriental "despotism". This is unfortunately the current logic used nowadays in case of some unscholarly pamphlets, which try to find the earliest origin of the present lack of democracy in some Eastern societies. Such a pattern, which for the earliest periods contains only some truth, is certainly reductive and insufficient when uncritically applied to the whole history of the conflicts between the Iranian World and the West. In fact, the modern use of political parameters - known in antiquity but with different nuances - such as "despotism" and "democracy'', is not properly fitting, because it can a priori place ancient Iranian history in the framework of contemporary political conflicts, with unhistorical results.

A. Panaino (2014). The Achaemenid Power Between Tolerance and Authoritarianism: Possible or Impossible Comparisons with Modem Phenomena. Costa Mesa : Mazda Publisher.

The Achaemenid Power Between Tolerance and Authoritarianism: Possible or Impossible Comparisons with Modem Phenomena

PANAINO, ANTONIO CLEMENTE DOMENICO
2014

Abstract

The impact of the Achaemenian Empire on ancient history has been analyzed many times, although its historical importance remains too frequently considered in light of the conflict with the Greek World. Such a current framework is based on the more or less hidden idea that Western "freedom" was facing an Oriental "despotism". This is unfortunately the current logic used nowadays in case of some unscholarly pamphlets, which try to find the earliest origin of the present lack of democracy in some Eastern societies. Such a pattern, which for the earliest periods contains only some truth, is certainly reductive and insufficient when uncritically applied to the whole history of the conflicts between the Iranian World and the West. In fact, the modern use of political parameters - known in antiquity but with different nuances - such as "despotism" and "democracy'', is not properly fitting, because it can a priori place ancient Iranian history in the framework of contemporary political conflicts, with unhistorical results.
2014
Excavating an Empire. Achaemenid Persia in longue durée
189
198
A. Panaino (2014). The Achaemenid Power Between Tolerance and Authoritarianism: Possible or Impossible Comparisons with Modem Phenomena. Costa Mesa : Mazda Publisher.
A. Panaino
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/299720
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