The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7: The Sassanian or New Persian Empire: The History, Geography, and Antiquities of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, and Sassanian or New Persian Empire; with Maps and Illustrations.

The Sassanian Empire was the last flowering of ancient Persia before Islam swept across the plateau, and for three centuries it stood as a superpower locked in brutal rivalry with Rome and Byzantium. George Rawlinson, the Victorian scholar who cracked cuneiform and brought Assyriology to life, guides readers through this pivotal era: the smoldering resentment under Seleucid rule, the improbable revolt of a minor priest named Artaxerxes that birthed a dynasty, and the magnificent flowering of Zoroastrian culture, art, and imperial ambition that followed. Rawlinson reconstructs the empire's geography with remarkable precision, traces the complex interplay of Persian identity and foreign dominion, and captures a civilization at its zenith just before its violent encounter with the nascent Islamic caliphate. This volume caps Rawlinson's monumental seven-volume survey of the ancient Eastern world, and though written in the 1870s, it remains a foundational text for anyone seeking to understand how Persia persisted, transformed, and ultimately shaped the medieval world. Maps and illustrations throughout anchor the reader in a landscape both familiar and alien.