Iran played an important role in the political and religious chessboard of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin and Central Asia in Antiquity. The course will focus on selected topics in history, religion, and culture from the first Achaemenid King of Kings Cyrus (6th century BCE) until the rise of Parthians in the 3rd century BCE. It will also stress the relations between Iran and the Jewish and Greek worlds. Particular emphasis will be placed on the birth and the development of Zoroastrianism, a religion characterized by the ethical and dualistic conception of good and evil, and on the cultural and foreign policy of the Persian empire.

This course will be given in English.