Ancient Persia in Western History

Sasan Samiei completed his PhD in Iranian History at University College London, UK, and also holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, UK.

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1 – Introduction
I - Methodology, Contexts and Terminology
II - Structure

Chapter 2 - Setting the Scene: Anthropology, Linguistics and Romantic Hellenism in Victorian Britain
I - The New Sciences of Anthropology and Language:
A Historical Analysis
II - The Context: Victorian (Germanic) Hellenism
III - ‘Helleno-Aryanism’: A Late-Nineteenth Century Phenomenon
IV - Conclusions

Chapter 3 - The ‘Race-Culture’ Debate: 1900s–1930s
I - Institutional and Historical Backgrounds
II - Differentiating between ‘Race’ and ‘Culture’: A Critical Response to the Concept of the ‘Aryan Race’
III - The Rationalization of ‘Race’ and ‘Culture’
IV - Synthesizing ‘Race’ and ‘Culture’: ‘Neither Race Purely nor Culture Merely’
V - ‘Race’ and ‘Culture’: An Analytical Overview
VI - Conclusions

Chapter 4 - The ‘Diffusionism v. Evolutionism’ Theoretical Debate, Gordon Childe and the Prehistory of Europe
I - Configuration of Cultures: A Historical Background
II – A Bibliographical Survey
a) The First Two Editions of The Dawn of the European Prehistory: A Comparative
Analysis
b) The Aryans: A Study of Indo-European Origin
III – Analysis
IV- Conclusions

Chapter 5 - Hellenisms Reassessed (1890s-1940s): Part I
I - Mainstream Hellenism: 1890s-1940s
II - The Works of John Linton Myres: Going Against the Grain?
a) The Early Years: 1900s-1910s
b) The Formative Years: 1920-1930
c) The Mature Years: 1930s
III - Analysis
IV - How to Proceed in Part II

Chapter 6 - Hellenisms Reassessed (1890s–1940s): Part II
I - Myres and History
II - Myres and Science
III - Aesthetic Hellenism: A Philosophical Treatment
IV- Myres’ Overarching Intellectual Template: An Analytical Audit
V - Conclusions

Chapter 7 - Hellenisms and the Historiography of Ancient Persia
I - Achaemenid Persia: A Historiographical Survey
a) Doublethink Downplayed
b) Doublethink in a State of Irresolution
c) Doublethink Moving Towards Resolution
d) No Doublethink
II - Analysis
a) Spatial Terms
b) Political Terms
III - Conclusions

Chapter 8 - Concluding Remarks

Postscript

Glossary

Bibliography