The Persian Policy in the Balkans: The End of the 6th–5th Centuries B.C. Cover Image

Персийската политика на Балканите: краят на VI–V в. пр. Хр.
The Persian Policy in the Balkans: The End of the 6th–5th Centuries B.C.

Author(s): Zhivko Zhekov
Subject(s): History, Political history, Ancient World
Published by: Великотърновски университет „Св. св. Кирил и Методий”
Keywords: Persians; Balkans; Hellenes; Macedonians; Odrysian Kingdom

Summary/Abstract: Persian policy in the Balkans is the subject of research, especially in the context of relations between Greece and the Achaemenids, but it is much more varied and flexible than these narrow frameworks. Most authors view these relationships as aggression by the Persians who want to conquer the Balkans and specifically Greece. During the first decades of the period under review, it actually has these dimensions, but over time relations change and the Achaemenids begin to consider the Hellenes, the Odrysians and the Macedonians, as independent political subjects with whom political dialogue can be conducted and alliances can be concluded. In turn, the Greeks, the Odrysian kingdom and the other Balkan states and tribes also began to consider the Persians as possible allies depending on the particular historical situation. The dynamics of their relationships is extremely variable in time, making their research and the emergence of sustainable political concepts very difficult, which is further complicated by the state of the ancient narrative tradition. It has some topoi on Balkan Persian politics.

  • Issue Year: 6/2019
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 334-349
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English, Bulgarian