Shadows in the desert

[Mitra]

I signal the review made by Jona for Bryn Mawr:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2008/2008-09-62.html

[bachmat66]

Hello,
I would like to point that as per Jona's statement:
'Farrokh is not only uncritical towards the sources, he also has an amazing trust in old secondary literature. He still claims that Alexander the Great was aiming at "unity between Iranians and Greeks" -- that old canard of Droysen (Verschmelzungspolitik), repeated by W.W. Tarn in the 1927 edition of the Cambridge Ancient History, and famously refuted by Badian half a century ago.'

I respectfully disagree with that statement, because having been trained in history in Poland and the US I have read plenty of sources and secondary literature on the Iranians (my all time favorites group amongst the Ancient civilizations) and can point our members (if they can read Polish) to a recent scholarly book by Polish (and German) scholar, Marek Jan Olbrycht , who specializes in the Achaemenid Iran and who wrote this book - published in 2004 by Rzeszow University Press also reviewed in Bryn Mawr
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2006/2006-03-41.html

In short, amongst other things Mr Olbryvht quite gracefully builds his case to show that Alexander of Macedon was in fact fully accepting Iranians as equals within his empire and thus trying to unify his subjects - both new and old - on equal footing, that this acceptance (including but not limited to creation of Iranian Companions, mounted missiles troops, his own marriages to East Iranians and West Iranian women, introduction of the dress, code and language of the Persian kings etc ) was a source of major discontent and near mutiny amongst the Macedonian and Hellenic troops etc. I have the book and if the time permits can introduce some arguments from it - but this very issue is mentioned in the linked review from Bryn Mawr, so I think this Jona's statement must be examined in that context as there is more and quite credible modern scholarship on this very subject.
ps
I started reading all these reviews and discussions regarding Kaveh Farrokh book quite recently, and upon heaving read them I must state that :
I personally know Kaveh Farrokh, I may even say he is my friend - I visisted his wife and he at their home, ate at their table, and vice versa; and it is not easy for me throw my two cents into this discussion.
Also affecting my partiality is the fact that actually I did paint the only 'new' reconstruction of a mounted Parthian dragonarius that appeares in his Osprey book (for which I was not paid ).

[Jona Lendering]

Once an author has written a book, he must refrain from commenting upon it, as he has had his opportunity to say what he wanted to say, and can not -once it has been published and people have spend their money- say "I actually meant something else".

As a corrollary, reviewers should not explain their reviews - if points have been unconvincing, they ought to be left unexplained, as that would give him an unfair advantage over the author, who can not speak at all.

That being said, politeness dictates that I say that I have read the interesting message.

[Alexandr K]

Hi,

there appeared a response to Jona's review. For those who are interested, a shorter one is on Bryn Mawr site, a longer one is here.

Greetings
Alexandr

[bachmat66]

Hello Gents,
it has been a while since my last posting, busy with many things, I suppose. Last weekend I participated in a reenactment of the 17th cenutry Klushino battle (AD 1610) in Warsaw Poland - you can find pictures taken by members of the audience of the event here - [url:1zr0j19g]http://sarmacja.wordpressy.pl/?p=1086[/url]

Ad rem, on dr Kaveh Farrokh's site ( [url:1zr0j19g]http://www.kavehfarrokh.com/news/peer-reviewed-iranshenasi-journal-praises-farrokh-book/[/url] ) I found this review of 'Shadows in the Desert' by Farhad Mafie of California State University (Fullerton), one hope you may find it interesting
http://www.kavehfarrokh.com/wp-content/ ... _20101.pdf
[url:1zr0j19g]http://www.kavehfarrokh.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Book_Review_by_Farhad_Mafie-Shadows_in_the_Desert-_Ancient_Persia_at_War_by_Dr._Kaveh_Farrokh-_Iranshenasi-Spring_20101.pdf[/url]
enjoy
ps
I finally got a copy of 'Vsadniki Ukoka' - Polos'mak -(in Russian) on the Saka of the Ukok Plateau, also our forum member and my friend Patryk sent me parts of Simonenko 'The Sarmatians" (in Russian)

[bachmat66]

Salve gents,
I've just learned http://www.kavehfarrokh.com/news/farrokh...o-russian/ that this book was published in Russia in 2009, wonder if they paid royalties to Osprey etc, knowing their 'particular' publishing practices. I am sure some Russian book free-to-download has it already