Books on Persia (and her neighbours).

[Hakomar]

I was wondering in general what resources did you use in the making of this mod, and what ones are generally informative about Persias rise to power?

[rez]

Well we tried very hard to stick to the ancient sources and archeology so the first place to look was always going to be Herodotus since he offers so much on a great deal of the peoples that we are trying to represent. Other than Herodotus there are pieces of useful information in other greek literature such as Xenophon, Polynaeus or Ctesias but you have to understand the different contexts in order to extrapolate the right information. Greek art work was a good help in deciding on textile patterns and standard bearers. There's some good depictions of Persian arms as well.

We also used a lot of the archeological finds at persepolis to reconstruct the different types of armour and clothes for our soldiers. The inscriptions and reliefs were also instrumental in our reconstruction of the names for the troops, towns and soon to be implemented traits, ancillaries and hopefully buildings. The tablets found at Persepolis and a couple of documents from garrisons in Elephantine helped reconstruct the structure of the Persian army and the names for the various officers.

For a massive analysis of the Persians in full Pierre Briant's "The Persian Empire From Cyrus To Alexander" is the best book on the market.

For an incredible analysis of the Persian army Duncan Head's "The Achaemenid Persian Army" is far and away the best on the subject.

[Hakomar]

Thank you Rez, I will check them out.