Iranian Studies Book Launch: Rhyne King

The Making of the Persian Empire

The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies presents "The House of the Satrap: The Making of the Persian Empire" on Friday, November 14, 2025, 1 p.m. (Eastern Time: Canada and US).

Abstract: 
Starting in the sixth century BCE, the conquests of the Persian kings Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius transformed the lives of humans on a continental scale, as their empire reached from the Iranian plateau to eastern Europe, Central Asia, and North Africa. Beyond the imperial center, the kings’ vast territory was ruled by royal representatives known as satraps, who managed the practicalities of running the empire. In this book, Rhyne King explores how the empire was governed by investigating how the satraps and the structures supporting them—their “houses”—operated across great distances. Examining satrapal houses in Egypt, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Central Asia, King demonstrates how these systems encouraged local self-interest and advancement even as they benefited the imperial whole. Ultimately, he argues, it was these Persian forms of transregional governance that were key in enabling the vast polity to endure for more than two centuries.

Bio:
Rhyne King is a historian of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which stretched from the eastern Mediterranean to Central Asia from 550 to 330 BCE. Rhyne King received his PhD from the University of Chicago, and he has previously worked at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (part of New York University) and the University of St Andrews. The House of the Satrap is available now with the University of California Press.

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