Lecture: Prof. John W.I. Lee (UCSB History) on “Women in Ancient Persia” at the Goleta Valley Library

Western stereotypes of Ancient Persia often focus on images of exotic harems, scheming queens, and decadent court life. Prof. Lee explains what the ancient textual and archaeological sources actually reveal about women’s lives in the empire of Achaemenid Persia (550-330 BC).  The lecture examines the economic, political, and social power of women across the Achaemenid Empire, from the Aegean Sea region in the west to the highlands of Iran in the east.

John W.I. Lee is Professor of History at UC Santa Barbara.  He grew up in Asia and Hawai’i, studied history at the University of Washington (Seattle), and received his PhD in History from Cornell University.  His publications include A Greek Army on the March: Soldiers and Survival in Xenophon’s Anabasis (Cambridge University Press 2007), The Persian Empire (The Great Courses 2012), and The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford University Press 2022).  He is a member of the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.