Dr. Roel Konijnendijk

Because, of course, from Cyrus onward, you have Greeks living under the Persian Empire, so under Persian rule.

And he's interested in how that came about.

And so that's the first beginning for him.

Then he has to start telling the story of all the different peoples that are encountered that way.

It still progresses chronologically forward slowly.

You still start talking about later events in the history of this period, but he's taking his time because he really wants to populate this world before he starts bringing out the conflict.

I'm already simplifying in the sense that I say he starts with Persia.

He starts with Croesus.

The first story is the rise of the Lydian kingdom, which goes back to the 7th century BC.

Then the Lydian kingdom provokes the Persians, and then he has to start talking about the Persians.

So the Persians come in from that side, and then you see all these other peoples.

I mean, everybody else that is becoming, there's going to be a big player later on is introduced early on.

So Athens and Sparta, you get this kind of little forward-looking anecdotes about their early origins as well.

So there's actually quite a lot going on.

I'm always having to kind of simplify this in one way or another.

So it starts with the Lydians, then the Persians, and then he starts to sort of progressively populate this world while he's also talking about Pelicrates of Samos and other figures who increased this kind of intense conflict between Greeks and the Aegean and the Persians.

And then eventually, essentially, he moves towards, firstly, obviously, through the early Persian kings, Cyrus, then Cambyses, and then you have to talk about Egypt.

And then he comes to Darius.

And then, of course, you have to talk about the Scythians because Darius crosses into Europe and invades Scythia.

But that is when he gets to the actual meat of it, which is from book five on, which is about the halfway point.