Dr Rhyne King

Dr Rhyne King

Lecturer in Ancient History

Researcher profile

Email
rrk2@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Biography

I received my BA in Classics from Duke University in 2014 and my PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2021. Before coming to St Andrews, I spent a year at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (part of New York University) and a year working on a project funded by the German Research Foundation.

Teaching

At the University of St Andrews, I teach widely across the AN modules in Near Eastern, Greek, and Roman history. In the Candlemas semester, I am teaching an honours module called Local Communities under Empire in Ancient Persia, 550-330 BCE.

Research areas

I have broad interests in the social, economic, and political history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE), which stretched from the eastern Mediterranean to Central Asia. In my research, I utilize Greek historiographical sources, like Herodotus and Xenophon, as well as the rich documentary sources in Akkadian, Aramaic, and Elamite. I am in the process of publishing my first monograph, titled The House of the Satrap and the Making of the Ancient Persian Empire. Satraps were the regional representatives of royal power in the Persian Empire, and they conceptualized the people and property under their remit as a “house.” I argue that the network of satrapal houses competing and communicating with one another laid the foundation for imperial stability. Satraps and their associates managed their houses in such a way as to benefit both their own personal goals and the interests of the Persian Empire writ large.

Selected publications

 

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