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Ruzicka, Stephen. Trouble in the West. Egypt and the Persian Empire 525-332 BCE. Oxford University Press, 2012. xxv+331 pp., 5 figs., 5 maps. ISBN 978-0-19-976662-8. Review by Kv?ta Smoláriková.
The book under review is an extremely welcome contribution to a better understanding of the development of the rather complicated relations between ancient Egypt and its conqueror - the powerful Persian Empire. Well written and comprehensively documented, Ruzicka's work begins with a short preface on the theme of the Persian-Egyptian conflict from the 6th century to the 4th century BCE. The book consists of twenty chapters, with the first providing the broader historical context; here, unfortunately, we are not offered sufficient information about the tribal roots of the Persian nation, particularly in relation to their new nobility, who were themselves instrumental in the realization of Persian imperial ambitions. However, this problem has been seriously discussed by many scholars in recent years, for example those contributing the British Museum exhibition: Forgotten Empire. The world of Ancient Persia.1 The next chapter covers the conquest and the first years (525- 518 BCE) of the Persian occupation of Egypt. Generally, this nearly decade-long period of Persian presence in Egypt belongs to the most interesting era because it was necessary for the Persian kings to take a series of steps, both religious and secular, to establish and maintain control over the notoriously rebellious Egyptian satrapy. In Chapters 3 and 4, the author outlines the way in which the Persians managed Egypt and then how, eventually, they lost control (518-415 BCE) by engaging in conflicts on too many battlefields around their western borders. The following chapters and the bulk of the book under review are deeply anchored in the turbulent political events in the wider territory of the eastern Mediterranean area, more precisely in the endless number of military...