Thirteen of the papers presented in this volume originate from a colloquium of the same title, held at Istanbul on April 24-25, 2014 and dedicated to the cultural and political memory of the Achaemenid Empire in antiquity. Subsequently, another eight authors accepted an invitation to add their views on aspects of ‘Persianism’, bringing the total to 21 papers, 20 in English and one in German. The aim of the colloquium was to explore “how the concept of ‘Persianism’ can help us to better understand the intracultural entanglements by which … [cultural and political] memory [of the Achaemenid Empire] is created, and so move beyond the traditional separation between West and East that still pervades the grand narratives of ancient history and cultural studies” (7). In the introductory chapter (9-32), the editors define ‘Persianism’ as “ideas and associations revolving around Persia and appropriated in specific contexts for specific (socio-cultural or political) reasons” (9). This admittedly broad definition has the benefit of allowing sufficient space for the range of phenomena under discussion, extending from antiquity to the modern reception of Persianism (henceforth without inverted commas). One inconvenience of the definition as applied to the Achaemenid Empire is that the Achaemenid Empire as whole, with its rich diversity, might be equated too easily with “Persia”, even though the editors show themselves conscious of this risk (e.g. on 12-13). In his concluding contribution, Shayegan avoids the trap by the use of the words ‘Iranicate’ and ‘Iranian’, even though they may well create other problems of definition.