This is a facsimile of a classic history first published by Macmillan in 1915 and issued in two further editions by Routledge and Kegan Paul. Sir Percy Sykes was an explorer, consul, soldier and a spy who lived and travelled in Persia over a period of twenty-five years. This two-volume collection provides a comprehensive history of Persia from Alexander the Great, through British, French and Russian colonialism, to the early twentieth century oil industry.

With a new introduction by Sykes'' biographer, Antony Wynn, this comprehensive history provides essential background reading to students and academics of Persia.