1The book (published as the twentieth-first volume in the Persika series) collects papers offered to Pierre Briant on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary from the launch of the Achemenet international research programme, founded by the distinguished French scholar in 2000. The title partly recalls (Vingt ans après) that of a novel written by Alexandre Dumas as the sequel to The Three Musketeers.

2The preface section contains three contributions, tracing the course of the Achemenet programme in the past five lustres (as well as recalling its scientific premises in previous years) and stressing the crucial importance of Pierre Briant’s work in the development of the Achaemenid studies (and the related academic community) in recent decades:

3The Editors, “D’un anniversaire à l’autre, Achemenet et Pierre Briant” (p.I)

4Matthew W. Stolper, “On Pierre Briant” (p.V)

5Charles E. Jones, “Achemenet in Context” (p.XII)

6The following twenty-seven papers (in English, French, German and Italian) cover a broad range of historical, epigraphic, archaeological, linguistic and art historical topics related to the Achaemenid empire. The geographical focus of the book is mainly centred around the heartland of the Empire but several contributions widen the perspective including Egypt (Agut-Labordère and Chauveau; Wasmuth), the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf (Callieri), the Swat Valley in Pakistan (Coloru), Anatolia (Dusinberre), Central Asia (Francfort), Babylonia (Joannès; van der Spek), the Caucasus (Knauß and Gütte), and the Indian Ocean at the time of the Macedonian conquest (Rollinger and Degen).

7The papers are arranged according the alphabetical order of their (first) Author, as follows:

8Damien Agut-Labordère and Michel Chauveau, “Les ostraca de ‘Ayn Manâwir et la chronologie des XXVIIIe et XXIXe dynasties” (p.1)

9Annalisa Azzoni, “PFAT 783: Fruit and the Bazikara” (p.11)

10Gian Pietro Basello, “From the DARIOSH Project: The four inscribed metal plaques from the so-called Apadana in Takht-e Jamshid/Persepolis and their inscription (DPh)” (p.17)

11Rémy Boucharlat, “L’insaisissable occupation achéménide sur l’Acropole de Suse” (p.35)

12Pierfrancesco Callieri, “Nuove osservazioni sulla presenza achemenide nel Golfo Persico” (p.53)

13Omar Coloru, “Les Achéménides en Inde à la lumière des fouilles à Barikot (Pakistan)” (p.65)

14Touraj Daryaee, “Männerbund Aspects of Old Persian Anušiya-” (p.73)

15Raymond Descat, “Le Pseudo-Aristote et les finances achéménides : un point sur la question” (p.79)

16Elspeth R.M. Dusinberre, “Death and Celebration in Achaemenid Anatolia: Alternative Realities at Gordion in the Sixth Century” (p.95)

17Henri-Paul Francfort, “Palmettes et art ornamental achéménide” (p.119)

18Mark B. Garrison, “An Heirloom Seal from Persepolis: Assyria, Elam, and Persepolis” (p.143)

19Wouter F.M. Henkelman and Matthew W. Stolper, “Counting trees around Persepolis” (p.169)

20Francis Joannès, “Conquérir l’Égypte grâce à la Babylonie. Réflexions sur la chronologie du règne de Cambyse en Babylonie” (p.201)

21Florian S. Knauß and Matthias Gütte, “Symbole großköniglicher Herrschaft. Neue Untersuchungen zu Typologie und Technologie achaimenidischer Basen und Kapitelle im Kaukasus” (p.217)

22André Lemaire, “Remarques sur l’emploi et la diffusion de l’araméen dans l’empire achéménide” (p.237)

23Dominique Lenfant, “Le 'harem' du Grand Roi est-il une invention des Grecs ? Les enjeux de traductions 'orientées'” (p.247)

24Alexander Nagel, “On Achaemenid Persian Art and Architecture in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin” (p.257)

25D.T. Potts and W.F.M. Henkelmann, “On animal hides and (pre-)tanning in the Persepolis Fortification archive” (p.277)

26Shahrokh Razmjou, “An Achaemenid Figurine in the National Museum of Iran: Proposing a Reconstruction of the Statue of Darius from Susa” (p.301)

27Robert Rollinger and Julian Degen, “Alexander the Great, the Indian Ocean, and the Borders of the World” (p.321)

28Margaret Cool Root, “Alexander - Persepolis - Ashoka: Inside Wheeler’s Mind-World” (p.343)

29Adriano V. Rossi, “Multilingual perception of colour in Iran and the Ancient Near East” (p.357)

30Rüdiger Schmitt, “Die Sonderstellung der vier Inschriften DPd–g an der Südmauer von Persepolis gegenüber den anderen Dareios-Texten” (p.371)

31Christopher J. Tuplin, “Royal p(a)laces: Lexical Reflections on Achaemenid Residences” (p.403)

32Robartus Johannes van der Spek, “The Nabonidus Chronicle on the ninth year of Nabonidus (547-6 BC). Babylonia and Lydia in context” (p.415)

33Melanie Wasmuth, “Negotiating cross-regional authority: the acceptance of Cambyses as Egyptian pharaoh as means of constructing elite identity” (p.429)

34The useful final indexes list “Principaux Anthroponymes” (p.447), “Toponymes” (p.449) and “Sources” (p.456), while a “Table des matières” is placed at the end of the book (p.469).