From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring the Past in in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan

by Paul Wilson

Frankopan does for trade routes what Errington does for empires—he traces how the movement of goods, ideas, and power across Asia fundamentally shaped world history. Where Errington focuses on the archaeological and imperial narrative of the Iranian plateau and beyond, Frankopan zooms out to show how these same regions were the connective tissue binding civilizations together, making this a natural companion that reframes the geography you've just explored.

by Bernal Diaz Del Castillo

This is a curveball, but hear me out: like Errington's book, this is a firsthand account filtered through 19th-century European interests and colonial perspectives, yet it's also a primary source that reveals how empires actually functioned on the ground. Reading Díaz's account of Aztec administration alongside your understanding of Achaemenid bureaucracy creates an unexpected dialogue about how vastly different societies solved similar problems of scale and control.

by Amin Saikal

Since Afghanistan appears as a crucial throughline in Errington's narrative—the bridge between Persian and Indian worlds—this focused study lets you drill deeper into a region that's often treated as a crossroads rather than a center. Crampton examines how Afghan identity formed precisely through these imperial pressures you've just read about, giving texture and continuity to what might otherwise feel like a distant historical abstraction.

by Matthew Bernstein

Here's your surprise pick: a lavishly illustrated art history that directly addresses the 'Great Game' obsession Errington mentions—but through the lens of how 19th-century European painters and collectors actually *imagined* these Persian and Afghan worlds. It's a meta-commentary on the very colonial gaze that shaped Errington's source material, and reading them together reveals how knowledge about the East was constructed as much as discovered.

by Susan B. Downey

Errington mentions the Parthians almost in passing as one of three great empires, but Kia gives them the monographic treatment they deserve—showing how they maintained control across those same vast distances and how they functioned as the crucial middlemen in Silk Road trade. It's the deep-dive sequel to one thread of your book, written by someone who treats the Parthians as protagonists rather than a historical interlude.