Rhyne King is a PhD candidate in Ancient Near Eastern history who studies the political, social, and economic history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (559-330 BCE). His dissertation is tentatively titled “Satrapal Households and the Governance of the Achaemenid Persian Empire,” and, primarily using sources in Greek, Aramaic, Akkadian, and Elamite, the dissertation offers six case studies of the households of satraps (provincial governors) in the Achaemenid Empire in order to discern an imperial system of satrapal governance.

Rhyne King received his BA summa cum laude from Duke University, where he majored in both Classical Languages and Linguistics. In addition to his dissertation work, he has written and presented on the social and economic position of Lycia (southwestern Turkey) between Athens and the Achaemenid Empire, the phenomenon of de-urbanization in the Achaemenid Empire, and the social history of late antique Bactria (northern Afghanistan).

• The Bactrian Interstices: Direct and Indirect Rule in Ancient Afghanistan - Conference Program

• Becoming Lycian under the Persian Empire

• Local Power Brokers in Iranian and Post-Iranian Bactria: Aristocrats, Dependents, and Imperial Regimes

• King, Rhyne. "Taxing Achaemenid Arachosia: Evidence from Persepolis." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 78, no. 2 (2019): 185-99.