The fifth volume of the Oxford History of the Ancient Near East covers the period from the second half of the 7th century BC until the campaigns of Alexander III of Macedon (336-323 BC) brought an end to the Achaemenid Dynasty and the Persian Empire. Tying together periods and political history covered by previous volumes in the series, this title focuses on the Persian Empire's immediate predecessor states: Saite Egypt, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the kingdom of Lydia, among other kingdoms and tribal alliances.