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Capably edited by Getty director Timothy Potts and curators Jeffrey Spier and Sara Cole, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World is a magnificent catalogue of a thoughtfully curated exhibition at the Getty Villa (2022). The exhibition revealed the convoluted ways in which Persia was connected to its rival empires, Greece and Rome, from the seventh century BCE to the Arab conquest of 651 CE. The catalogue features sculpture, jewelry, luxury vessels, seals, coins, medallions, carved plaques, fragmented textiles, reliefs, and mosaics, along with inscriptions from the Getty collection and on loan from notable museums around the world. Coupled with more than 300 superb illustrations are trailblazing essays by leading experts on ancient Iran's three main kingdoms: the Achaemenid (550-330 BCE), stretching from the Balkans to the Indus Valley; the Parthian (247 BCE-224 CE), encompassing the silk route to China; and the Sasanian (AD 224-651), which spread from the Euphrates to the Indus and had an enduring impact on such unlikely regions as modern-day Armenia. This catalogue reflects--from varied and complex perspectives--on Persian ideology and culture in its own diverse lands and shows that a full picture of the Greek and Roman empires is incomplete without considering Persia.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers and faculty; professionals; general readers.