Studies in the history and archaeology of the ancient and Islamic Near East greatly expanded and matured during the first half of the 20th century. Ernst Herzfeld (1879–1948), a pioneer in the archaeology, art history, and Persian language studies, significantly shaped this development. He excavated such key sites as Samarra, Paikuli, and Persepolis, and helped to define prehistoric and Islamic art. He became the world's first professor for Near Eastern archaeology in Berlin, adviser to Persia's government, and a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
Scholars from a variety of disciplines reassess Herzfeld's wide-ranging contributions and situate them in their intellectual, academic and political frameworks. The book provides new insights into the historiography of archaeological and historical interpretations of the Near East, especially Iran, the German academic-political milieu of the first half of the 20th century, and the controversial figure of Ernst Herzfeld.