Bevis Longstreth
Encyclopedia
Bevis Longstreth is a retired lawyer and former Commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He is also a writer, having authored two historical novels set in Ancient Persia. He is currently at work on a third novel set in the United States during the 1930s.
. He served from 1981 to 1984. For over two decades, Longstreth was a partner in the New York based law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, where he spend all of his career as a lawyer. From 1994 to 1999, Longstreth was an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University
School of Law, teaching the regulation of financial institutions. He has been a frequent speaker and lecturer on various securities and corporate law topics. He is a former member of the Board of Governors of the American Stock Exchange
, a former director of INVESCO, plc and a former trustee of College Retirement Equities Fund. For many years he served on the Pension Finance Committee of The World Bank
. He currently serves on the boards of Grantham, Mayo & Van Otterloo, New School University and the Center for Public Integrity
.
, some 400 years before the birth of Christ. It remains today the world’s oldest pile carpet. Longstreth is meticulous in his use of facts about the period and the carpet itself, using the accredited available historical sources. The carpet is now on view in the Hermitage Museum
in St. Petersburg.
Return of the Shade is the story of Queen Parysatis
of Ancient Persia., a Queen and Queen Mother of the Persian Empire at its peak of power. She lived for about 60 years from around 444 to 384 BC, one and a half millennia ago. She was the purist strain of Persian, a direct descendent of Cyrus the Great
, founder of the Achaemenid dynasty and of the Persian Empire, which lasted 220 years from 550 to 330 BC – a dynasty that brought stability, prosperity and a flourishing civilization to what we now call the Middle East and beyond. In its day, the largest and most powerful Empire the world had ever seen. It extended from the Indus River to North Africa
, from the Aral Sea to the Persian Gulf, all told one million square miles.The Persian Empire had everything under the sun. Everything, that is, except a single historian to preserve for posterity its highs and lows. As seen through the eyes Greek historians, the Persians were weak and effeminate: a barbaric and despotic foil against which the courage, discipline, democracy, and culture of the Greek civilization could be set.
Longstreth says of Parysatis, "She was a forgotten Queen in a forgotten Empire, dismissed by the Greeks as hopelessly cruel. By working with the few facts about her that had been recorded by Greek historians such as Plutarch and Ctesias, it was possible -- much as it would be to divine an entire puzzle from a few important pieces -- to fill in the empty spaces with imagined accounts of Parysatis’ life: a life endowed with great power and the instinct to know how to use it; a life fraught with the drama of the Achaemenids, a royal line beset with patricides, fratricides and other wicked episodes so typical of the ruling classes at all points of the compass. Here, too, was a chance to illuminate an Empire cast in darkness by Greek writers."
SEC Commissioner
Bevis Longstreth was the 60th Commissioner of the SEC, appointed twice by President Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. He served from 1981 to 1984. For over two decades, Longstreth was a partner in the New York based law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, where he spend all of his career as a lawyer. From 1994 to 1999, Longstreth was an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
School of Law, teaching the regulation of financial institutions. He has been a frequent speaker and lecturer on various securities and corporate law topics. He is a former member of the Board of Governors of the American Stock Exchange
American Stock Exchange
NYSE Amex Equities, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange situated in New York. AMEX was a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange. On January 17, 2008, NYSE Euronext announced it would acquire the...
, a former director of INVESCO, plc and a former trustee of College Retirement Equities Fund. For many years he served on the Pension Finance Committee of The World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
. He currently serves on the boards of Grantham, Mayo & Van Otterloo, New School University and the Center for Public Integrity
Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy and committed to transparent and comprehensive reporting both in the United States and around...
.
Author
Bevis Longstreth is a writer of historical novels. He has written two novels: Spindle and Bow (2005) and Return of the Shade (2009). Spindle and Bow is a story of love and adventure set in the 5th Century BC. The settings span some 3000 miles (4,828 km), from the ancient city of Sardis, at the western edge of the Persian Empire in Anatolia to the Scythian village of Pazyryk in the Altai Mountains of southwestern Siberia. The story answers many mysteries surrounding the Pazyryk, a perfectly preserved pile carpet measuring about six feet square discovered in 1949 in a royal Scythian tomb with a man, a woman and nine horses cut down in the prime of life. Scholars consider the Pazyryk a masterpiece of weaving technique and artistry dating from the Iron AgeIron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, some 400 years before the birth of Christ. It remains today the world’s oldest pile carpet. Longstreth is meticulous in his use of facts about the period and the carpet itself, using the accredited available historical sources. The carpet is now on view in the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
in St. Petersburg.
Return of the Shade is the story of Queen Parysatis
Parysatis
Parysatis was the 5th-century BCE illegitimate daughter of Artaxerxes I, Emperor of Persia and Andia of Babylon.She was the half-sister of Xerxes II, Sogdianus and Darius II...
of Ancient Persia., a Queen and Queen Mother of the Persian Empire at its peak of power. She lived for about 60 years from around 444 to 384 BC, one and a half millennia ago. She was the purist strain of Persian, a direct descendent of Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
, founder of the Achaemenid dynasty and of the Persian Empire, which lasted 220 years from 550 to 330 BC – a dynasty that brought stability, prosperity and a flourishing civilization to what we now call the Middle East and beyond. In its day, the largest and most powerful Empire the world had ever seen. It extended from the Indus River to North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, from the Aral Sea to the Persian Gulf, all told one million square miles.The Persian Empire had everything under the sun. Everything, that is, except a single historian to preserve for posterity its highs and lows. As seen through the eyes Greek historians, the Persians were weak and effeminate: a barbaric and despotic foil against which the courage, discipline, democracy, and culture of the Greek civilization could be set.
Longstreth says of Parysatis, "She was a forgotten Queen in a forgotten Empire, dismissed by the Greeks as hopelessly cruel. By working with the few facts about her that had been recorded by Greek historians such as Plutarch and Ctesias, it was possible -- much as it would be to divine an entire puzzle from a few important pieces -- to fill in the empty spaces with imagined accounts of Parysatis’ life: a life endowed with great power and the instinct to know how to use it; a life fraught with the drama of the Achaemenids, a royal line beset with patricides, fratricides and other wicked episodes so typical of the ruling classes at all points of the compass. Here, too, was a chance to illuminate an Empire cast in darkness by Greek writers."