1.
Shah
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Shah is a title given to the emperors, kings, princes and lords of Iran. In Iran the title was used, rather than King in the European sense. The full, Old Persian title of the Achaemenid rulers of the First Persian Empire was Xšāyathiya Xšāyathiyānām or Šāhe Šāhān and this word is commonly confused with the unrelated and distinct Indian surname Shah, which is derived from the Sanskrit Sadhu or Sahu, meaning gentleman. Šāh, or Šāhanšāh to use the term, was the title of the Persian emperors. While the Ottoman Sultans never styled themselves as Shah, but rather Sultan, their male offspring received the title of Şehzade, or prince. The full title of the Achaemenid rulers was Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām, literally King of Kings in Old Persian, corresponding to Middle Persian Šāhān Šāh, in Greek, this phrase was translated as βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλέων, King of Kings, equivalent to Emperor. Both terms were often shortened to their roots shah and basileus, in Western languages, Shah is often used as an imprecise rendering of Šāhanšāh. The term was first recorded in English in 1564 as a title for the King of Persia, for a long time, Europeans thought of Shah as a particular royal title rather than an imperial one, although the monarchs of Persia regarded themselves as emperors of the Persian Empire. In the twentieth century, the Shah of Persia, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, officially adopted the title شاهنشاه Šāhanšāh and, in western languages and he also styled his wife شهبانو Shahbānu. Iran no longer had a shah after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, from the reign of Ashot III, the Bagratid kings of Armenia used the title shahanshah, meaning king of kings. The title padishah was adopted from the Iranians by the Ottomans and by other monarchs claiming imperial rank. Another subsidiary style of the Ottoman and Mughal rulers was Shah-i-Alam Panah, meaning King, the Shah-Armens, used the title Shāh-i Arman. Georgian title mepetmepe was also inspired by the shahanshah title, however the precise full styles can differ in the court traditions of each shahs kingdom. This title was given to the princes of the Ottoman Empire and was used by the princes of the Mughal Empire in India. Thus, in Oudh, only sons of the sovereign shah bahadur were by birth-right styled Shahzada Mirza Bahadur, though this style could also be extended to individual grandsons, other male descendants of the sovereign in the male line were merely styled Mirza or Mirza. This could even apply to non-Muslim dynasties, for example, the younger sons of the ruling Sikh maharaja of Punjab were styled Shahzada Singh Bahadur. Shahbanu, Persian term using the word shah and the Persian suffix -banu, Empress, in modern times, shahdokht is also another term derived from shah using the Persian patronymic suffix -dokht daughter, female descendant, to address the Princess of the imperial households. Shahpur also been derived from using the archaic Persian suffix -pur son, male descendant
2.
Sasanian Empire
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The Sasanian Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Parthian Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus V. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani, in many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilization. Persia influenced Roman culture considerably during the Sasanian period, the Sasanians cultural influence extended far beyond the empires territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art, much of what later became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture, music and other subject matter was transferred from the Sasanians throughout the Muslim world. Conflicting accounts shroud the details of the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was originally the ruler of a region called Khir, however, by the year 200, he managed to overthrow Gochihr, and appoint himself as the new ruler of the Bazrangids. His mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of the governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power all of Pars. The subsequent events are unclear, due to the nature of the sources. It is certain, however, that following the death of Papak, Ardashir, sources reveal that Shapur, leaving for a meeting with his brother, was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him. By the year 208, over the protests of his brothers who were put to death. Once Ardashir was appointed shahanshah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars, the city, well supported by high mountains and easily defendable through narrow passes, became the center of Ardashirs efforts to gain more power. The city was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgird, in a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus V himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where Artabanus V met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir I went on to invade the provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, in the next few years, local rebellions would form around the empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana, Balkh and he also added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanids possessions. In the west, assaults against Hatra, Armenia and Adiabene met with less success, in 230, he raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir Is son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria, invading Roman Mesopotamia, Shapur I captured Carrhae and Nisibis, but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated the Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories
3.
Hormizd IV
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Hormizd IV, was king of the Sasanian Empire from 579 to 590. He was the son and successor of Khosrow I, Khosrow I had appointed Hormizd IV as his heir since he was aware that Hormizd had showed himself as qualified leader. Hormizd IV came to the throne in 579, he seems to have been imperious and violent, some very characteristic stories are told of him by al-Tabari. His fathers sympathies had been with the nobles and the priests, Hormizd IV protected the common people and introduced a severe discipline in his army and court. When the priests demanded a persecution of the Christians, he declined on the ground that the throne, the consequence was that Hormizd IV raised a strong opposition in the ruling classes, which led to many executions and confiscations. According to al-Tabari, Hormizd is said to have ordered the death of 13,600 nobles, when Bacurius III of Iberia died in 580, Hormizd IV quickly took the opportunity and replaced the monarchy in Iberia with a Sasanian governor. The reason for this was because the rulers of Iberia had caused much trouble to the Sasanians. From his father, Hormizd had inherited a war against the East Roman Empire. Negotiations of peace had just begun with the Emperor Tiberius II, therefore the accounts given of him by the Byzantine authors, Theophylact Simocatta, Menander Protector and John of Ephesus, who give a full account of these negotiations, are far from favourable. Determined to teach the Sasanian king a lesson, the Roman General Maurice crossed the frontier, Maurice was forced to retreat in a hurry, but during the course of his retreat to the Roman frontier, he drew the Persian general Adarmahan into an engagement and defeated him. In 582, the Persian general Tamkhosrau crossed the Perso-Roman frontier and attacked Constantina, however, the deteriorating physical condition of the Roman Emperor Tiberius II forced Maurice to return to Constantinople immediately. Meanwhile John Mystacon, who had replaced Maurice, attacked the Persians at the junction of the Nymphius, another defeat brought about his replacement by Philippicus. Philippicus spent the years 584 and 585 making deep incursions into Persian territory, the Persians retaliated by attacking Monocartium and Martyropolis in 585. Philippicus inflicted a defeat on them at Solachon in 586. After an unsuccessful siege, Philippicus retreated and made a stand at Amida, soon, however, he relinquished command to Heraclius in 587. In the year 588, the Roman troops mutinied and taking advantage of this mutiny, the Romans retaliated with an equally unsuccessful invasion of Arzanene, but defeated another Persian offensive at Martyropolis. In 589, the Persians attacked Martyropolis and captured it after defeating Philippicus twice, Philippicus was recalled and was replaced by Comentiolus under whose command the Romans defeated the Persians at Sisauranon. The Romans now laid siege to Martyropolis but at the height of the news circulated in Persia about a Turkish invasion
4.
Bahram Chobin
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Bahrām Chōbīn, also known by his epithet Mihrevandak (servant of Mihr, was a famous spahbed during late sixth-century Iran. He usurped the Sasanian throne from Khosrow II, ruling for a year as Bahram VI, however, he was later defeated by Khosrow II and was forced to flee. Bahram Chobin was son of Bahram Gushnasp, of the House of Mihran, Bahram Chobin had three siblings whom were named, Gordiya, Gorduya and Mardansina. Bahram Chobin originally started his career as marzban of Rey, but in 572 he commanded a force which captured a Byzantine fortress and was promoted to army chief of Adurbadagan. After being promoted he fought a long, indecisive campaign against the Byzantines in northern Mesopotamia, in late 588, the massive army of the Göktürks invaded the eastern provinces of the Sasanian Empire, reaching as far as Badghis and Herat. Bahram Chobin was elected as the spahbed of Khorasan and commander-in-chief to lead 12,000 Sasanian forces against the Turks, after reaching Central Asia his army ambushed a large army of Turks and conquered Balkh. He then crossed the Amu Darya and trapped and defeated the Turks near Bukhara, after his great victory against the Turks he was sent to Caucasus to repel an invasion of nomads, possibly the Khazars. Bahram Chobin was then commander of the Sasanian forces against the Byzantines once again. However, he suffered a minor defeat by a Byzantine army on the banks of the Aras. After his defeat, Hormizd IV disgraced him, he removed Bahram Chobin from the Sasanian office, thus, he along with the main Persian army, rebelled against the Shah in 589 and marched toward Ctesiphon. Hormizd was killed and his son, Khosrow II, unable to fight such an army, fled to Byzantine territory, Hormizd IV tried to organize an effective resistance against Bahram Chobin. The Sasanian aristocracy, however, did not support even the religious leaders did. Hormizd IV responded by imprisoning many Sasanian nobles, however, it did not make the better, because the Sasanian aristocracy revolted against him. However, Khosrow II and his uncle, Vistahm, escaped, vinduyih later escaped from his prison and fled over to Khosrow II. Vinduyih was sent with a large army granted by Byzantine emperor Maurice and they went to Armenia to outflank Bahram, who was defeated in the lowlands and lost Ctesiphon. Why otherwise did your fathers rebel and extricate themselves from their service, Bahram Chobin in his letter promised that the Armenians would become partners of the new Iranian empire ruled by a Parthian dynastic family if he accepted his proposal to betray Khosrow II. Khosrow IIs army then marched towards Azerbaijan and defeated Bahram Chobin at the Battle of Blarathon, forcing him to flee to the eastern parts of Persia. While Bahram Chobin was fleeing to the east he defeated the army of the House of Karen of Hyrcania, Khosrow II, however, could not feel secure as long as Bahram Chobin lived, and succeeded in having him assassinated
5.
Vistahm
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Bistam or Vistahm, was a Parthian dynast of the Ispahbudhan house, and maternal uncle of the Sasanian shah of Persia, Khosrau II. Vistahm helped Khosrau regain his throne after the rebellion of Bahram Chobin, but later led a revolt himself, Vistahm and his brother Vinduyih were sons of Shapur and grandsons of Bawi. They belonged to the Ispahbudhan, one of the seven Parthian clans that formed the elite aristocracy of the Sasanian Empire, the Ispahbudhan in particular enjoyed such a high status that they were acknowledged as kin and partners of the Sasanians. The family also held the important position of spahbed of the West, a sister of Vistahm had even married the Sasanian shah Hormizd IV, and was the mother of Hormizds heir, Khosrau II. Finally, Hormizds persecutions led to the revolt of the general Bahram Chobin in 590, Bahram, whose revolt quickly attracted widespread support, marched on the capital, Ctesiphon. There Hormizd tried to sideline the two Ispahbudhan, but was dissuaded, according to Sebeos, by his son, Khosrau II, unable to oppose Bahrams march on Ctesiphon, however, Khosrau and the two brothers fled to Azerbaijan. Vistahm remained behind to rally troops, while Vinduyih escorted Khosrau to seek aid from the East Romans, on their way, they were overtaken by Bahrams troops, but Vinduyih, pretending to his nephew, allowed himself to be captured to ensure Khosraus escape. In early 591 Khosrau returned with aid from the East Romans. In the Battle of Blarathon, Bahrams army suffered a crushing defeat, soon, however, Khosrau changed his intentions, trying to disassociate himself from his fathers murder, the shah decided to execute his uncles. The Sasanian monarchs traditional mistrust of over-powerful magnates and Khosraus personal resentment of Vinduyihs patronising manner certainly contributed to this decision, Vinduyih was soon put to death, according to a Syriac source captured while trying to flee to his brother in the East. At the news of his brothers murder, Vistahm rose in open revolt, according to Dinawari, Vistahm sent a letter to Khosrau announcing his claim to the throne through his Parthian heritage, You are not worthier to rule than I am. Indeed, I am more deserving on account of my descent from Darius, son of Darius and you Sasanians deceitfully gained superiority over us and usurped our right, and treated us with injustice. Your ancestor Sasan was no more than a shepherd, Vistahms revolt, like Bahramss shortly before, found support and spread quickly. Local magnates as well as the remnants of Bahram Chobins armies flocked to him and he even campaigned in the east, where he subdued two Hephthalite princes of Transoxiana, Shaug and Pariowk. The date of Vistahms uprising is uncertain, from his coinage, it is known that his rebellion lasted for seven years. The commonly accepted dates are ca, 590–596, but some scholars like J. D. Howard–Johnston and P. Pourshariati push its outbreak later, in 594/5, to coincide with the Armenian Vahewuni rebellion. Finally, Khosrau called upon the services of the Armenian Smbat Bagratuni, during the battle, Vistahm was murdered by Pariowk at Khosraus urging. Nevertheless, Vistahms troops managed to repel the royal army at Qumis, despite Vistahms rebellion and death, the power of the Ispahbudhan family was too great to be broken
6.
Kavadh II
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Shērōē, better known by his dynastic name of Kavadh II, was king of the Sasanian Empire briefly in 628. He was the son of Khosrau II and he became king after orchestrating a coup détat against his father. Kavadh II was the son of Khosrau II, the king of the Sasanian Empire, and Maria, daughter of Maurice, Kavadh was later imprisoned by his father who wanted to ensure the succession of his favorite son Mardanshah, the son of his favorite wife, Shirin. His fathers reputation had been ruined during the last phase of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, in 627, the Sasanian general Rhahzadh was slain and Dastgerd, the kings favorite residence, had been sacked by Heraclius, who was advancing towards Ctesiphon. On 25 February, Kavadh, along with Aspad Gushnasp, captured Ctesiphon, Kavadh II then proclaimed himself as king of the Sasanian Empire and ordered the execution of all his brothers and half-brothers, which included Mardanshah, the favorite son of Khosrau II. Three days later he ordered Mihr Hormozd to execute his father, however, after the execution of his father, Kavadh had Mihr Hormozd killed. Kavadh also appointed Varaztirots II Bagratuni as Marzban of Persian Armenia, Kavadh II later died from plague after a few months reign on 6 September 628. He was succeeded by his eight-year-old son Ardashir III for whom he decreed Emperor Heraclius act as regent and these decisions along with his Christian faith led the Zoroastrian priesthood to eliminate him and his young heir not long after. A passage of the Chronicle of Edessa identifies Anzoy the Roman as the wife of Kavadh II, the woman was probably a Christian princess from the Byzantine Empire. Siroe is the subject of operas by a number of composers including Pasquale Errichelli, Johann Adolph Hasse, Leonardo Vinci, Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel. Morris, John, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume III, AD 527–641, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-20160-8 Morony, decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire, The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. Al-Tabari, Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir, the History of Al-Tabari, The Sasanids, the Lakhmids, and Yemen. Albany, NY, State University of New York Press
7.
Ctesiphon
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Ctesiphon was an ancient city located on the eastern bank of Tigris, and about 35 kilometres southeast of present day Baghdad. It became the capital of the Parthian Empire in about 58 BC, Ctesiphon developed into a rich commercial metropolis, merging with the surrounding cities along both shores of the river, including the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. Ctesiphon and its environs were therefore referred to as the cities. In the late sixth and early seventh century, it was one of the largest cities in the world, during the Roman–Persian Wars, Ctesiphon fell four times to the Romans, and later once during Sasanian rule. It was also the site of the Battle of Ctesiphon, in which Emperor Julian was killed in action, after the Muslim invasion the city fell into decay and was depopulated by the end of the 8th century. The most conspicuous structure remaining today is the archway of Ctesiphon. In Iranian-language texts of the Sasanian era, it is spelled as tyspwn, the New Persian form is Tisfun. Texts from the Assyrian Church of the Easts synods referred to the city as Qṭēspōn or some times Māḥôzē when referring to the metropolis of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, in modern Arabic, the name is usually Ṭaysafūn or Qaṭaysfūn or as al-Madain. According to Yāqūt, quoting Ḥamza, the form was Ṭūsfūn or Tūsfūn. The Armenian name of the city was Tizbon, Ctesiphon is first mentioned in the Book of Ezra of the Old Testament as Kasfia/Casphia. Ctesiphon is located approximately at Al-Madain,32 km southeast of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers, more than twice the surface of 13. 7-square-kilometer fourth-century Imperial Rome, the archway of Chosroes was once a part of the royal palace in Ctesiphon and is estimated to date between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD. It is located in what is now the Iraqi town of Salman Pak, Ctesiphon was founded in the late 120s BC. It was built on the site of a camp established across from Seleucia by Mithridates I of Parthia. The reign of Gotarzes I saw Ctesiphon reach a peak as a political and commercial center, the city became the Empires capital circa 58 BC during the reign of Orodes II. Gradually, the city merged with the old Hellenistic capital of Seleucia, the reason for this westward relocation of the capital could have been in part due to the proximity of the previous capitals to the Scythian incursions. Nearby is situated a village called Ctesiphon, a large village, because of its importance, Ctesiphon was a major military objective for the leaders of the Roman Empire in their eastern wars. The city was captured by Rome five times in its history – three times in the 2nd century alone, the emperor Trajan captured Ctesiphon in 116, but his successor, Hadrian, decided to willingly return Ctesiphon in 117 as part of a peace settlement
8.
Shirin
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Shirin was a wife of the Sassanid Persian Shahanshah, Khosrow Parviz. In the revolution after the death of Khosrows father Hormizd IV, Shirin fled with Khosrow to Syria, where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice. In 591, Khosrow returned to Persia to take control of the empire and she used her new influence to support the Christian minority in Iran, but the political situation demanded that she do so discreetly. Initially she belonged to the Church of the East, the so-called Nestorians, long after her death Shirin became an important heroine of Persian literature, as a model of a faithful lover and wife. She appears in the Shahnameh and the romance Khosrow and Shirin by Nizami Ganjavi, and is referred to in very many other works. After their first accidental meeting, when Khosrow was initially unaware of her identity, their courtship takes a number of twists and turns, with the pair often apart, after Khosrows son kills him, the son demands that Shirin marry him, which she avoids by committing suicide. Two early Syriac chronicles refer to Shirin as Aramean, which would identify her homeland as the region known under the name Beth Aramaie in Syriac sources, the tradition identifying her as Armenian appears to be of later origin. The earliest source mentioning Shirin is the Ecclesiastical history of Evagrius Scholasticus and it preserves a letter sent by Khosrau II to the shrine of Saint Sergius in Resafa. Theophylact Simocatta gives an account with additional information. In the following year the Persian king proclaimed as queen Seirem who was of Roman birth and Christian religion, in the third year he entreated Sergius, the most efficacious in Persia, that a child by Seirem be granted to him. Shortly afterwards this came to pass for him, the Roman ancestry of Shirin is contradicted by Sebeos, in accordance with their Magian religion, had numerous wives. He also took Christian wives, and had an extremely beautiful Christian wife from the land of Xuzhastan named Shirin and she constructed a monastery and a church close to the royal abode, and settled priests and deacons there allotting from the court stipends and money for clothing. Bravely, with her head held high she preached the gospel of the Kingdom, at court, when, however, days passed and her end approached, many of the mages who had converted to Christianity, were martyred in various places. The Khuzistan Chronicle, written by an Assyrian Christian from Khuzestan probably in 680 is described as the Syriac counterpart of the Armenian work of Sebeos and we read about the relationship between the Catholicos Isho Yahb II and the persian king Khosrau II. Parvez, Isho Yahb was treated respectfully throughout his life, by the king himself, the Chronicle of Séert is an anonymously authored historiographical text written by the Church of the East in Persia and the Middle East, possibly as early as the 9th century AD. The text deals with ecclesiastical, social, and political issues of the Christian church giving a history of its leaders, - History of Khosrau Parvez, son of Hormizd Khosrau, by gratitude for Maurice, ordered to rebuild churches and to honor the Christians. He built himself two churches for Marie and a church and a castle in the country of Beth Lashpar for his wife Shirin. Khosrow created several cities named after his lover Shirin, including the modern city Qasr-e Shirin, Khosrau Parviz Sassanid Empire Chosroes and Shirin Nizami Ganjavi Sarkash Behistun palace Qasr-e Shirin Baum, Wilhelm
9.
Boran
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Boran was empress regnant of the Sasanian Empire. Boran was the daughter of emperor Khosrow II and she was the first and one of only two women to rule the Sasanian Empire, the other was her sister and successor, Azarmidokht. Various authors place her reign between one year and four months to two years and her name appears as Bōrān on her coinage. The Persian poet Ferdowsi refers to her as Porandokht in his epic poem and she was committed to revive the memory and prestige of her father, during whose reign the Sasanian Empire had grown to its largest territorial extent. Boran was the daughter of Khosrow II, since her father was said to have had a shabestan with over 3000 concubines, it is not known if her mother was one of these concubines or the kings favorite wife Shirin. Boran also had other siblings and half-siblings named Mardanshah, Juvansher, Farrukhzad Khosrow V, Kavadh II, Shahriyar. In 628, her father was deposed by the Sasanian nobles in favor of her brother Kavadh II, Boran officially reproached Kavadh for his barbaric actions. Forty days later, Shahrbaraz was murdered by the faction of the Ispahbudhan nobleman Farrukh Hormizd, Boran was shortly proclaimed queen in Ctesiphon by Farrukhs faction. Boran was herself related to the Ispahbudhan family through her grandmother and she shortly appointed Farrukh Hormizd as the chief minister of the Empire. Boran then attempted to bring stability to the Sasanian Empire by the implementation of justice, reconstruction of the infrastructure, lowering of taxes, and minting coins. However, after time she was deposed in 630, and Shapur-i Shahrvaraz, the son of Shahrbaraz. However, he was not recognized by the faction of the general Piruz Khosrow, Shapur-i Shahrvaraz was thus deposed in favor of Azarmidokht, the sister of Boran. Her sister, Azarmidokht, was placed on the throne. In order to power, Farrukh Hormizd asked Azar to marry him. Not daring to refuse, she had him killed with the aid of the Mihranid Siyavakhsh, who was the grandson of Bahrām Chōbin and she was however, shortly assassinated by the latters son Rostam Farrokhzād, who was now the new leader of the Pahlav faction. After the murder of Azarmidokht by Rostam Farrokhzad, the latter restored Boran to the throne, Boran shortly made a meeting with the Pahlav and Parsig faction, where both factions agreed to work together. She desired a relationship with the Roman Empire, therefore she dispatched an embassy to Emperor Heraclius led by the dignitaries of the Persian church. Heraclius sent Boran a formal invitation to visit Constantinople, however, after one year of reign she was found suffocated by a pillow in her bed
10.
Azarmidokht
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Azarmidokht was Sasanian queen of Persia from to 630 to 631, and daughter of Khosrow II. She ruled Persia after her cousin Shapur-i Shahrvaraz, Azarmidokht was the daughter of Khosrow II. Since her father was said to have had a shabestan with over 3,000 concubines, Azarmidokht also had many other siblings and half-siblings named Mardanshah, Juvansher, Farrukhzad Khosrau V, Kavadh II, Shahriyar, and Borandukht. In 628, her father was deposed by the Sasanian nobles in favor of her brother Kavadh II, forty days later, Shahrbaraz was murdered by the faction of the Ispahbudhan nobleman Farrukh Hormizd, which was known as the Pahlav faction. Borandukht was shortly proclaimed queen in Ctesiphon by Farrukhs faction and she, was, however, later deposed by Shapur-i Shahrvaraz, the son of Khosrow IIs sister Mirhran, and the Sasanian usurper Shahrbaraz. However, Shapur-i Shahrvaraz was not recognized by the faction of the general Piruz Khosrow, Shapur-i Shahrvaraz was thus deposed in favor of Azarmidokht. In order to make a union with the Parsig faction, and to seize power, not daring to refuse, Azarmidokht had him killed with the aid of the Mihranid Siyavakhsh, who was the grandson of Bahram Chobin, the famous spahbed and briefly shahanshah. However, she was killed afterwards by the latters son Rostam Farrokhzad. Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire, The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy, john Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire IIIa. Cambridge,1992, p.160 Antonio Panaino, Women, some remarks about the enthronisation Boran of Queen and her sister Azarmigduxt. In, Josef Wiesehöfer, Philip Huyse, Eran ud Aneran, studien zu den Beziehungen zwischen dem Sasanidenreich und der Mittelmeerwelt
11.
Farrukhzad Khosrow V
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Farrukhzad Khosrau V was briefly king of the Sasanian Empire from March 631 to April 631. He was the son of Khosrau II, Farrukhzad Khosrau V was the son of Khosrau II. Since his father was said to have had a shabestan with over 3,000 concubines, Farrukhzad Khosrau also had many other siblings and half-siblings named Mardanshah, Juvansher, Borandukht, Kavadh II, Shahriyar, and Azarmidokht. In 628, his father was deposed by the Sasanian nobles in favor of his brother Kavadh II, however, Farrukhzad Khosrau managed to flee to a fortress near Nisibis where he took refuge. In 631 he was brought to Ctesiphon by a Sasanian noble named Zadhuyih, one month later, however, he faced a rebellion where he was overthrown and killed. Mīr-Khvānd, Moḥammad ibn Khvāndshāh ibn Maḥmūd, Reign of Farrukhzad ibn Khosrau,1892, Royal Asiatic Society, translated from the original work in Persian by E. Rehatsek
12.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
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House of Sasan
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The House of Sasan ruled the Sasanian Empire from 224 to 651. It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty as Sasanian in honour of his grandfather, the Shahanshah was the sole regent, head of state and head of government of the empire. At times, power shifted de facto to other officials, namely the spahbed, list of shahanshahs of the Sasanian Empire Sasanian family tree Sasanian architecture Pourshariati, Parvaneh. Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire, The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran
14.
Zoroastrianism
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Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
15.
Persian language
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Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and it is mostly written in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script. Its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages, Persian gets its name from its origin at the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persis, hence the name Persian. A Persian-speaking person may be referred to as Persophone, there are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, with the language holding official status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. For centuries, Persian has also been a cultural language in other regions of Western Asia, Central Asia. It also exerted influence on Arabic, particularly Bahrani Arabic. Persian is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-European family, other Western Iranian languages are the Kurdish languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Talysh, and Balochi. Persian is classified as a member of the Southwestern subgroup within Western Iranian along with Lari, Kumzari, in Persian, the language is known by several names, Western Persian, Parsi or Farsi has been the name used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the latter decades of the 20th century, for reasons, in English. Tajiki is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Tajiks, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Native Iranian Persian speakers call it Fārsi, Farsi is the Arabicized form of Pārsi, subsequent to Muslim conquest of Persia, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The origin of the name Farsi and the place of origin of the language which is Fars Province is the Arabicized form of Pārs, in English, this language has historically been known as Persian, though Farsi has also gained some currency. Farsi is encountered in some literature as a name for the language. In modern English the word Farsi refers to the language while Parsi describes Zoroastrians, some Persian language scholars such as Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, and University of Arizona professor Kamran Talattof, have also rejected the usage of Farsi in their articles. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa, as its system is mostly based on the local names. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the name Persian for the dialect continuum spoken across Iran and Afghanistan and this consists of the individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. Currently, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also includes a Tajik service and an Afghan service. This is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, Persian is an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages
16.
Khosrow I
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He was the successor of his father Kavadh I. Khosrow I was the twenty-second Sasanian Emperor of Persia, and one of its most celebrated emperors and he laid the foundations of many cities and opulent palaces, and oversaw the repair of trade roads as well as the building of numerous bridges and dams. His reign is marked by the numerous wars fought against the Sassanids neighboring archrivals. The most important wars under his reign were the Lazic War which was fought over Colchis, during Khosrows ambitious reign, art and science flourished in Persia and the Sasanian Empire reached its peak of glory and prosperity. His rule was preceded by his fathers and succeeded by Hormizd IV and he also introduced a rational system of taxation, based upon a survey of landed possessions, which his father had begun, and tried in every way to increase the welfare and the revenues of his empire. His army was in discipline decidedly superior to the Byzantines, and he was also interested in literature and philosophical discussions. Under his reign chess was introduced from India, and the book of Kalilah and Dimnah was translated. He thus became renowned as a wise king, Khosrow I was born in Ardestan, an ancient town which was built by the Achaemenids, and was to close the major city of Spahan. He was the son of Kavadh I, and had three brothers named Xerxes, Zamasp and Kawus. Khosrows mother was the sister of Bawi, making Khosrow I related to the Parthian House of Ispahbudhan and his father was involved with a group of Zoroastrians called the Mazdakites. The Mazdakites believed in a society and many lower class peasants supported the Mazdakite revolution. Kavadh, wanting to centralize power by taking away from the great noble families. In 531, Kavadh, while on his death-bed, appointed Khosrow as his successor, however, upon Kavadhs death, the Mazdakites gave their loyalty to Kavadhs eldest son, Kawus, while the noble families and the Zoroastrian Magi gave their support to Khosrow I. Khosrow presented himself as an anti-Mazdakite supporter and he, much like his father, believed in a strong centralized government. Khosrow met his brother Kawus in war and defeated him as well as his Mazdakite followers, subsequently, Mazdak, as well as a majority of his followers, were executed for his heretical beliefs and Khosrow took the Sasanian throne. At Khosrows succession, Byzantium and Sasanian Persia were in conflict with each other. Neither empire was able to get an advantage of the other, causing Emperor Justinian, upon learning the plot, Khosrow I executed all his brothers, their offsprings, along with Bawi and the other Persian notables who were involved. Khosrow I also ordered the execution of Kavadh, who was still a child, Khosrow sent orders to kill Kavadh, but Adergoudounbades disobeyed and brought him up in secret, until he was betrayed to the shah in 541 by his own son, Bahram
17.
Muslim conquest of Persia
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The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, led to the end of the Sasanian Empire in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Iran. The rise of Muslims coincided with a significant political, social, economic, once a major world power, the Sasanian Empire had exhausted its human and material resources after decades of warfare against the Byzantine Empire. The internal political situation quickly deteriorated after the execution of King Khosrau II on February 28,628, subsequently, ten new claimants were enthroned within the next four years, highlighting the political instability of the Sassanians prior to the Muslim invasion. Arab Muslims first attacked the Sassanid territory in 633, when general Khalid ibn Walid invaded Mesopotamia, following the transfer of Khalid to the Byzantine front in the Levant, the Muslims eventually lost their holdings to Sassanian counterattacks. The second invasion began in 636 under Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, the Zagros mountains then became a natural barrier and border between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Empire. Due to continuous raids by Persians into the area, Caliph Umar ordered an invasion of the Sasanian empire in 642. By 651, most of the centers in Iranian lands, with the notable exception of the Caspian provinces. Many localities fought against the invaders, ultimately, none were successful, in fact, although Arabs had established hegemony over most of the country, many cities rose in rebellion by killing the Arab governor or attacking their garrisons. Eventually, military reinforcements quashed the insurgency and imposed Islamic control, however, the Persians began to reassert themselves by maintaining Persian language and culture. Regardless, Islam was adopted by many for a multitude of reasons including by threat and extortion, for political and economic reasons, Islam would become the dominant religion late in the medieval ages. The most significant work was probably that of Arthur Christensen, and his L’Iran sous les Sassanides, published in Copenhagen, however recent scholarship, both Iranian and Western, has begun to question the traditional narrative. Another important theme of Pourshariatis study is a re-evaluation of the traditional timeline, since the 1st century BC, the border between the Roman and Parthian empires had been the Euphrates River. Most battles, and thus most fortifications, were concentrated in the regions of the north. The only dangers expected from the south were occasional raids by nomadic Arab tribesmen, both empires therefore allied themselves with small, semi-independent Arab principalities, which served as buffer states and protected Byzantium and Persia from Bedouin attacks. The Byzantine clients were the Ghassanids, the Persian clients were the Lakhmids, the Ghassanids and Lakhmids feuded constantly, which kept them occupied, but that did not greatly affect the Byzantines or the Persians. In the 6th and 7th centuries, various factors destroyed the balance of power that had held for so many centuries, the Byzantine clients, the Arab Ghassanids, converted to the Monophysite form of Christianity, which was regarded as heretical by the established Byzantine Orthodox Church. The Byzantines attempted to suppress the heresy, alienating the Ghassanids, the Lakhmids also revolted against the Persian king Khusrau II. Numan III, the first Christian Lakhmid king, was deposed and killed by Khusrau II in 602, after Khusraus assassination, the Persian Empire fractured and the Lakhmids were effectively semi-independent
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Achaemenid Empire
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The Achaemenid Empire, also called the Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia, founded by Cyrus the Great. The empires successes inspired similar systems in later empires and it is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was built in a Hellenistic style in the empire as well. By the 7th century BC, the Persians had settled in the portion of the Iranian Plateau in the region of Persis. From this region, Cyrus the Great advanced to defeat the Medes, Lydia, Alexander, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered the empire in its entirety by 330 BC. Upon his death, most of the former territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire. The Persian population of the central plateau reclaimed power by the second century BC under the Parthian Empire, the historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social, technological and religious influences as well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange. The impact of Cyruss edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, the empire also set the tone for the politics, heritage and history of modern Iran. Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Due to the duration of their reigns, Smerdis, Xerxes II. The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here, the Pasargadae, Maraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished, they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic Persians. The Achaemenid Empire was not the first Iranian empire, as by 6th century BC another group of ancient Iranian peoples had established the short lived Median Empire. The Iranian peoples had arrived in the region of what is today Iran c.1000 BC and had for a number of centuries fallen under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. However, the Medes and Persians, Cimmerians, Persians and Chaldeans played a role in the overthrow of the Assyrian empire. The term Achaemenid means of the family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes, despite the derivation of the name, Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, and a vassal of Assyria. At some point in 550 BC, Cyrus rose in rebellion against the Medes, eventually conquering the Medes and creating the first Persian empire
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Middle East
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The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, in the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, the history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Most of the countries border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office, however, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. Mahan first used the term in his article The Persian Gulf and International Relations, published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar, it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, mahans article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled The Middle Eastern Question, written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India. After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, in the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term Middle East gained broader usage in Europe, the description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, the Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous
20.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
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Anatolia
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Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
22.
Siege of Constantinople (626)
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The Siege of Constantinople in 626 by the Sassanid Persians and Avars, aided by large numbers of allied Slavs, ended in a strategic victory for the Byzantines. In 602, Phocas overthrew Maurice, the incumbent Byzantine emperor, laws were passed condemning Jews whilst religious and administrative mishandling left the Empire in a sorry state when the Sassanid king Khosrau II attacked, using the coup as a pretext for war. Initially, the war went well for the Persians, until only Anatolia remained in Roman hands, later, Phocas was overthrown by the son of the then Exarch of Carthage, Heraclius. A general of astounding energy yet limited experience, Heraclius immediately began undoing much of Phocass damaging work that he had procured whilst Emperor. Yet, despite his offensives into Mesopotamia Heraclius was unable to stop his Persian enemies from laying siege to his capital where from Chalcedon they were able to launch their attack and he did this to conserve government resources, but he was removed. However, there were disturbances in the city. Khosrau, seeing that a counterattack was needed to defeat the Byzantines. Khosrau also coordinated with the Khagan of the Avars so as to launch an attack on Constantinople from both European and Asiatic sides. The Persian army stationed themselves at Chalcedon, while the Avars placed themselves on the European side of Constantinople, because of the Byzantine navys control of the Bosphorus strait, however, the Persians could not send troops to the European side to aid their ally. This reduced the effectiveness of the siege, because the Persians were experts in siege warfare, furthermore, the Persians and Avars had difficulties communicating across the guarded Bosphorus—though undoubtedly, there was some communication between the two forces. The defense of Constantinople was under the command of Patriarch Sergius, on 29 June 626, a coordinated assault on the walls began. The Persians had arrived in Chalcedon before Phocas was overthrown, however, it was only when the Avars began moving forward heavy siege equipment towards the Theodosian Walls that a siege became clear. Furthermore, the cries for religious zeal among the peasantry around Constantinople was made ever more effective by the fact that they were facing heathens. Consequently, every assault became a doomed effort, on August 7, a fleet of Persian rafts ferrying troops across the Bosphorus were surrounded and destroyed by Byzantine ships. The Slavs under the Avars attempted to attack the sea walls from across the Golden Horn, patrician Bonus galleys rammed and destroyed the Slavic boats, the Avar land assault from August 6 to the 7th also failed. With the news that Theodore had decisively triumphed over Shahin, the Avars retreated to the Balkan hinterland within two days, never to seriously threaten Constantinople again, even though the army of Shahrbaraz was still encamped at Chalcedon, the threat to Constantinople was over. The loss in the siege came just after news had reached them of yet another Byzantine victory, furthermore, after the emperor showed Shahrbaraz intercepted letters from Khosrau ordering the Persian generals death, the latter switched to Heraclius side. Shahrbaraz then moved his army to northern Syria, where he could decide to support either Khosrau or Heraclius at a moments notice
23.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
24.
Pannonian Avars
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The Pannonian Avars /ˈævɑːrz/ also known as the Obri, the Abaroi and Varchonitai, and the Pseudo-Avars and Varchonites, were a group of Eurasian nomads of unknown origin during the early Middle Ages. The name Pannonian Avars, is used to them from the Avars of the Caucasus – who may or may not have been an unrelated people. They established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and considerable areas of Central and they were ruled by a khagan, who was assisted by an entourage of professional warriors. The language or languages spoken by the Avars are now unknown, denis Sinor states that most of the Avar words used in contemporaneous Latin or Greek texts, appear to have their origins in Siberian languages, especially Tungusic languages and Mongolian. There is also evidence, however, that ruling and subject clans spoke a variety of languages, proposals by scholars include Caucasian, Iranian, Tungusic, Hungarian and Turkic. A few scholars suggest that Proto-Slavic became the lingua franca of the Avar Khaganate, according to Gyula László, the late 9th century Pannonian Avars spoke a variety of Old Hungarian, thereby forming an Avar-Hungarian continuity with then newly arrived Hungarians. The earliest clear reference to the Avar ethnonym comes from Priscus the Rhetor,463, the Šaragurs, Onogurs and Ogurs were attacked by the Sabirs, who had been attacked by the Avars. In turn, the Avars had been driven off by people fleeing man-eating griffins coming from the ocean, whilst Priscus accounts provide some information about the ethno-political situation in the Don-Kuban-Volga region after the demise of the Huns, no unequivocal conclusions can be reached. Denis Sinor has argued that whoever the Avars referred to by Priscus were, they differed from the Avars who appear a century later, during the time of Justinian. The next author of late antiquity to discuss the Avars, Menander Protector in the 6th century, each time, the Turks appear angered at the Byzantines for having made an alliance with the Avars, whom the Turks saw as their subjects and slaves. Turxanthos, a Turk prince, calls the Avars Varchonites and escaped slaves of the Turks, many more, but somewhat confusing, details come from Theophylact Simocatta, who wrote c. 629, but detailed the two decades of the 6th century. For it is by a misnomer that the barbarians on the Ister have assumed the appellation of Avars, so, when the Avars had been defeated some of them made their escape to those who inhabit Taugast. Taugast is a city, which is a total of one thousand five hundred miles distant from those who are called Turks. These make their habitations in the east, by the course of the river Til, the earliest leaders of this nation were named Var and Chunni, from them some parts of those nations were also accorded their nomenclature, being called Var and Chunni. Then, while the emperor Justinian was in possession of the royal power and these named themselves Avars and glorified their leader with the appellation of Chagan. Let us declare, without departing in the least from the truth, for this reason they honoured the fugitives with splendid gifts and supposed that they received from them security in exchange. In point of fact even up to our present times the Pseudo-Avars are divided in their ancestry, some bearing the time-honoured name of Var while others are called Chunni
25.
Slavs
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Slavs are the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe. They are native to Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Northeastern Europe, North Asia, Slavs speak Slavic languages of the Balto-Slavic language group. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central, states with Slavic languages comprise over 50% of the territory of Europe, therefore it is the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe by land area. Present-day Slavic people are classified into West Slavs, East Slavs, there are an estimated 360 million Slavs worldwide. The Slavic autonym is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural *Slověne, the oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest the autonym as Slověne. The word slovo and the related slava and slukh originate from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, cognate with Ancient Greek κλῆς, whence comes the name Pericles, Latin clueo, some other theories have limited support. The English term slave eventually derives from the ethnonym Slav, Slavs were captured and enslaved by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. The Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni make their first appearance in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a name in the remote past. He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, and that believe in one god. They lived in scattered housing, and constantly changed settlement, regarding warfare, they were mainly foot soldiers with small shields and battleaxes, lightly clothed, some entering battle naked with only their genitals covered. And they live a life, giving no heed to bodily comforts. Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and forests for their cities, another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes. Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius that slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I. The Avars asked the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars, he declined and is reported as saying, Others do not conquer our land. The relationship between the Slavs and a called the Veneti east of the River Vistula in the Roman period is uncertain. The name may refer both to Balts and Slavs, perhaps some Slavs migrated with the movement of the Vandals to Iberia and north Africa. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers, the Byzantine records note that grass would not regrow in places where the Slavs had marched through, so great were their numbers
26.
Heraclius
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Heraclius was the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 610 to 641. He was responsible for introducing Greek as the Eastern Roman Empires official language and his rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas. Heracliuss reign was marked by military campaigns. The year Heraclius came to power, the empire was threatened on multiple frontiers, Heraclius immediately took charge of the Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628. Soon after, he initiated reforms to rebuild and strengthen the military, Heraclius drove the Persians out of Asia Minor and pushed deep into their territory, defeating them decisively in 627 at the Battle of Nineveh. The Persian king Khosrau II was overthrown and executed by his son Kavadh II and this way peaceful relations were restored to the two deeply strained empires. Heraclius soon experienced a new event, the Muslim conquests, emerging from the Arabian Peninsula, the Muslims quickly conquered the Sassanid empire. In 634 the Muslims marched into Roman Syria, defeating Heracliuss brother Theodore, within a short period of time, the Arabs conquered Mesopotamia, Armenia and Egypt. Heraclius entered diplomatic relations with the Croats and Serbs in the Balkans and he tried to repair the schism in the Christian church in regard to the Monophysites, by promoting a compromise doctrine called Monothelitism. The Church of the East was also involved in the process, eventually, however, this project of unity was rejected by all sides of the dispute. Heraclius was the eldest son of Heraclius the Elder and Epiphania, of an Armenian family from Cappadocia, beyond that, there is little specific information known about his ancestry. His father was a key general during Emperor Maurices war with Bahrām Chobin, usurper of the Sassanid Empire, after the war, Maurice appointed Heraclius the Elder to the position of Exarch of Africa. In 608, Heraclius the Elder renounced his loyalty to the Emperor Phocas, the rebels issued coins showing both Heraclii dressed as consuls, though neither of them explicitly claimed the imperial title at this time. Heracliuss younger cousin Nicetas launched an invasion of Egypt, by 609, he had defeated Phocass general Bonosus. Meanwhile, the younger Heraclius sailed eastward with another force via Sicily, when he reached the capital, the Excubitors, an elite Imperial Guard unit led by Phocass son-in-law Priscus, deserted to Heraclius, and he entered the city without serious resistance. When Heraclius captured Phocas, he asked him Is this how you have ruled, Phocass reply—And will you rule better. —so enraged Heraclius that he beheaded Phocas on the spot. He later had the genitalia removed from the body because Phocas had raped the wife of Photius, a powerful politician in the city. On October 5,610, Heraclius was crowned for a time, this time in the Chapel of St. Stephen within the Great Palace, at the same time he married Fabia
27.
Levant
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The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean. The term Levant entered English in the late 15th century from French and it derives from the Italian Levante, meaning rising, implying the rising of the sun in the east. As such, it is equivalent to the Arabic term Mashriq. Eventually the term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine, in 1581, England set up the Levant Company to monopolize commerce with the Ottoman Empire. The name Levant States was used to refer to the French mandate over Syria and this is probably the reason why the term Levant has come to be used synonymously with Syria-Palestine. Some scholars misunderstood the term thinking that it derives from the name of Lebanon, today the term is typically used in conjunction with prehistoric or ancient historical references. It does not include Anatolia, the Caucasus Mountains, or any part of the Arabian Peninsula proper, the Sinai Peninsula is sometimes included. The Levant has been described as the crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and northeast Africa, the populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs, and a very long history. They are often referred to as Levantines, the term Levant, which appeared in English in 1497, originally meant the East in general or Mediterranean lands east of Italy. It is borrowed from the French levant rising, referring to the rising of the sun in the east, the phrase is ultimately from the Latin word levare, meaning lift, raise. Similar etymologies are found in Greek Ἀνατολή, in Germanic Morgenland, in Italian, in Hungarian Kelet, in Spanish and Catalan Levante and Llevant, most notably, Orient and its Latin source oriens meaning east, is literally rising, deriving from Latin orior rise. The notion of the Levant has undergone a process of historical evolution in usage, meaning. While the term Levantine originally referred to the European residents of the eastern Mediterranean region, it came to refer to regional native. The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire, at this time, the Far East was known as the Upper Levant. In early 19th-century travel writing, the term sometimes incorporated certain Mediterranean provinces of the Ottoman empire, in 19th-century archaeology, it referred to overlapping cultures in this region during and after prehistoric times, intending to reference the place instead of any one culture. The French mandate of Syria and Lebanon was called the Levant states, today, Levant is the term typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the history of the region. Scholars have adopted the term Levant to identify the region due to it being a wider, yet relevant, archaeologists seeking a neutral orientation that is neither biblical nor national have used terms such as Levantine archaeology and archaeology of the Southern Levant. Two academic journals were launched, Journal of Levantine Studies, published by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and The Levantine Review
28.
Caucasus
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The Caucasus /ˈkɔːkəsəs/ or Caucasia /kɔːˈkeɪʒə/ is a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europes highest mountain, politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts. The southern parts consist of independent sovereign states, and the parts are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The region is known for its diversity, aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian. Pliny the Elders Natural History derives the name of the Caucasus from Scythian kroy-khasis, German linguist Paul Kretschmer notes that the Latvian word Kruvesis also means ice. According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the South Caucasus region and southern Dagestan were the furthest points of Persian expansions, with areas to the north of Caucasus Mountains practically impregnable. The mythological mountain of Qaf, the worlds highest mountain that ancient lore shrouded in mystery, was said to be situated in this region, therefore, the Caucasus might be associated with the legendary mountain. The Ciscaucasus contains the majority of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range. It includes Southwestern Russia and northern parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Transcaucasus is bordered on the north by Russia, on the west by the Black Sea and Turkey, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. It includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands, all of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are in South Caucasus. The main Greater Caucasus range is generally perceived to be the line between Asia and Europe. The highest peak in the Caucasus is Mount Elbrus in the western Ciscaucasus in Russia, the Caucasus is one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse regions on Earth. The nation states that comprise the Caucasus today are the post-Soviet states Georgia, Armenia, three territories in the region claim independence but are recognized as such by only a handful or by no independent states, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are recognised by the majority of independent states as part of Georgia, the Russian divisions include Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and the autonomous republics of Adygea, Karachay–Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan. The region has many different languages and language families, there are more than 50 ethnic groups living in the region. Russian is used as a common language, today the peoples of the Northern and Southern Caucasus tend to be either Eastern Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians, or Sunni Muslims. Shia Islam has had many adherents historically in Azerbaijan, located in the part of the region. Located on the peripheries of Turkey, Iran, and Russia, the region has been an arena for political, military, religious, throughout its history, the Caucasus was usually incorporated into the Iranian world
29.
True Cross
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The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Catholic Church tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Many churches possess fragmentary remains that are by tradition alleged to be those of the True Cross and their authenticity is not accepted universally by those of the Christian faith and the accuracy of the reports surrounding the discovery of the True Cross is questioned by some Christians. The medieval legends that developed concerning its provenance differ between Catholic and Orthodox tradition and these churches honour Helena as a saint, as does also the Anglican Communion. The Golden Legend contains several versions of the origin of the True Cross, in The Life of Adam, Voragine writes that the True Cross came from three trees which grew from three seeds from the Tree of Mercy which Seth collected and planted in the mouth of Adams corpse. After many centuries, the tree was cut down and the used to build a bridge over which the Queen of Sheba passed. So struck was she by the portent contained in the timber of the bridge that she fell on her knees and revered it. On her visit to Solomon, she told him that a piece of wood from the bridge would bring about the replacement of Gods Covenant with the Jewish people, Solomon, fearing the eventual destruction of his people, had the timber buried. But after fourteen generations, the wood taken from the bridge was fashioned into the Cross used to crucify Christ, Voragine then goes on to describe its finding by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine. In the late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, there was a general acceptance of the origin of the True Cross and its history preceding the Crucifixion. The Golden Legend and many of its sources developed after the East-West Schism of 1054, the above pre-Crucifixion history, therefore, is not to be found in Eastern Christianity. According to the tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church the True Cross was made from three different types of wood, cedar, pine and cypress. The link between this verse and the Crucifixion lies in the words, the place of my feet, there is a tradition that the three trees from which the True Cross was constructed grew together in one spot. A traditional Orthodox icon depicts Lot, the nephew of Abraham, according to tradition, these trees were used to construct the Temple in Jerusalem. Later, during Herods reconstruction of the Temple, the wood from these trees was removed from the Temple and discarded, eventually being used to construct the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Following his conversion to Christianity, Emperor Constantine ordered in about 325–326 that the site be uncovered and instructed Saint Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, in his Life of Constantine, Eusebius does not mention the finding of the True Cross. Socrates Scholasticus, in his Ecclesiastical History, gives a description of the discovery that was repeated later by Sozomen. In Socratess version of the story, Macarius had the three placed in turn on a deathly ill woman. This woman recovered at the touch of the cross, which was taken as a sign that this was the cross of Christ
30.
Persian literature
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Persian literature is one of the worlds oldest literatures. It spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the material has been lost. For instance, Mowlana Rumi, one of best-loved Persian poets, born in Balkh or Vakhsh, wrote in Persian, the Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, not all Persian literature is written in Persian, as some consider works written by ethnic Persians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic, to be included. The bulk of surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the following the Islamic conquest of Iran c.650 CE. After the Abbasids came to power, the Iranians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the Islamic empire and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana because of political reasons——the early Iranian dynasties such as Tahirids and Samanids were based in Khorasan, Iranians wrote in both Persian and Arabic, Persian predominated in later literary circles. Persian poets such as Ferdowsi, Sadi, Hafiz, Attar, Nezami, Rumi, very few literary works of Achaemenid Iran have survived, due partly to the destruction of the library at Persepolis. Most of what remains consists of the inscriptions of Achaemenid kings, particularly Darius I. Many Zoroastrian writings were destroyed in the Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, the Parsis who fled to India, however, took with them some of the books of the Zoroastrian canon, including some of the Avesta and ancient commentaries thereof. Some works of Sassanid geography and travel also survived, albeit in Arabic translations, no single text devoted to literary criticism has survived from Pre-Islamic Iran. However, some essays in Pahlavi, such as Ayin-e name nebeshtan, some researchers have quoted the Shoubiyye as asserting that the Pre-Islamic Iranians had books on eloquence, such as Karvand. No trace remains of such books, there are some indications that some among the Persian elite were familiar with Greek rhetoric and literary criticism. While initially overshadowed by Arabic during the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates, New Persian soon became a literary language again of the Central Asian, in short, the ability to write in verse form was a pre-requisite for any scholar. For example, almost half of Avicennas medical writings are in verse, works of the early era of Persian poetry are characterized by strong court patronage, an extravagance of panegyrics, and what is known as سبک فاخر exalted in style. The tradition of patronage began perhaps under the Sassanid era. The Qasida was perhaps the most famous form of panegyric used, khorasani style, whose followers mostly were associated with Greater Khorasan, is characterized by its supercilious diction, dignified tone, and relatively literate language. The chief representatives of this lyricism are Asjadi, Farrukhi Sistani, Unsuri, panegyric masters such as Rudaki were known for their love of nature, their verse abounding with evocative descriptions
31.
Shahnameh
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The Shahnameh, also transliterated as Shahnama, is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couplets, the Shahnameh is the worlds longest epic poem written by a single poet. It tells mainly the mythical and to some extent the historical past of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century. Modern Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and the region influenced by the Persian culture celebrate this national epic. The work is of importance in Persian culture, regarded as a literary masterpiece. Ferdowsi started writing the Shahnameh in 977 A. D and completed it on 8 March 1010, the Shahnameh is a monument of poetry and historiography, being mainly the poetical recast of what Ferdowsi, his contemporaries, and his predecessors regarded as the account of Irans ancient history. Many such accounts already existed in prose, an example being the Abu-Mansuri Shahnameh, a small portion of Ferdowsis work, in passages scattered throughout the Shahnameh, is entirely of his own conception. The Shahnameh is a poem of over 50,000 couplets. It is based mainly on a work of the same name compiled in Ferdowsis earlier life in his native Tus. The Xwadāynāmag contained historical information on the later Sassanid period, Ferdowsi added material continuing the story to the overthrow of the Sassanids by the Arabs in the middle of the 7th century. These verses, which deal with the rise of the prophet Zoroaster, were incorporated by Ferdowsi, with acknowledgment. The style of the Shahnameh shows characteristics of written and oral literature. Some claim that Ferdowsi also used Zoroastrian nasks, such as the now-lost Chihrdad, besides, the text is written in the late Middle Persian, which was the immediate ancestor of Modern Persian. According to one account of the sources, a Persian named Dehqan in the court of King Anushehrawan Dadgar had composed a book in prose form. After the fall of the Iranian Empire, Khoday Nameh came into the possession of King Yaqub Lais and then the Samani king Nuh ordered the poet Daqiqi to complete it, Ferdowsi obtained the book through a friend. The work is not precisely chronological, but there is a movement through time. Some of the characters live for hundreds of years but most have normal life spans, there are many shāhs who come and go, as well as heroes and villains, who also come and go. The only lasting images are those of Greater Persia itself, and of a succession of sunrises and sunsets, the work is divided into three successive parts, the mythical, heroic, and historical ages
32.
Khosrow and Shirin
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Khosrow and Shirin, is the title of a famous Persian tragic romance by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi who also wrote Layla and Majnun. It tells a highly elaborated fictional version of the story of the love of the Sasanian king Khosrow II for the Armenian princess Shirin, variants of the story were also told under the titles Shirin and Farhad. Nezamis version begins with an account of Khosrows birth and his education and this is followed by an account of Khosrows feast in a farmers house, for which Khosrow is severely chastised by his father. Khosrow asks forgiveness and repents his offence, hormizd IV, who is now pleased with his son, forgives him. Shapur, Khosrows close friend and a painter, tells Khosrow of the Armenian queen Mahin Banu, hearing Shapurs descriptions of Shirins flawless features, the young prince falls in love with Shirin, the Armenian princess. Shapur travels to Armenia to look for Shirin, Shapur finds Shirin and shows the image of Khosrow to Shirin. Shirin falls in love with Khosrow and escapes from Armenia to Khosrows capital Madain, on the way, he finds Shirin unclothed bathing and washing her flowing hair, Shirin also sees him, but since Khosrow was traveling in peasant clothes, they do not recognize one another. Khosrow arrives in Armenia and is welcomed by Shamira the queen of Armenia - yet he finds out that Shirin is in Madain, again, Shapur is sent to bring Shirin. When Shirin reached Armenia again, Khosrow – because of his fathers death- has to return to Madain, the two lovers keep going to opposite places till finally Khosrow is overthrown by a general named Bahrām Chobin and flees to Armenia. In Armenia, Khosrow finally meets Shirin and is welcomed by her, Shirin, however, does not agree to marry Khosrow, unless Khosrow first claims his country back from Bahram Choobin. Thus, Khosrow leaves Shirin in Armenia and goes to Constantinople, the Caesar agrees to assist him against Bahram Choobin conditioned that he married his daughter Maryam. Khosrow is also forced to not to marry as long as Maryam is alive. Khosrow succeeds in defeating his enemy and reclaims his throne, Maryam, due to her jealousy, keeps Khosrow away from Shirin. Meanwhile, a sculptor named Farhad, falls in love with Shirin, Khosrow cannot abide Farhad, so he sends him on an exile to Behistun mountain with the impossible task of carving stairs out of the cliff rocks. Farhad begins his task hoping that Khosrow will allow him marry Shirin, yet, Khosrow sends a messenger to Farhad and gives him false news of Shirins death. Hearing this false news, Farhad throws himself from the mountaintop, Khosrow writes a letter to Shirin, expressing his regret for Farhads death. Soon after this incident, Maryam also dies, according to Ferdowsis version, it was Shirin who secretly poisoned Maryam. Shirin replies Khosrows letter with another letter of condolences
33.
Nizami Ganjavi
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Nizami Ganjavi, Nizami Ganjei, Nizami, or Nezāmi, whose formal name was Jamal ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī, was a 12th-century Persian Sunni Muslim poet. Nezāmi is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature and his heritage is widely appreciated and shared by Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, the Kurdistan region and Tajikistan. His personal name was Ilyas and his chosen pen-name was Nezami and he was born of an urban background in Ganja and is believed to have spent his whole life in South Caucasus. According to De Blois, Ganja was a city which at that time had predominantly an Iranian population, the Armenian historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi mentions that, This city was densely populated with Iranians and a small number of Christians. Because Nezami was not a poet, he does not appear in the annals of the dynasties. Tazkerehs, which are the compilations of literary memoirs that include maxims of the poets along with biographical information. Much of this material in these Tazkerehs are based on legends, anecdotes, consequently, few facts are known about Nezamis life, the only source being his own work, which does not provide much information on his personal life. Nezami was orphaned early and was raised by his maternal uncle Khwaja Umar who took responsibility for him and his mother, named Raisa, was of Kurdish background. His father, whose name was Yusuf is mentioned once by Nezami in his poetry, in the same verse, Nezami mentions his grandfathers name as Zakki. In part of the verse, some have taken the word Muayyad as a title for Zakki while others have interpreted it as the name of his great grandfather. Some sources have stated that his father might be possibly from Qom, Nezami is variously mentioned as a Persian and/or Iranian. His first wife was a Kipchak slave girl which was sent to him by Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah, according to Iraj Bashiri she became Nezamis most beloved wife. His only son Mohammad was from this wife and she died after Khosrow and Shirin was completed. Mohammad was seven at the time, Nezami mentions his son again in Layli and Majnun adding that now this son is 14 years old and apple of my eyes. In Haft Peykar, he mentions and advises his son about taking more responsibility as the father was growing more frail. Some modern writers in the late 20th century have claimed that this wife was called Afaq, Nezami was not a philosopher in the sense of Avicenna or an expositor of theoretical Sufism in the sense of Ibn Arabi. Often referred to by the honorific Hakim, Nezami is both a poet and master of a lyrical and sensuous style. About Nezamis prodigious learning there is no doubt, poets were expected to be well versed in many subjects, but Nezami seems to have been exceptionally so
34.
Arameans
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The Arameans, or Aramaeans, were an ancient Northwest Semitic Aramaic-speaking tribal confederacy who emerged from Syria in the Late Bronze Age the region known as Aram from the 11th-8th centuries BC. They established a patchwork of independent Aramaic kingdoms in the Levant, in the New Babylonian, or Chaldean, empire, Chaldeans, Aramaeans, Suteans and indigenous Babylonians became largely indistinguishable. This empire stretched from Cyprus and the East Mediterranean in the west to Persia and Elam in the east, and from Armenia, the Achaemenid Empire greatly spread Imperial Aramaic, north to the Coast of the Black Sea and westward to the Indus Valley. This Akkadian and later Old Persian influenced version of Aramaic later developed into the Syriac dialect of Edessa, one of the annals of Naram-Sin of Akkad mentions that he captured Dubul, the ensí of A-ra-me, in the course of a campaign against Simurrum in the northern mountains. Other early references to a place or people of Aram have appeared at the archives of Mari, urban settlements in The Levant diminished in size, until eventually fully nomadic pastoralist lifestyles came to dominate much of the region. These highly mobile, competitive tribesmen with their sudden raids continually threatened long-distance trade and interfered with the collection of taxes, however, they seem to have been displaced or wholly absorbed by the appearance of a people called the Ahlamu by the 13th century BC, disappearing from history. The presence of the Ahlamû is attested during the Middle Assyrian Empire, Shalmaneser I is recorded as having defeated Shattuara, King of the Mitanni and his Hittite and Ahlamû mercenaries. The Arameans would appear to be one part of the larger generic Ahlamû group rather than synonymous with the Ahlamu, the first certain reference to the Arameans appears in an inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I, which refers to subjugating the Ahlamû-Aramaeans. Shortly after, the Ahlamû rapidly disappear from Assyrian annals, to be replaced by the Aramaeans and this indicates that the Arameans had risen to dominance amongst the nomads, however, it is possible that the two peoples had nothing in common, but operated in the same area. By the late 12th century BC, the Arameans were firmly established in Syria, however, they were conquered by the Middle Assyrian Empire, as had been the Amorites and it is from this point that the region was called Aramea. Further north, the Arameans gained possession of Neo-Hittite Hamath on the Orontes and were soon to become strong enough to dissociate with the Indo-European speaking Neo-Hittite states. North of Samal was the Aramean state of Bit-Gabari, which was sandwiched between the Syro-Hittite states of Carchemish, Gurgum, Khattina, Unqi and the Georgian state of Tabal. At the same time, Arameans moved to the east of the Euphrates, where settled in such numbers that, for a time. Eastern Aramaean tribes spread into Babylonia and an Aramaean usurper was crowned king of Babylon under the name of Adad-apal-iddin, one of their earliest semi-independent kingdoms in southern Mesopotamia was Bît-Bahiâni (Tell Halaf. Assyrian annals from the end of the Middle Assyrian Empire c.1050 BC, the Assyrians would launch repeated raids into Aramea, Babylonia, Ancient Iran, Elam, Asia Minor, and even as far as the Mediterranean, in order to keep its trade routes open. This process was continued by Ashurnasirpal II, and his son Shalmaneser III, in 732 BC Aram-Damascus fell and was conquered by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III. The Assyrians named their Aramean colonies Eber Nari, whilst still using the term Aramean to describe many of its peoples, the Assyrians conducted forced deportations of hundreds of thousands Arameans into both Assyria and Babylonia. These Arameans were absorbed into the indigenous populations of Assyria and Babylonia, the Neo Assyrian Empire descended into a bitter series of brutal internal civil wars from 626 BC, weakening it greatly
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Byzantine Greeks
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Throughout the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Rhōmaîoi and Graikoí, but are referred to as Byzantines and Byzantine Greeks in modern historiography. The terms Byzantine Empire and Byzantine Greeks were first coined in the English language in 1857 by British historian George Finlay, the social structure of the Byzantine Greeks was primarily supported by a rural, agrarian base that consisted of the peasantry, and a small fraction of the poor. These peasants lived within three kinds of settlements, the chorion or village, the agridion or hamlet, and the proasteion or estate. Many civil disturbances that occurred during the time of the Byzantine Empire were attributed to political factions within the Empire rather than to large popular base. Soldiers among the Byzantine Greeks were at first conscripted amongst the rural peasants, as the Byzantine Empire entered the 11th century, more of the soldiers within the army were either professional men-at-arms or mercenaries. Until the twelfth century, education within the Byzantine Greek population was more advanced than in the West, particularly at primary school level, success came easily to Byzantine Greek merchants, who enjoyed a very strong position in international trade. Despite the challenges posed by rival Italian merchants, they held their own throughout the half of the Byzantine Empires existence. The clergy also held a place, not only having more freedom than their Western counterparts. This position of strength had built up over time, for at the beginning of the Byzantine Empire, under Emperor Constantine the Great, only a part, about 10%. The language of the Byzantine Greeks since the age of Constantine had been Greek, from the reign of Emperor Heraclius, Greek was the predominant language amongst the populace and also replaced Latin in administration. Over time, the relationship between them and the West, particularly with Latin Europe, deteriorated, relations were further damaged by a schism between the Catholic West and Orthodox East that led to the Byzantine Greeks being labeled as heretics in the West. However, the Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, during most of the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Rhōmaîoi, a term which in the Greek language had become synonymous with Christian Greeks. The ancient name Hellenes was in popular use synonymous to pagan and was revived as an ethnonym in the Middle Byzantine period, the term Byzantines or Byzantine Greeks is an exonym applied by later historians like Hieronymus Wolf, the Byzantines continued to call themselves Romaioi in their language. Most historians agree that the features of their civilization were, 1) Greek language, culture, literature. The Eastern Roman Empire was in language and civilization a Greek society, the term Byzantine has been adopted by Western scholarship on the assumption that anything Roman is essentially Western. However, modern Greeks still use the ethnonyms Romaioi and Graikoi to refer to themselves, as well as the terms Romaica, byzantinist August Heisenberg defined the Byzantine Empire as the Christianised Roman empire of the Greek nation. Byzantium was primarily known as the Empire of the Greeks by Western Europeans due to the predominance of Greek linguistic, cultural, many Greek Orthodox populations, particularly those outside the newly independent modern Greek state, continued to refer to themselves as Romioi well into the 20th century. Some of the children ran to see what Greek soldiers looked like
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Hyrcania
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Hyrcania is a historical region composed of the land south-east of the Caspian Sea in modern day Iran, bound in the south by the Alborz mountain range and the Kopet Dag in the east. The region served as a satrapy of the Median Empire, a sub-province of the Achaemenid Empire, and a province within its successors, Hyrcania bordered Parthia to the east, Dihistan to the north, Media to the south and Mardia to the west. After the fall of the Sasanian Empire in 651 AD, Hyrcania was known as Tabaristan, according to Ctesias, Astyages grandson Megabernes also served as satrap of Hyrcania. Under the Achaemenid Empire, Hyrcania served as a sub-province of the satrapy of Parthia, at times, Cadusia may have been administered as part of Hyrcania. Fortifications to protect Hyrcania against nomadic incursions were constructed during the Achaemenid period, following Darius the Greats victory over the Magian usurper, Gaumata, in September 522 BC, revolts spread throughout the empire. In December 522 BC, a revolt in support of the Median leader Phraortes erupted in Hyrcania, and in March 521 BC, in May, Phraortes was defeated and Hyrcania returned to Achaemenid rule. Darius later settled Hyrcanians in the settlement of Dareionkome in the Hyrcanian Plain in Lydia, other Hyrcanian settlements in the Hermus valley include Ormoita and Tyanolla. According to Herodotus, Hyrcanian soldiers participated in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC under the command of Megapanus, after the war, a garrison composed of Hyrcanian soldiers was posted in the valleys of the rivers Hermus and Caicus. Under Xerxes I, Hyrcania was likely detached from the satrapy of Parthia, some sources imply Hyrcania was later administered as a sub-province of Media. According to Ctesias, Artaxerxes I appointed his illegitimate son Ochus as satrap of Hyrcania in c.425 BC, by the time of Alexander the Greats invasion of the Achaemenid Empire in 334 BC, Hyrcania was reattached to the satrapy of Parthia and administered as a sub-province. Hyrcanian soldiers are mentioned in the Battle of Gaugamela against Alexander in 331 BC, after the death of Darius III in 330 BC, many Persian noblemen fled to Hyrcania. Alexander reached Hyrcania in 330 BC, where he accepted the surrender of Phrataphernes, satrap of Hyrcania and Parthia, Alexander seized Zadracarta, the capital of Hyrcania, hereafter known as Syrinx, later that year and received the surrender of other satraps and nobles. Whilst in Hycania, Alexander appointed his general Amminapes as satrap of Hyrcania and Parthia, in 328 BC, Autophradates rebelled against Alexander and Phrataphernes, who had been reinstated as satrap of Parthia, was sent to quell the revolt. Autophradates was defeated and executed by Alexander at Pasargadae in 324 BC and Phrataphernes was granted the satrapies of Hyrcania, Tapuria, and Mardia. Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, his empire was divided amongst the Diadochi in the Partition of Babylon, which confirmed Phrataphernes control of Hyrcania and Parthia. The Partition of Triparadisus in 321 BC granted Parthia and Hyrcania to Philip, however, Philip was killed by Peithon, satrap of Media, in 318 BC and Peithon appointed his brother Eudemus as satrap. Seleucus son, Antiochus I, appointed Andragoras as satrap of Parthia and Hyrcania at a date prior to 266 BC. Andragoras may have founded the city of Dehestān during his tenure as satrap, Andragoras was killed in 238 BC during the Parni conquest of Parthia, led by Arsaces, who went on to conquer Hyrcania in 235 BC, thereafter forming part of the Arsacid Empire
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Meyer, Eduard (1911). "Chosroes". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.