Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire known as the Sassanian, Sassanid or Neo-Persian Empire, was the last kingdom of the Persian Empire before the rise of Islam. Named after the House of Sasan, it ruled from 224 to 651 AD; the Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire and was recognised as one of the leading world powers alongside its neighbouring arch-rival the Roman-Byzantine Empire for a period of more than 400 years. 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. At its greatest extent, the Sasanian Empire encompassed all of today's Iran, Eastern Arabia, the Levant, the Caucasus, large parts of Turkey, much of Central Asia and Pakistan. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani; the Sasanian Empire during Late Antiquity is considered to have been one of Iran's most important, influential historical periods and constituted the last great Iranian empire before the Muslim conquest and the adoption of Islam.
In many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilisation. The Sasanians' cultural influence extended far beyond the empire's territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa and India, it played a prominent role in the formation of both Asian medieval art. Much of what became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture 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 and subsequent rise of the Sassanian Empire in mystery; the Sassanian Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was the ruler of a region called Khir. However, by the year 200 he had managed to overthrow Gochihr and appoint himself the new ruler of the Bazrangids, his mother, was the daughter of the provincial governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power over all of Pars; the subsequent events are due to the elusive nature of the sources.
It is certain, that following the death of Papak, who at the time was the governor of Darabgerd, became involved in a power struggle of his own with his elder brother Shapur. 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 other brothers who were put to death, Ardashir declared himself ruler of Pars. Once Ardashir was appointed shah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars and founded Ardashir-Khwarrah; the city, well protected by high mountains and defensible due to the narrow passes that approached it, became the centre of Ardashir's efforts to gain more power. It was surrounded by a high, circular wall copied from that of Darabgird. Ardashir's palace was on the north side of the city. After establishing his rule over Pars, Ardashir extended his territory, demanding fealty from the local princes of Fars, gaining control over the neighbouring provinces of Kerman, Isfahan and Mesene.
This expansion came to the attention of Artabanus V, the Parthian king, who ordered the governor of Khuzestan to wage war against Ardashir in 224, but Ardashir was victorious in the ensuing battles. In a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where the former met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir went on to invade the western provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. At that time the Arsacid dynasty was divided between supporters of Artabanus V and Vologases VI, which allowed Ardashir to consolidate his authority in the south with little or no interference from the Parthians. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, separated from the rest of Iran. Crowned in 224 at Ctesiphon as the sole ruler of Persia, Ardashir took the title shahanshah, or "King of Kings", bringing the 400-year-old Parthian Empire to an end, beginning four centuries of Sassanid rule. In the next few years, local rebellions occurred throughout the empire.
Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Khorasan, Margiana and Chorasmia. He added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanid's possessions. Sassanid inscriptions claim the submission of the Kings of Kushan and Mekran to Ardashir, although based on numismatic evidence it is more that these submitted to Ardashir's son, the future Shapur I. In the west, assaults against Hatra and Adiabene met with less success. In 230, Ardashir raided deep into Roman territory, a Roman counter-offensive two years ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir I's son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria and the western portion of the Kushan Empire, while leading several campaigns against Rome. 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.
The emperor Gordian III's subsequent advance down the Euphrates was defea
Bishapur
Bishapur was an ancient city in Sasanid Persia on the ancient road between Persis and Elam. The road linked Ctesiphon, it is located south of modern Faliyan in the Kazerun County of Iran. Bishapur was built near a river crossing and at the same site there is a fort with rock-cut reservoirs and a river valley with six Sassanid rock reliefs; the most important point about this city, is the combination of Persian and Roman art and architecture that hadn't been seen before Bishapur construction. Before Bishapour was built all the main cities in Persia/Iran had a circular shape like the old city in Firuzabad or Darab. Bishapour is the first city with vertical and horizontal streets in the city specially in interior design we can see tile work that's adapted from Roman Art The name Bishapur derives from Bay-Šāpūr, which means Lord Shapur. According to an inscription, the city itself was founded in 266 AD by Shapur I, the second Sassanid king and inflicted a triple defeat on the Romans, having killed Gordian III, captured Valerian and forced Philip the Arab to surrender.
In his native province of Fars, he built a new capital that would measure up to his ambitions: Bishapur, Shapur's City. Outside the city, Shapur decorated the sides of the Bishapur River gorge with huge historical relief commemorating his triple triumph over Rome. One of these reliefs, in a semicircular shape, has rows of registers with files of soldiers and horses, in a deliberate imitation of the narrative scenes on the Trajan column in Rome. At Bishapur the king inaugurated the Sassanid imagery of the king's investiture, which would be copied by his successors: the king and the god are face to face on horseback, the god - Ahura Mazda - is holding the royal diadem out to the sovereign; the city, has the remarkable dam bridge in Shushtar, built by Roman soldiers, captured after Valerian's defeat in 260. However, it was not a new settlement: archaeologists have found remains from the Parthian and Elamite ages; the city remained important until the Arab conquest of Persia the rise of Islam in the second quarter of the 7th century AD.
There were still people living there in the 10th century. The city has a rectangular plan with a grid pattern of regular intra urban streets, resembling Roman city design; this design was never repeated in the architecture of Iran. The site was cleared by the Russian-French archaeologist Roman Ghirshman in the 1930s; the British archaeologist Georgina Herrmann has written a book about the Sasanian rock reliefs in Bishapur, published in 1980. The main part of the excavations took place in the east of the city. A water temple, interpreted as a Anahita temple, was erected near the palace. In the center there is a cross-shaped space with eight large square exedrae decorated with 64 alcoves; the French excavators believed it had been covered with a dome roof, but this reconstruction has been rejected. To the west lies a courtyard decorated with mosaics, its walls must have been covered with small stucco ornaments: rows of medallions, bands of foliage, topped with merlons inherited from Achaemenid architecture.
All these decorative techniques were still used after the Islamic conquest of Persia. The floor was paved with a mosaic border. Along the walls runs a narrow band featuring a series of heads and masks, in a frontal or profile view, on a white background. At the top of each alcove there was a picture of women naked under their transparent veils: courtesans, dancers, women twisting garlands, together with a few richly attired noble ladies. Bishapur. City of Bishapur
Pahlevani and zoorkhaneh rituals
Pahlevani and zourkhaneh rituals is the name inscribed by UNESCO for varzesh-e pahlavāni or varzesh-e bāstāni, a traditional system of athletics used to train warriors in Iran and adjacent lands. Outside Iran, zoorkhanehs can be found in Azerbaijan, they were introduced into Iraq in the mid-19th century, where they seem to have existed until the 1980s, it combines martial arts, strength training and music. Recognized by UNESCO as the world's longest-running form of such training, it fuses elements of pre-Islamic Persian culture with the spirituality of Shia Islam and sufism. Practiced in a domed structure called the zurkhāneh, training sessions consist of ritual gymnastic movements and climax with the core of combat practice, a form of submission-grappling called koshti pahlavāni. Traditional Iranian wrestling dates back to ancient Persia and was said to have been practiced by Rustam, mythological Iranian hero of the Shahnameh epic. While folk styles were practiced for sport by every ethnic group in various provinces, grappling for combat was considered the particular specialty of the zourkhāneh.
The original purpose of these institutions was to train men as warriors and instill them with a sense of national pride in anticipation for the coming battles. The Mithrāic design and rituals of these academies bear testament to its Parthian origin; the zourkhaneh system of training is what is now known as varzesh-e bastani, its particular form of wrestling was called koshti pahlevani, after the Parthian word pahlevan meaning hero. When the Arabs invaded Persia around 637 CE, the zourkhānehs served as secret meeting places where knights would train and keep alive a spirit of solidarity and patriotism. Invaders targeted the houses of strength to discourage rebels, but new ones would always be organized in a different location. Following the spread of Shia Islam, after the development of Sufism in the 8th century, varzesh-e pahlavani absorbed philosophical and spiritual components from it. Religious hymns were incorporated into training, the first Shi'ite imam Ali was adopted as the zourkhāneh patron.
Varzesh-e bastani was popular in the 19th century, during the reign of the Qajar king Nāser al-Din Shāh Qājār. Every 21 March on Nowruz, competitions would be held in the shah's court, the shah himself would present the champion with an armlet; the sport declined following the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty in the 1920s and the subsequent modernisation campaigns of Reza Shah, who saw the sport as a relic of Qajarite ritual. Reza Shah's son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took a different approach, emphasizing Iran's ancient Persian roots as an alternative to the Islam-based identity of less developed nations in the Middle East, he attempted to revive the tradition and practiced it himself, during his reign, the last national competitions were held. Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979 the tradition lost some of its popularity as the new regime discouraged anything tied to pre-Islamic paganism, which included the Gnostic and Mithraic chants and rituals of the zourkhāneh; this did not last, however, as the Islamic Republic promoted varzesh-e bastani as a symbol of Iranian pride and culture.
Today, varzesh-e pahlavāni is touted as the reason why Iranians are regular winners at international wrestling and weight-lifting events. The matter of attracting younger members has been a major discourse for some time. Suggestions have included making practice more upbeat and distributing duties among the younger members instead of adhering to seniority; the IZSF was established in response to this and it is the world governing body for all zourkhāneh. In recent years, the sport appears to be gaining popularity in the countries adjacent to Iran, including Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the Baku's Inner City's entertainment areas was the Zorkhana. Baku's Zorkhana located just a few steps from the Bukhari and Multani caravanserais, towards the Maiden's Tower dates back to at least the 15th century. There were contests accompanied by a trio of musicians who performed traditional Eastern instruments like the kamancha and naghara. Most of these melodies have long since been forgotten. However, one by the name of "Jangi" is still performed prior to the opening of Azerbaijani national wrestling competitions.
The traditional gymnasium in which varzesh-e bastani is practiced is known as the zurkhaneh the "house of strength". These gyms are covered structures with a single opening in the ceiling, with a sunken 1m-deep octagonal or circular pit in the center. Around the gaud is a section for the audience, one for the musicians, one for the athletes. A portrait of Ali is hung on the wall of every zurkhāneh. An aspiring member may be a male from any social class or religion, but they must first spend at least a month watching from the audience before they can join. Traditionally, the zurkhānehs demanded no payment from their athletes, depended instead on public donations. In return, the zurkhāneh provided protection. One example is the "casting of flowers" ceremony in which athletes held koshti matches and other displays of strength to raise funds for the needy. There are today 500 zurkhaneh in Iran and each has strong ties to their local community. Zurkhanehs have had strong political affiliations, either advocating or denouncing particular governments.
This type of sports diplomacy is said to be a natural extension of the patriotic n
Persian Empire
The Persian Empire refers to any of a series of imperial dynasties that were centred in Persia/Iran from the 6th century BC Achaemenid Empire era to the 20th century AD in the Qajar dynasty era. The first dynasty of the Persian Empire was created by Achaemenids, established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC with the conquest of Median and Babylonian empires, it covered much of the Ancient world. Persepolis is the most famous historical site related to Persian Empire in the Achaemenid era and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. From 247 BC to 224 AD, Persia was ruled by the Parthian Empire, which supplanted the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, by the Sassanian Empire, which ruled up until the mid-7th century; the Persian Empire in the Sasanian era was interrupted by the Arab conquest of Persia in 651 AD, establishing the larger Islamic caliphate, by the Mongol invasion. The main religion of ancient Persia was the native Zoroastrianism, but after the seventh century, it was replaced by Islam which achieved a majority in the 10th century.
The Safavid Empire was the first Persian Empire established after the Arab conquest of Persia by Shah Ismail I. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavid Persians established control over parts of Greater Persia/Iran and reasserted the Persian identity of the region, becoming the first native Persian dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a unified Persian state. Literature and architecture flourished in the Safavid era once again, it is cited as the "rebirth of the Persian Empire". Safavids announced Shia Islam as the official religion in the empire versus the Sunni Islam in the neighbouring Ottoman Empire. Achaemenid Empire Sasanian Empire Safavid dynasty Afsharid dynasty Qajar dynasty List of monarchs of Persia Iranian monarchy List of Iranian dynasties and countries Persia Iranian peoples Persian people List of tombs of Iranian people Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. University Park, Pennsylvania: Eisenbrauns. P. 15. ISBN 978-1575060316. DK. History of the World in 1,000 Objects.
London: DK. p. 71. ISBN 978-1465422897. Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Persia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press; the dictionary definition of Persian Empire at Wiktionary Persian Empire travel guide from Wikivoyage Media related to Persian Empire at Wikimedia Commons
Persian dance
Persian dances or Iranian dances are dance styles indigenous to Iran. Genres of dance in Iran vary depending on the area and language of the local people, can range from sophisticated reconstructions of refined court dances to energetic folk dances; the population of Iran includes many ethnicities, such as Kurds, Turkmen, Armenian, Georgian peoples, in addition to numerous Iranian tribal groups which can be found within the borders of modern-day Iran. Each group and historical epoch has specific dance styles associated with it. Raghs is the Arabic word for dance, is exclusively the word used for dance in Persian, as the Persian word for dance, paykubi, is no longer in common usage. It's the word in Azerbaijani for dance; the Kurdish word for dance is Halperke, the Lurs from Lorestan use the word Bākhten for dance. People of Iranian plateau have known dance in forms of music, drama or religious rituals and have used instruments like mask, costumes of animals or plants, musical instruments for rhythm, at least since 6th millennium BC.
Cultural mixed forms of dance and drama have served rituals like celebration and worship. And the actors have been masters of music, physical acts and manners of expression. Artifacts with pictures of dancers, players or actors were found in many of archaeological prehistoric sites in Iran, like Tepe Sabz, Ja'far Abad, Chogha Mish, Tall-e Jari, Cheshmeh Ali, Ismaeel Abad, Tal-e bakun, Tepe Sialk, Tepe Musian, tepe Yahya, Tepe Gian, Kul Farah, Kok Tepe, Cemeteries of Luristan, etc; the earliest researched dance from historic Iran is a dance worshiping Mithra in which a bull was sacrificed. This cult became adhered in the Roman Empire; this dance was to promote vigor in life. Ancient Persian dance was researched by Greek historian from Herodotus of Halikarnassos, in his work Book IX, in which he describes the history of Asian empires and Persian wars until 478 BC. Ancient Persia was occupied by foreign powers, first Greeks Arabs, Mongols and in turn political instability and civil wars occurred.
Throughout these changes a slow disappearance of heritage dance traditions occurred. After the fall of Persian Empire, when the country was torn into pieces, Iranian women and young girls were enslaved by the new conquerors forced into sexual slavery and required to perform erotic dances for the new rulers. Religious prohibition of dancing in Iran came with the spread of Islam, but it was spurred by historical events. Religious prohibition to dancing waxed and waned over the years, but after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 dancing was no longer allowed due to its frequent mixing of the sexes; the Islamic Revolution of 1979, was the end of a successful era for dancing and the art of ballet in Iran. The Iranian national ballet company was dissolved and its members emigrated to different countries. According to the principles of the “cultural revolution” in Iran, dancing was considered to be perverse, a great sin and corrupting; as a result, many of the talented Persian dancers moved to the West and spread out in Europe and the United States and new generation of Iranian dancers and ballet artists have grown up in the Diaspora.
Iran possesses four categories of dance and these genres are. Chain or Line dances are named for the region or the ethnic groups with which they are associated. Solo dance includes reconstructions of Safavid and Qajar Court Dance; these are improvisational dances and utilize delicate, graceful movements of the hands and arms, such as wrist circles. War or Combat dances help train the warrior, it could be argued that men from the zurkhaneh called the “House of Strength” and their ritualized, wrestling-training movements are known as a type of dance called Raghs-e-Pa but could been seen as a martial art. Ritual or spiritual dances, are Sufi are known as sama and a type of zikr. There are various types of surrounding areas. One healing ritual that involves trance and movement is called le’b guati of the Baluchis of Eastern Iran, performed to rid a possessed person of the possessing spirit and appears to be in a similar state as an exorcism. There is a term in Balochi, for psychologically ill patients who have recovered through music healing, music as medicine.
The southern coastal regions of Iran such as Qeshm Island have a similar possession by wind ceremony and it is thought that it may be influenced or originated in Africa the Abyssinian or Ethiopian region. The word sama, from the Arabic root meaning “to listen,” refers to the spiritual practice of listening to music and achieving unity with the Divine, it is spelled sema in Turkish. Dancing mystics are called Dervish. Contemporary social dances and urban dance performed at festive occasions like weddings and Noruz celebrations focus less on communal line or circle dances and more on solo improvisational forms, with each dancer interpreting the music in her own special way but within a specific range of dance vocabulary sometimes blending other dance styles or elements; this is a list of some of the ancient and contemporary Persian dances, from various ethnic groups within Iran. Baba Karam, a chain dance, derived from a Sufi story whereby a servant at the court of the king falls in love with one of the harem girls and sings this song out of grief from no
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire called the First Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia founded by Cyrus the Great. Ranging at its greatest extent from the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, it was larger than any previous empire in history, spanning 5.5 million square kilometers. Incorporating various peoples of different origins and faiths, it is notable for its successful model of a centralised, bureaucratic administration, for building infrastructure such as road systems and a postal system, the use of an official language across its territories, the development of civil services and a large professional army; the empire's successes inspired similar systems in empires. By the 7th century BC, the Persians had settled in the south-western portion of the Iranian Plateau in the region of Persis, which came to be their heartland. From this region, Cyrus the Great advanced to defeat the Medes and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, establishing the Achaemenid Empire.
Alexander the Great, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered most of the empire by 330 BC. Upon Alexander's death, most of the empire's former territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire, in addition to other minor territories which gained independence at that time; the Iranian elites of the central plateau reclaimed power by the second century BC under the Parthian Empire. The Achaemenid Empire 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 historical mark of the empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social and religious influences as well. Despite the lasting conflict between the two states, many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their daily lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange, some being employed by or allied to the Persian kings; the impact of Cyrus's edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, the empire was instrumental in the spread of Zoroastrianism as far east as China.
The empire set the tone for the politics and history of Iran. The term Achaemenid means "of the family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes". Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, a vassal of Assyria. Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here....: the Pasargadae and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the remainder -the Dai, Dropici, being nomadic; the Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic Persians. The name "Persia" is a Greek and Latin pronunciation of the native word referring to the country of the people originating from Persis; the Persians were an Iranian people who arrived in what is today Iran c. 1000 BC and settled a region including north-western Iran, the Zagros Mountains and Persis alongside the native Elamites.
For a number of centuries they fell under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. The Persians were nomadic pastoralists in the western Iranian Plateau and by 850 BC were calling themselves the Parsa and their shifting territory Parsua, for the most part localized around Persis; the Achaemenid Empire was not the first Iranian empire, as the Medes, another group of Iranian peoples, established a short-lived empire and played a major role in the overthrow of the Assyrian. The Achaemenids were rulers of the Elamite city of Anshan near the modern city of Marvdasht. There are conflicting accounts of the identities of the earliest Kings of Anshan. According to the Cyrus Cylinder the kings of Anshan were Teispes, Cyrus I, Cambyses I and Cyrus II known as Cyrus the Great, who created the empire. In Herodotus' Histories, he writes that Cyrus the Great was the son of Cambyses I and Mandane of Media, the daughter of Astyages, the king of the Median Empire. Cyrus revolted against the Median Empire in 553 BC, in 550 BC succeeded in defeating the Medes, capturing Astyages and taking the Median capital city of Ecbatana.
Once in control of Ecbatana, Cyrus styled himself as the successor to Astyages and assumed control of the entire empire. By inheriting Astyages' empire, he inherited the territorial conflicts the Medes had had with both Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. King Croesus of Lydia sought to take advantage of the new international situation by advancing into what had been Median territory in Asia Minor. Cyrus led a counterattack which not only fought off Croesus' armies, but led to the capture of Sardis and the fall of the Lydian Kingdom in 546 BC. Cyrus placed Pactyes in charge of collecting tribute in Lydia and left, but once Cyrus had left Pactyes instigated a rebellion against Cyrus. Cyrus sent the Median general Mazares to deal with the rebellion, Pactyes was captured. Mazares, aft
Sasanian music
Sasanian music refers to the golden age of Persian music that occurred under the reign of the Sasanian dynasty. Persian classical music dates to the sixth century BC, but Persian music had its zenith during the Sasanian dynasty from 224 until 651 AD. In this era, many of Persian music's dastgahs and modes most of them by Barbad, he employed 30 sounds for music. He recorded his inspirations and performed them for his audience, since if he did not, he could not play them again. Dance and chanson were prevalent in court banquets, it said that on several occasions Persian musicians and dancers were given to the court of Chinese emperors by Sassanid kings, implying the high reputation and virtuosity of Persian musicians and dancers in that era. Another important role that music played was in the reception of foreign diplomats and kings from neighbouring countries, such as Byzantine or Hephthalites. Five centuries after Barbod's death, Farabi made a record of all the musical pieces of his period and described the ancient note recording method.
The history of musical performance in Sassanid Iran is however better documented than earlier periods. This is specially more evident in the context of Zoroastrian ritual. By the time of Khusro Parviz, the Sassanid royal court was the host of prominent musicians. In general the period of Khosro Parviz reign is regarded as a "golden age of Iranian music" and himself is shown in a large relief at Taq-e Bostan among his musicians and himself holding bow and arrows and while standing in a boat amidst a group of harpists; the relief depicts two boats and the whole picture shows these boats at "two successive moments within the same panel". The musical instruments which appear distinctly on the Sassanid sculptures are the harp, the horn, the Daf, the drum and the flute or pipe; the harp is triangular, has seven strings. The drum is of small size; the horns and pipes are too crudely represented for their exact character to be apparent. Concerted pieces seem to have been sometimes played by harpers only, of whom as many as ten or twelve joined in the execution.
Mixed bands were more numerous. In one instance the number of performers amounts to twenty−six, of whom seven play the harp, an equal number the flute or pipe, three the horn, one the drum, while eight are too rendered for their instruments to be recognized. A portion of the musicians occupy an elevated orchestra, to which there is access by a flight of steps. By the time of Khusro Parviz, the Sassanid royal court was the host of prominent musicians such as Ramtin He was a remarkable musician. Bamshad He was another court musician of Khosrau II, he used to play early morning songs which could please the king and people and bring happiness to the society. Nakisa She was the court musician of the Sassanid Empire; the main theme of her songs were in praise of King Khosrau II. The main instrument that she played was a harp. Azad Sarkash Though not as renowned as Nakisa, he was a remarkable musician. Barbad Barbad has been named as remarkably high skilled, he has been credited to have given an organisation of musical system consisting of seven "Royal modes" named Khosrovani, thirty derivative modes named lahn, 360 melodies named dastan.
These numbers are in accordance with Sassanid's calendar of number of days in a week and year. The theories based on which these modal system was based are not known, however the writers of period have left a list of these modes and melodies; these names include some of epic forms such as kin-e Iraj, kin-e siavash, Taxt-e Ardashir and some connected with the glories of Sassanid royal court such as Bagh-e shirin, Bagh-e Shahryar, haft Ganj. There are some of a descriptive nature like roshan cheragh. Sassanid art Music of Iran Sasanian Empire Persian traditional music Farhat, Hormoz; the Dastgah Concept in Persian Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54206-5. Lawergren, Bo. "Music in Iranian land, history. I. Pre-Islamic Iran". Encyclopaedia Iranica. to appear. Abdolhossein Zarinkoob "Ruzgaran: tarikh-e Iran az aghaz ta soghut-e saltnat-e Pahlavi" Sokhan, 1999. ISBN 964-6961-11-8
.jpg)
.jpg)
