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.
Ardashir II
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Ardashir II, was the eleventh Sassanid King of Persia from 379 to 383. He was the brother of his predecessor, Shapur II, during the reign of Shapur II, Ardashir had served as governor-King of Adiabene, where he had reportedly persecuted Christians. However, the acts of brutality against Christians attributed to him severely contradict the view that he was the most kind. Ardashir II was given the epithet Nihoukar or Beneficent by the Persians, the Arabs called him Al Djemil or the Virtuous. According to the Modjmel-al-Tewarikh, he took no taxes from his subjects during the four years of his reign, before becoming king of Persia, he was governor-King of Adiabene from 344 to 376. In 379 Shapur II, the brother of Ardashir appointed him as his successor. It is believed that Ardashir took part in the defense of the Sasanian Empire with Shapur II when it was invaded by Emperor Julian, when Ardashir became king he ordered a rock relief to be made at Taq-e Bostan showing him flanked by Mithra and Ahura Mazda. During his reign as Shah of Persia, events in Armenia seemed to occupy Ardashirs attention, the son of Arsaces II, Papas had been murdered during Shapurs reign and the Romans had replaced him with a certain Varasdates who was a member of the Arsacid family. However, real power was in the hands of Mushegh I Mamikonian, Mushegh was suspected of having conspired with the Emperor of Rome and was murdered by Varasdates. In return for their services, Manuel allowed the Persians to maintain a garrison in Armenia, but this arrangement did not work for long. A nobleman named Merujan wrongly informed Manuel that the commandant of the Persian garrison desired to capture him, enraged, Manuel fell upon the ten thousand Persian soldiers stationed in Armenia and murdered them. But Manuel died soon afterwards and confusion followed, desirous of maintaining peace in the borderlands, the Roman Emperor Theodosius I and Ardashir decided upon a treaty. But Ardashir died in 383 before the treaty could be signed, the treaty was eventually signed and ratified by his nephew Shapur III in the year 384. His daughter Zruanduxt married the King Khosrov IV of Armenia, decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire, The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran
4.
Bahram IV
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Bahram IV, was thirteenth king of the Sasanian Empire from 388 to 399. He was the son and successor of Shapur III, Bahram IV is often regarded as a harsh man who neglected his duties. He has been portrayed as a king, under whom his vassals regained influence lost under Shapur II. Bahram, during the reign of his father, was the governor of Kirman and he later founded the city of Kermanshah in western Persia. In 388, his father was killed by a group of Sasanian nobles, Bahram thus succeeded him as the ruler of the Sasanian Empire. Armenia had been divided during the reign of Shapur III according to the terms of a peace treaty, but this arrangement barely survived the reign of Shapur III. This enraged Bahram and made him have Khosrov imprisoned in the Castle of Oblivion, Bahram shortly made the latters brother Vramshapuh the new ruler of Armenia. In 395, the Huns invaded the Sasanian province of Asuristan, Bahram IV then had an army sent against them, which managed to kill a great deal of them and regain the riches they had taken including the captives. In 399, Bahrams conduct, it is recorded, grew so unbearable that he was assassinated by his own troops who surrounded him. He was succeeded by his brother Yazdegerd I, decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire, The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. Greatrex, Geoffrey, Lieu, Samuel N. C, the Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars. New York, New York and London, United Kingdom, Routledge
5.
Yazdegerd I
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Yazdegerd I was the fourteenth Sasanian king of Persia and ruled from 399 to 420. He was the son of Shapur III and he succeeded to the Sasanian throne on the assassination of his brother Bahram IV in 399 and ruled for twenty-one years till his death in 420. Yazdegerd Is reign was largely uneventful, the king is described as being of a peaceful disposition. There were cordial relations between Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire as well as between Persia and the Western Roman Empire, Yazdegerd promoted Christianity in the early years of his reign and later opposed it. He is known in Sasanian sources as the Sinner, Yazdegerd also used the title of Ramshahr, which fitted to him, due to his peace with the Romans and tolerance towards his subjects. The title Ramshahr was a used by the legendary Kayanid kings, and thus starts the Sasanian interest in Kayanid history. During Yazdegerds last days, there took place a civil war between his sons, Bahram V emerged victorious and claimed the throne. Yazdegerd I died in 420 and was succeeded by his son Bahram V. Yazdegerd was the son of Shapur III, Yazdegerd had three sons whom were named, Shapur IV, Narseh, and Bahram V. When Yazdegerds brother Bahram IV was assassinated in 399, he succeeded him, the Persian soldiers who had murdered Bahram IV did not hurt him on account of his excellent character and fine disposition. The general tenor of his rule was quite peaceful, between 386 and 398, Gildo the Moor ruled an independent kingdom in Africa, and in 395 the Goths took to arms under their leader Alaric. But Yazdegerd on his accession to the throne desisted from assuming any aggressive posture towards the Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius or the Western Roman Emperor Honorius. On the ninth year of his reign, it is believed, Yazdegerd was entrusted the care of Prince Theodosius by his father Arcadius, the Eastern Roman Emperor. It was strange that Arcadius chose neither his younger-brother Honorius nor any of his subjects for the purpose. One writer even goes to the extent of claiming that Arcadius gifted Yazdegerd a thousand pounds of gold in return for his favour. Flattered, he performed his role with utmost sincerity providing him the best possible education. A eunuch named Antiochus was selected and sent to Constantinople to look after the young Emperor and he was, for many years, the princes intimate companion. He was supposed to have killed or expelled from the kingdom by Pulcheria. However, even after Antiochus end, Yazdegerd continued his aid to the young monarch, according to Wein, Yazdegerd I was a wise, benevolent, and astute ruler
6.
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
7.
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
8.
Shapur II
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Shapur II, also known as Shapur II the Great, was the tenth king of the Sasanian Empire. The longest reigning Sasanian monarch, he reigned from 309 to 379 and he was the son of Hormizd II. During Shapur IIs long reign, the Sasanian Empire saw its first golden era. When Hormizd II died in 309, he was succeeded by his son Adur Narseh and they then blinded the second, and imprisoned the third. The throne was reserved for the child of Hormizd IIs wife Ifra Hormizd. It is said that Shapur II may have been the king in history to be crowned in utero. However, according to Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, it is unlikely that Shapur was crowned as king while still in his mothers womb, during the childhood of Shapur II, Arab nomads made several incursions into the Sasanian homeland of Pars, where they raided Gor and its surroundings. Furthermore, they also made incursions into Meshan and Mazun and he then attacked the Banu Tamim in the Al Hajar Mountains. Shapur II reportedly killed a number of the Arab population. After having dealt with the Arabs of eastern Arabia, he continued his expedition into western Arabia and Syria, because of his cruel way of dealing with the Arabs, he was called Dhū l-Aktāf he who pierces shoulders by them. Not only did Shapur II pacify the Arabs of the Persian Gulf, Shapur II, in order to prevent the Arabs from making more raids into his country, ordered the construction of a wall near al-Hirah, which became known as war-i tāzigān. This was the beginning of two long drawn-out wars which were inadequately recorded, after crushing a rebellion in the south, Shapur II invaded Roman Mesopotamia and captured Armenia. Apparently, nine major battles were fought, gibbon asserts that Shapur II invariably defeated Constantius, but there is reason to believe that the honours were fairly evenly shared between the two capable commanders. The most notable feature of war was the consistently successful defence of the Roman fortress of Nisibis in Mesopotamia. Shapur besieged the fortress three times and was repulsed each time by Roman general Lucilianus, although often victorious in battles, Shapur II had made scarcely any progress. At the same time he was attacked in the east by Scythian Massagetae and he had to break off the war with the Romans and arrange a hasty truce in order to pay attention to the east. After a prolonged struggle they were forced to conclude a peace, in 358 Shapur II was ready for his second series of wars against Rome, which met with much more success. The delay forced Shapur to halt operations for the winter, early the following spring he continued his operations against the Roman fortresses, capturing Singara and Bezabde
9.
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
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Shapur". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the