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Marzoban
Marzbān, or Marzpān (Middle Persian transliteration: mrzwpn, derived from ''marz'' "border, boundary" and the suffix ''-pān'' "guardian"; Modern Persian: ''Marzbān'') were a class of margraves, warden of the marches, and by extension military commanders, in charge of border provinces of the Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD) and mostly Sasanian Empire (224–651 AD) of Iran. Etymology The Persian word ''marz'' is derived from Avestan ''marəza'' "frontier, border"; ''pān/pāvan'' is cognate with Avestan and Old Persian ''pat'' "protector". The word was borrowed from New Persian into Arabic as ''marzubān'' (plural ''marāziba''). " Al-Marzubani" () has been used as a ''nisba'' (family title) for some Iranian families whose ancestor was a marzbān. The prominent Islamic scholar Abu Hanifa, whose formal name is given in Islamic sources as Nu'man ibn Thabit ibn Zuta ''ibn Marzubān'' (), was descended from the marzbāns of Kabul, where his father came from. The Bavand ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Persian continued to function as a prestige language. It descended from Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenid Empire and is the linguistic ancestor of Modern Persian, an official language of Iran, Afghanistan ( Dari) and Tajikistan ( Tajik). Name "Middle Iranian" is the name given to the middle stage of development of the numerous Iranian languages and dialects. The middle stage of the Iranian languages begins around 450 BCE and ends around 650 CE. One of those Middle Iranian languages is Middle Persian, i.e. the middle stage of the language of the Persians, an Iranian people of Persia proper, which lies in the south-western highlands on the border with Babylonia. The Persians called their language ''Parsik'', meaning "Persian" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of Persianate societies, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Kazakh Khanate, the Khanate of Bukhara, the Emirate of Bukhara, the Mughal Empire, the Bengal Sultanate, historical Afghan dynasties, and among Gurkhas. Rather than regarding himself as simply a king of the concurrent dynasty (i.e. European-style monarchies), each Iranian ruler regarded himself as the Shahanshah ( fa, شاهنشاه, translit=Šâhanšâh, label=none, ) or Padishah ( fa, پادشاه, translit=Pâdešâh, label=none, ) in the sense of a continuation of the original Persian Empire. Etymology The word descends from Old Persian ''xšāyaθiya'' "king", which used to be considered a borrowing from Median, as it was compared to Avestan ''xšaθra-'', "power" and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Masudi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geography, natural science and philosophy, his celebrated magnum opus '' Murūj al-Dhahab wa-Ma'ādin al-Jawhar'' ( ar, مُرُوج ٱلذَّهَب وَمَعَادِن ٱلْجَوْهَر, link=no), combines universal history with scientific geography, social commentary and biography, and is published in English in a multi-volume series as '' The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems''. Birth, travels and literary output Apart from what Al-Mas'udi writes of himself little is known. Born in Baghdad, he was descended from Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, a companion of Muhammad. He mentions many scholar associates met on his travels t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area is home to approximately 560,000 people. Wiesbaden is the second-largest city in Hesse after Frankfurt am Main. The city, together with nearby Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt, and Mainz, is part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, a metropolitan area with a combined population of about 5.8 million people. Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to "meadow baths", a reference to its famed hot springs. It is also internationally famous for its architecture and climate—it is also called the "Nice of the North" in reference to the city in France. At one time, Wiesbaden had 26 hot springs. , fourteen of the springs are still flowing. In 1970, the town hosted the tenth ''Hessentag Landesfest'' (English: H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's States of Germany, sixteen constituent states, Berlin is surrounded by the Brandenburg, State of Brandenburg and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. Berlin's urban area, which has a population of around 4.5 million, is the second most populous urban area in Germany after the Ruhr. The Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Metropolitan regions in Germany, Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Rhine-Main regions. Berlin straddles the banks of the Spree (river), Spree, which flows into the Havel (a tributary of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former Soviet Union, Soviet republics of the Soviet Union, republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, which are colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as the countries all have names ending with the Persian language, Persian suffix "-stan", meaning "land of". The current geographical location of Central Asia was formerly part of the historic region of Turkestan, Turkistan, also known as Turan. In the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras ( and earlier) Central Asia was inhabited predominantly by Iranian peoples, populated by Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians, Khwarezmian language, Chorasmians and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Dahae. After expansion by Turkic peop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abarshahr
Abarshahr (Persian:اَبَرشهر) or Nishapur (Persian:نیشاپور) was a Sasanian satrapy (province) in Late Antiquity, that lay within the kust of Khorasan. The province bordered Media in the west, Hyrcania in the north west, Margiana in the north east, and Harev in the south east. The governor of Abarshahr is attested to have held the unique title of kanarang, distinguished from the title of marzban given to governors of frontier provinces. Abarshahr came to be known as one of the nicknames of the city of Nishapur which was considered to be the capital city of the province of Abarshahr during the Sassanian period and later on. Etymology Several etymologies have been put forward as to the origin of the name of the province. During the Middle Ages, for example, Arab geographers stated that the name meant "cloud city". It has also been interpreted to mean "upper country". A more recent etymology that suggests that Abarshahr derives from ''Aparn-xšahr'', "land of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanarang
The ''kanārang'' ( fa, کنارنگ) was a unique title in the Sasanian military, given to the commander of the Sasanian Empire's northeasternmost frontier province, Abarshahr (encompassing the cities of Nishapur, Tus and Abiward). In Byzantine sources, it is rendered as ''chanaranges'' ( el, χαναράγγης) and often used, for instance by Procopius, in lieu of the holder's actual name. The title was used instead of the more conventional ''marzban'', which was held by the rest of the Iranian frontier wardens. Like the other ''marzbans'', the position was hereditary. The family holding it (the ''Kanarangiyan'') is first attested in the reign of Yazdegerd I (r. 399–421), but was descended from some pre-Sasanian, most likely Parthian, dynasty. They enjoyed a high prestige and great authority in the Sasanian Empire's northeastern borderlands, as reflected in their glorified description in the ''Shahnameh'' of the great Persian poet Ferdowsi. They were among the great fam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spahbed
''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasanian army. From the time of Khosrow I ( 531–579) on, the office was split in four, with a ''spāhbed'' for each of the cardinal directions.Gyselen (2004) After the Muslim conquest of Persia, the ''spāhbed'' of the East managed to retain his authority over the inaccessible mountainous region of Tabaristan on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, where the title, often in its Islamic form ( fa, اسپهبذ; in ar, اصبهبذ ), survived as a regnal title until the Mongol conquests of the 13th century.Bosworth (1978), pp. 207–208 An equivalent title of Persian origin, '' ispahsālār or sipahsālār'', gained great currency across the Muslim world in the 10th–15th centuries. The title was also adopted by the Armenians ( hy, սպ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darius I
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia, parts of the Balkans (Thrace– Macedonia and Paeonia) and the Caucasus, most of the Black Sea's coastal regions, Central Asia, the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt (), eastern Libya, and coastal Sudan. Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing the legitimate Achaemenid monarch Bardiya, whom he later fabricated to be an imposter named Gaumata. The new king met with rebellions throughout his kingdom and quelled them each time; a major event in Darius' life was his expedition to subjugate Greece and punish Athens and Eretria for their participation in the Ionian Revolt. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nisa, Turkmenistan
Nisa ( grc, Νῖσος and Νίσα and Νίσαιον; also Parthaunisa, tk, Nusaý) was an ancient settlement of the Parthians, located near thBagyr neighborhoodof Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 18 km west of the city center. Nisa is described by some as the first seat of the Arsacid Empire. It is traditionally assumed to have been founded by Arsaces I (reigned c. 250 BC–211 BC) and was reputedly the royal residence of the Parthian kings, although it has not been established that the fortress at Nisa was either a royal residence or a mausoleum. In 2007, the fortress was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. History Nisa was a major trading hub in the Parthian Empire. Nisa was later renamed Mithradātkert Parthian: 𐭌𐭕𐭓𐭃𐭕𐭊𐭓𐭕 ("fortress of Mithradates") by Mithridates I of Parthia (reigned c. 171 BC–138 BC). The region was famous for the fast and beautiful horses. Nisa was totally destroyed by an earthquake, which occurred during the 1st decade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aswaran
The Aswārān (singular aswār), also spelled Asbārān and Savaran, was a cavalry force that formed the backbone of the army of the Sasanian Empire. They were provided by the aristocracy, were heavily armored, and ranged from archers to cataphracts. Etymology The word comes from the Old Persian word ''asabāra'' (from ''asa''- and ''bar'', a frequently used Achaemenid military technical term). The various other renderings of the word are following; Parthian ''asbār'', Middle Persian ''aspabārak'', Classical Persian ''suwār'' (), ''uswār''/''iswār'' (), Modern Persian ''savār'' (). The Arabic word ''asāwira'' (), used to refer to a certain faction of the Sasanian cavalry after the Muslim conquest, is a broken plural form of the Middle Persian ''aswār''. However, the word ''aswār'' only means "horseman" in Middle Persian literature, and it is only the late Arabic term that has a more specialized meaning. In the Sassanian inscriptions, the formula ''asp ud mard'' (lit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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