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Sasanian Dynasty
The Sasanian dynasty (also known as the Sassanids or the House of Sasan) was the house that founded the Sasanian Empire of Iran, ruling this empire from 224 to 651 AD. It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty in honour of his predecessor, Sasan. 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. Upon the empire's conquest by the Islamic caliphate in 651, members of the imperial family fled in exile to China following the death of Yazdegerd III, where they would become accepted as members of the imperial court by Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Although there would be numerous attempts to invade Islamic Persia with Chinese support, this branch of Sasanids would remain in China indefinitely. Narsieh, grandson of Yazdegerd and last recorded Sasanid in China, would adopt the surname Li (李) in honor of the Chinese imperial family. Origins Modern Scholars View The origin o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senmurv
The simurgh (; ; also spelled ''senmurv, simorgh, simorg'', ''simurg'', ''simoorg, simorq'' or ''simourv'') is a benevolent bird in Persian mythology and Persian literature, literature. It bears some similarities with mythological birds from different origins, such as the Phoenix (mythology), phoenix ( ''quqnūs'') and the Huma bird, humā (). The figure can be found in all periods of Greater Iran, Iranian art and literature and is also evident in the iconography of Georgia (country), Georgia, medieval Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, and other regions that were within the realm of Persian cultural influence. Etymology The Persian language, Persian word ''sīmurğ'' () derives from Middle Persian ''sēnmurw'' and earlier ''sēnmuruγ'', also attested in Pazend texts as ''sīna-mrū''. The Middle Persian word comes from Avestan ''mərəγō Saēnō'' "the bird Saēna", originally a Raptor (bird), raptor, likely an eagle, falcon, or sparrowhawk, as can be deduc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilisation, and a Golden age (metaphor), golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivalled that of the Han dynasty. The House of Li, Li family founded the dynasty after taking advantage of a period of Sui decline and precipitating their final collapse, in turn inaugurating a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty was formally interrupted during 690–705 when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Wu Zhou dynasty and becoming the only legitimate Chinese empress regnant. The An Lushan rebellion (755 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avesta
The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Modern Edition (book), editions of the Avesta are based on the various manuscript traditions that have survived in Zoroastrianism in India, India and Zoroastrianism in Iran, Iran. The individual texts of the Avesta were originally Oral tradition, oral compositions. They were composed over a long period of several centuries during the Avestan period, Old Iranian period (possibly ranging from 15th century BCE – 4th century BCE). The written transmission began during the Sassanian empire, Sassanian period, with the creation of the Avestan alphabet. The resulting texts were then compiled into a comprehensive edition of the Sasanian Avesta, Avesta in 21 volumes. This edition was lost sometime after the 10th century CE and only a small part survi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kayanian Dynasty
The Kayanians (; also Kays, Kayanids, Kaianids, Kiyani, Kayani, or Kiani) are a legendary dynasty of Persian/Iranian tradition and folklore which supposedly ruled after the Pishdadians, each of whom held the title Kay (such as Kay Khosrow), meaning "king". Considered collectively, the Kayanian kings are the heroes of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, and of the ''Shahnameh'', the national epic of Greater Iran. As an epithet of kings and the reason the dynasty is so called, Middle and New Persian originates from Avestan (or ) "king" and also "poet-sacrificer" or "poet-priest". Kavi may have originally signified an insightful fashioner in Proto-Indo-Iranian, which later acquired a poetic aspect in Indic and warrior and royal connotation in Iranian. The word is also etymologically related to the Avestan notion of , the "divine royal glory" that the Kayanian kings were said to hold. The Kiani Crown is a physical manifestation of that belief. In Zoroastriani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khodadad Rezakhani
Khodadad Rezakhani (Persian: خداداد رضاخانی, born 1976) is an Iranian historian of late antique Central and West Asia. He has been associate research scholar at The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies Princeton University from 2016 to 2020. Early life and education Rezakhani was born in Tehran, Iran and was educated in Europe and Iran before moving to the United States. He later moved back to London, UK where he earned his MSc in History from London School of Economics and a PhD in Late Antique/Middle Eastern History from UCLA with a dissertation titled Empires and Microsystems : Late Antique Regional Economy in Central and West Asia, 500-750' under the supervision of Michael G. Morony and advised by Patrick J. Geary, Claudia Rapp, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Because of his multicultural background and education, Rezakhani is fluent in English, Persian and a number of other research and modern languages. Academic career S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iranologist
Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field of Oriental studies. Iranian studies is broader than and distinct from Persian studies, which is the study of the modern Persian language and literature specifically. The discipline of Iranian Studies focuses on broad trends in culture, history, language and other aspects of not only Persians, but also a variety of other contemporary and historical Iranian peoples, such as Kurds, Lurs, Gilakis, Talysh, Tajiks, Pashtuns, Ossetians, Baluchis, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Parthians, Sogdians, Bactrians, Khwarazmians, and Mazandaranis. In medieval Iran The medieval Persian poet Ferdowsi, author of the Iranian national epic the ', can be considered the founder of Iranian studies in the sense that in his work he made a deliberate ef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farn-Sasan
Farn-Sasan was the last king of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, ruling the region of Sakastan approximately from 210 to 226. Literary sources makes no mention of him, and he is only known through the coins he issued. He was defeated in 226 by the Sasanian ruler Ardashir I (), which marked the end of Indo-Parthian rule. Etymology The main part of the name "Sasan" was popular in the Indo-Parthian realm. The etymology of the name is uncertain; according to scholars David Neil MacKenzie and V.A. Livshits the name is derived from Old Iranian ''*Sāsāna'' ("defeating enemy"). It was the name of a local Zoroastrian deity venerated in Indo-Parthia and Khwarazm. Farn-Sasan's name is mentioned in some of Islamic sources in the forms of "Ssan-Ĥorrah" (سْسَنخُرَه) and "Sis-Ĥorrah" (سیسخُرَه). Biography Farn-Sasan gained control of the Indo-Parthian throne sometime in 210. The identity of his predecessor is unknown; it may have been Pacores. Farn-Sasan is not ment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sakastan
Sistān (), also known as Sakastān (, , current name: Zabol) and Sijistan (), is a historical region in south-eastern Iran and extending across the borders of present-day south-western Afghanistan, and south-western Pakistan. Mostly corresponding to the then Achaemenid region of Drangiana and extending southwards of the Helmand River not far off from the city of Alexandria in Arachosia. Largely desert, the region is bisected by the Helmand River, which empties into the Hamun Lake, located in Zabol, that forms part of the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Etymology Sistan derives its name from ''Sakastan'' ("the land of the Saka"). The Sakas were a Scythian tribe which migrated to the Iranian Plateau and Indus valley between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century, where they carved a kingdom known as the Indo-Scythian Kingdom. In the Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian scripture written in Pahlavi, the province is called "Seyansih". After the Arab conquest of Iran, the province ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indo-Parthians
The Indo-Parthian kingdom was a Parthian kingdom founded by Gondophares, and active from 19 CE to c. 226 CE. At their zenith, they ruled an area covering parts of eastern Iran, various parts of Afghanistan and the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent (most of modern Pakistan and parts of northwestern India). The rulers may have been members of the House of Suren, and the kingdom has even been called the "Suren Kingdom" by some authors. The kingdom was founded in 19/20 when the governor of Drangiana (Sistan, Sakastan) Gondophares declared independence from the Parthian Empire. He would later make expeditions to the east, conquering territory from the Indo-Scythians and Indo-Greeks, thus transforming his kingdom into an empire. The domains of the Indo-Parthians were greatly reduced following the invasions of the Kushan Empire, Kushans in the second half of the 1st. century. They managed to retain control of Sakastan, until its conquest by the Sasanian Empire in c. 224/5. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iranian Plateau
The Iranian plateau or Persian plateau is a geological feature spanning parts of the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. It makes up part of the Eurasian plate, and is wedged between the Arabian plate and the Indian plate. The plateau is situated between the Zagros Mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Köpet Dag to the north, the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus Mountains to the northwest, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to the south, and the Indian subcontinent to the southeast. As a historical region, it includes Parthia, Media, Persis, and some of the previous territories of Greater Iran."Old Iranian Online" , University of Texas College of Liberal Arts (retrieved 10 February 2007) The Zagros form the plateau's western boundary, and its eastern slopes may also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persis
Persis (, ''Persís;'' Old Persian: 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿, ''Parsa''), also called Persia proper, is a historic region in southwestern Iran, roughly corresponding with Fars province. The Persian ethnic group are thought to have initially migrated either from Central Asia or, more probably, from the north through the Caucasus. They would then have migrated to the current region of Persis in the early 1st millennium BC. Achaemenid Empire The ancient Persians were present in the region of Persis from about the 10th century BC. They became the rulers of the largest empire the world had yet seen under the Achaemenid dynasty which was established in the late 6th century BC, at its peak stretching from Thrace- Macedonia, Bulgaria- Paeonia and Eastern Europe proper in the west, to the Indus Valley in its far east. The ruins of Persepolis and Pasargadae, two of the four capitals of the Achaemenid Empire, are located in Fars. Macedonian Empire The Achaemenid Empire was defeated by Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Li
The House of Li () was the ruling house of the Western Liang dynasty and the Tang dynasty of China. Family information The Li family originated in the Longxi Commandery and had Han ethnic origins. They were also known as the Longxi Li lineage ( 隴西李氏), which included the famous Tang poet Li Bai. The Li family were members of the northwest military aristocracy prevalent during the Sui dynasty. According to the official records of Tang dynasty, the Li family was paternally descended from the famous Daoist sage Laozi (whose personal name was Li Dan or Li Er), as well as the Qin dynasty general Li Xin and the Han dynasty general Li Guang, and Li Gao, the ethnic Han ruler of Western Liang dynasty. During the late Northern and Southern dynasties period, the Li family intermarried with Xianbei royalty when Li Bing (the ethnically Han father of the first Tang emperor) married the part-Xianbei Duchess Dugu (the daughter of prominent Xianbei general Dugu Xin). Marriag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
