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Sasanian Defense Lines
The defense lines of the Sasanians were part of their military strategy and tactics. They were networks of fortifications, walls, and/or ditches built opposite the territory of the enemies. These defense lines are known from tradition and archaeological evidence. The fortress systems of the Western, Arabian, and Central Asian fronts were of both defensive and offensive functions. Mesopotamia The rivers Euphrates, Great Zab, and Little Zab acted as natural defenses for Mesopotamia ( Asoristan). Sasanian development of irrigation systems in Mesopotamia further acted as water defense lines, notably the criss-crossing trunk canals in Khuzestan and the northern extension of the Nahrawan Canal, known as the ''Cut of Khusrau'', which made the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon virtually impregnable in the late Sasanian period. In the early period of the Sasanian Empire, a number of buffer states existed between Persia and the Roman Empire, which played a major role in Roman-Persian relati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign over ancient Iran was second only to the directly preceding Arsacid dynasty of Parthia. Founded by Ardashir I, whose rise coincided with the decline of Arsacid influence in the face of both internal and external strife, the House of Sasan was highly determined to restore the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire by expanding and consolidating the Iranian nation's dominions. Most notably, after defeating Artabanus IV of Parthia during the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224, it began competing far more zealously with the neighbouring Roman Empire than the Arsacids had, thus sparking a new phase of the Roman–Iranian Wars. This effort by Ardashir's dynasty ultimately re-established Iran as a major power of late an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edessa
Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. He named it after an ancient Macedonian capital. The Greek name (''Édessa'') means "tower in the water". It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, and continued as capital of the Roman province of Osroene. In Late Antiquity, it became a prominent center of Christian learning and seat of the Catechetical School of Edessa. During the Crusades, it was the capital of the County of Edessa. The city was situated on the banks of the Daysan River (; ; ), a tributary of the Khabur, and was defended by Şanlıurfa Castle, the high central citadel. Ancient Edessa is the predecessor of modern Urfa (; ; ; ), in Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Modern names of the city are likely derived from Urhay or Orhay (), the site's S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Jordan, southern Syria, and western Iraq. It accounts for about 85% of the land area of Jordan and 55% of Syria. To the south, it borders and merges into the Arabian Desert. The land is open, rocky or gravelly desert pavement, cut with occasional wadis, or river valleys, generally dry riverbeds. Location and name The desert is bounded by the Orontes Valley and the volcanic field of Harrat al-Shamah to the west, and by the Euphrates to the east. In the north, the desert gives way to the more fertile areas and to the south it runs into the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Several parts of the Syrian Desert have been referred to separately such as the ''Palmyrene desert'' around Palmyra, and the ''Homs desert''. The eastern sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diocletian
Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyrian emperors, Illyrian soldiers of the period, Diocles rose through the ranks of the military early in his career, serving under Aurelian and Probus (emperor), Probus, and eventually becoming a Roman cavalry, cavalry commander for the army of Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on a campaign in Sasanian Empire, Persia, Diocles was proclaimed emperor by the troops, taking the name "Diocletianus". The title was also claimed by Carus's surviving son, Carinus, but he was defeated by Diocletian in the Battle of the Margus. Diocletian's reign stabilized the empire and ended the Crisis of the Third Century. He initiated the process of the Roman Empire split and appointed fellow officer Maximian as ''Augustus (title), Augu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shapur II
Shapur II ( , 309–379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth King of Kings (List of monarchs of the Sasanian Empire, Shahanshah) of Sasanian Iran. He took the title at birth and held it until his death at age 70, making him the List of longest-reigning monarchs, longest-reigning monarch in History of Iran, Iranian history. He was the son of Hormizd II (). His reign saw the military resurgence of the country and the expansion of its territory, which marked the start of the first Sasanian golden era. Thus, along with Shapur I, Kavad I and Khosrow I, he is regarded as one of the most illustrious Sasanian kings. His three direct successors, on the other hand, were less successful. At the age of 16, he launched enormously successful military campaigns against Arab insurrections and tribes. Shapur II pursued a harsh religious policy. Under his reign, the collection of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, was completed, heresy and apostasy were punished, and Chri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sisauranon
Sisauranon, Sisauronon (), Sisaurana, or Sarbane was a Sasanian fortress city in the province of Arbayistan, located to the east of Nisibis at the edge of the north Syrian plain. It was situated near the border with the Byzantine Empire. History Sisauranon is mentioned by Procopius in the 6th century. On linguistic grounds, it is identified with the way-station Sarbane in the 5th-century ''Tabula Peutingeriana'', and with the modern site of Sirvan on the Turkish–Syrian border, whose name probably derives from the ancient settlement. The site is also variously mentioned as Sarbanon (τὸ Σαρβανῶν) in Theophanes the Confessor, Sisarbanon (τὸ Σισαρβάνων) in Theophylact Simocatta, and Sisara in Ammianus Marcellinus, as well as the variant forms of Sisaurion (Σισαύριον), Sisabranon (Σισαβράνων), Isauranon (Ἰσαυρανῶν) in various manuscripts of Procopius. The locality of Sambure in the ''Ravenna Cosmography'' may also refer to the sam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erzurum
Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of ancient Theodosiopolis. The city uses the double-headed eagle as its coat-of-arms, a motif that has been a common symbol throughout Anatolia since the Bronze Age. Erzurum has winter sports facilities, hosted the 2011 Winter Universiade, and the 2023 Winter Deaflympics (in March 2024). Name and etymology The city was originally known in Armenian language, Armenian as Karno K'aghak' (), meaning city of Karin, to distinguish it from the district of Karin (wikt:Կարին, Կարին). It is presumed its name was derived from a local tribe called the Karenitis. Darbinian, M. "Erzurum," Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1978, vol. 4, p. 93. An alternate theory contends that a local princely family, the Kams ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sura (city)
Sura () was a city in the southern part of the area called by ancient Jewish sources Talmudic Academies in Babylonia#Geographic area, Babylonia, located east of the Euphrates. It was well-known for its agriculture, agricultural produce, which included grapes, wheat, and barley. It was also a major center of Torah scholarship and home of an important yeshiva—the Sura Academy—which, together with the yeshivas in Pumbedita and Nehardea, gave rise to the Babylonian Talmud. Location According to Sherira Gaon, Sura () was identical to the town of Mata Mehasya, which is also mentioned in the Talmud, but Mata Mehasya is cited in the Talmud many times, either as a nearby town or a suburb of Sura, and the Talmudist academy in Mata Mehasya served as a branch of Sura Academy, which was founded by Abba Arikha in the third century. A contemporary Syriac language, Syriac source describes it as a town completely inhabited by Jews, situated between al-Mada'in, Māḥōzē and al-Hirah in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halabiye
Halabiye (, Latin/Greek: ''Zenobia'', ''Birtha'') is an archaeological site on the right bank of the Euphrates River in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria. It was an ancient city and former bishopric known as ''Zenobia'' and a Latin Catholic titular see. Halabiye was fortified in the 3rd century CE by Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, after whom the site was named in Antiquity. After her revolt against the Roman Empire in 273, Halabiye was captured by the Romans and subsequently refortified as part of the '' Limes Arabicus'', a defensive frontier of Roman Syria to protect the region mainly from Persia. The site occupies an area of , protected by massive city walls and a citadel on top of a hill. Remains of two churches, a public bath complex and two streets have been excavated. These all date to the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who refortified the city in the 6th century AD. History Antiquity According to Astour, Halabiye site was already mentioned in the 24th centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dura-Europos
Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian Empire, Parthian, and Ancient Rome, Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Al-Salihiyah, Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Salhiyé, in present-day Syria. Dura-Europos was founded around 300 BC by Seleucus I Nicator, who founded the Seleucid Empire as one of the Diadochi of Alexander the Great. In 113 BC, Parthians conquered the city, and held it, with one brief Roman intermission (114 AD), until 165 AD. Under Parthian rule, it became an important provincial administrative centre. The ancient Rome, Romans decisively captured Dura-Europos in 165 AD and greatly enlarged it as their easternmost stronghold in Mesopotamia, until it was captured by the Sasanian Empire after a Siege of Dura Europos (256), siege in 256–257 AD. Its population was deported, and the abandoned city eventually became covered by sand and mud and disappeared from sight. Dura-Europos is of e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raqqa
Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum (formerly a Latin Church, Latin and now a Maronite Catholic titular see) was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Harun al-Rashid. It was also the capital of the Territory of the Islamic State, Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. With a population of 531,952 based on the 2021 official census, Raqqa is the sixth largest city in Syria. During the Syrian Civil War, the city was captured in 2013 by the Syrian opposition and then by the Islamic State. ISIS made the city its capital in 2014. As a result, the city was hit by airstrikes from the Syrian government, Russia, the United States, and Military intervention against ISIL, several other countries. Most non-Sunni religious structures i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Resafa
Resafa (), sometimes spelled Rusafa, and known in the Byzantine era as Sergiopolis ( or , ) and briefly as Anastasiopolis (, ), was a city located in the Roman province of Euphratensis, in modern-day Syria. It is an archaeological site situated southwest of the city of Raqqa and the Euphrates. Procopius describes at length the ramparts and buildings erected there by Justinian. The walls of Resafa, which are still well preserved, are over 1600 feet in length and about 1000 feet in width; round or square towers were erected about every hundred feet; there are also ruins of a church with three apses. Names Resafa corresponds to the Akkadian ''Raṣappa'' and the Biblical ''Rezeph'' (Septuagint; ), where it is mentioned in ; cuneiform sources give Rasaappa, Rasappa, and Rasapi. Ptolemy calls it ''Rhesapha'' (). In the late Roman '' Tabula Peutingeriana'', it is called ''Risapa''. Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), ''loc.cit.'' In the '' Notitia dignitatum'', it is ''Rosafa''. Proco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
