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Varaz Grigor
Varaz Grigor () was the first known Mihranid king of Caucasian Albania from 628 until at least 654. The last holder of the title was Vachagan III. Before reign Although mentioned in '' The History of the Country of Albania'' numerously, almost nothing prior to his reign is known. He was son of Vard II, the Prince of Gardman and had a sister called Shushik. He succeeded his father before his accession to the throne of Albania in 628. Like other Gardman rulers, he was of the Mihranid stock and according to Movses Kaghankatvatsi he was baptized by Catholicos Viro. Cyril Toumanoff believes that it was simply a rebaptism from monophysite doctrine to Chalcedonian doctrine. According to Constantin Zuckerman, however, his Zoroastrian name may have been Gadvšnasp prior to his conversion to Christianity, and he used the opportunity to become the ruler of the kingdom. Reign He rose to prominence during Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, gaining the trust of Byzantine emperor Her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caucasian Albania
Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus, mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among the Udi people, who regard themselves as descended from the inhabitants of Caucasian Albania. However, its original endonym is unknown. The name Albania is derived from the Ancient Greek name and Latin , created from Greek sources that incorrectly translated the Armenian language. The prefix "Caucasian" is used to avoid confusion with Albania in the Balkans, which has no geographical or historical connections to Caucasian Albania. Little is known of the region's prehistory, including the origins of Caucasian Albania as a geographical and/or ethnolinguistic concept. In the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, the area south of the Greater Caucasus and north of the Lesser Caucasus was divided between Caucasian Albania in the east, Kingd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantin Zuckerman
Constantin Zuckerman (; born 1957) is a French historian and Professor of Byzantine studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. Biography Academic rank: professor. Highest degree: doctorate. Job title: The Deputy Director of the Centre for History and Civilization of Byzantium, . Zuckerman is the author of numerous articles about the Byzantine Empire, the Goths, the Armenians, the Huns, the Turkic peoples, the Khazars, the Magyars and the early Rus, among other peoples. In "On the Date of the Khazars' Conversion to Judaism and the Chronology of the Kings of the Rus Oleg and Igor," Zuckerman used Khazar documents (the Kievian Letter, Khazar Correspondence, and Schechter Letter) to call into question the traditional dates for early Kievan Rus leaders. In the same article he asserted that the Khazars converted to Judaism in 861, during the visit of Saint Cyril. Bibliography *La Crimee entre Byzance et le Khaganat khazar. Ed. Constantin Zuckerman. Paris: Associ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syunik (historic Province)
Syunik () was a region of historical Armenia and the ninth province (') of the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until 428 AD. From the 7th to 9th centuries, it fell under Arab control. In 821, it formed two Armenian principalities: Kingdom of Syunik and principality of Khachen, which around the year 1000 was proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh, becoming one of the last medieval eastern Armenian kingdoms and principalities to maintain its autonomy following the Turkic invasions of the 11th to 14th centuries.Hewsen. ''Armenia'', pp. 118-121. Name The name Syunik is ancient and appears in the earliest Armenian written sources. ', a later name for the province of Iranian origin, first appears in the 6th-century Syriac chronicle of Pseudo-Zacharias; it is first mentioned in Armenian sources in the history of Movses Khorenatsi, who explains this name as deriving from Sisak, the name of one of the descendants of the legendary Armenian progenitor Hayk. Strabo mentions a region of Arm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adarnase I Of Iberia
Adarnase I ( ka, ადარნასე I) or Adrnerse (ადრნერსე, also transliterated as Atrnerseh), of the Chosroid dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia (Kartli, eastern Georgia) from 627 to 637/642. The name Adarnase derives from Middle Persian ''Ādurnarsēh'', with the second component of the word (''Nase'') being the Georgian attestation of the Middle Persian name ''Narseh'', which ultimately derives from Avestan ''nairyō.saŋya-''. The Middle Persian name ''Narseh'' also exists in Georgian as ''Nerse''. The name ''Ādurnarsēh'' appears in the Armenian language as ''Atrnerseh''. He was the son of Bakur III, the last king of Iberia, and a hereditary duke (eristavi) of Kakheti. In 627, he assisted the Byzantine-Khazar army with the siege of Tbilisi and was made ruler of Iberia by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius who had the pro-Sasanid prince Stephanus I executed. Somewhere between 637 and 642 (i.e., after the battle of al-Qādisiyyah and before that o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spahbed
''Spāhbad'' (also spelled ''spahbod'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbad'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Military of the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian army. From the time of Khosrow I ( 531–579) on, the office was split in four, with a ''spāhbad'' 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 (; in ), survived as a regnal title until the Mongol conquests of the 13th century.Bosworth (1978), pp. 207–208 An equivalent title of Persian origin, ''ispahsalar, ispahsālār or sipahsālār'', gained great currency across the Muslim world in the 10th–15th centuries. The title was also adopted by the Armenians (, ) and the Georgi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Al-Qadisiyyah
The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah ( ; ) took place between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sasanian Empire in November 636. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Rashidun army and is considered to be one of the most significant engagements of the Muslim conquest of Persia, and thereby of the early Muslim conquests as a whole. After losing al-Qadisiyyah, the Sasanian army was left unable to defend against the Rashidun siege of Ctesiphon, thus being forced to retreat from all of Mesopotamia. This development enabled further Rashidun offensives into the Persian mainland and culminated in the Sasanian Empire's annexation by 651. It is widely believed that the Rashidun army's advance on al-Qadisiyyah began on 16 November 636 and continued for the next three days. During the battle, Sasanian troops were thrown into disarray following the death of their general Rostam Farrokhzad under uncertain circumstances. The ensuing collapse of their positions marked a cataclysmic defeat that l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yazdegerd III
Yazdegerd III (also Romanized as ''Yazdgerd'', ''Yazdgird'') was the last Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar (son of Khosrow II), Shahriyar and his grandfather was Khosrow II. Ascending the throne at the age of eight, the young shah lacked authority and reigned as a figurehead, whilst real power was in the hands of the army commanders, courtiers, and powerful members of the aristocracy, who engaged in internecine warfare. The Sasanian Empire was weakened severely by these internal conflicts, resulting in invasions by the Göktürks from the east, and Khazars from the west. Yazdegerd was unable to contain the Muslim conquest of Persia, Rashidun conquest of Iran, and spent most of his reign fleeing from one province to another in the vain hope of raising an army. Yazdegerd met his end at the hands of a miller near Merv, Marw in 651, bringing an end to the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire after more than 400 years of rule. Etymology Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon ( ; , ''Tyspwn'' or ''Tysfwn''; ; , ; Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified July 28, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/58.) was an ancient city in modern Iraq, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) southeast of Baghdad. Ctesiphon served as a royal capital of the Iranian peoples, Iranian empires for over eight hundred years, in the Parthian Empire, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Ctesiphon was the capital of the Sasanian Empire from 226–637 until the Muslim conquest of Persia in 651 AD. Ctesiphon developed into a rich commercial metropolis, merging with the surrounding cities along both shores of the river, including the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. Ctesiphon and its environs were therefore sometimes referred to as "The Cities" (, ). In the late sixth and early seventh century, it was listed as the List of largest cities throughout history, largest city in the world by some accounts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rostam Farrokhzad
Rostam Farrokhzād () was a dynast from the Ispahbudhan family, who served as the '' spahbed'' ("military marshal") of the northwestern quarter (''kust'') of Adurbadagan under the Sasanian monarchs Boran () and Yazdegerd III (). Rostam is remembered as a historical figure, a character in the Persian epic poem ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), and as a touchstone of many Iranian nationalists. Background Rostam was a member of the House of Ispahbudhan, one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran, which formed the elite aristocracy of the Sasanian Empire; the family traced its descent back to military marshals ('' spahbed''), and occupied important offices in the realm. According to a romanticized legend about their origin, a daughter of the Parthian/Arsacid king Phraates IV (), named Koshm, married a "general of all Iranians"; their offspring bore the title of "Aspahpet Pahlav", later forming the Ispahbudhan clan. Through their Arsacid lineage, the Ispahbudhan claimed to be desc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Böri Shad
Böri Shad (fl. c. 627) (, böri šad, , "Wolf governor") was a Turkic prince or general who fought the Persians south of the Caucasus during the Third Perso-Turkic War. In this war the Western Turkic Khaganate was allied with Byzantium against Persia during the last great Byzantine-Persian war before the Arab conquests. He was an appointed head of a provincial principality in the far western North Caucasus periphery of the Western Turkic Khaganate. A succession of princes, or shads, occupied that position. The principality of ''Böri Shad'' originated in 558 CE, when Kara-Churin (later named Tardu or Tardush), a brother of the ruling kagan, campaigned in Ural and Volga regions, but the lands he captured were given to his junior brother Turksanf and his cousin Buri-khan. From 576 through 583 CE, Tardu fought with the Byzantines, but, instead of himself, he appointed as head of the campaign his cousin Böri Shad, whose possessions were in the North Caucasus. According to M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Göktürks
The Göktürks (; ), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main power in the region and established the First Turkic Khaganate, one of several nomadic dynasties that would shape the future geolocation, culture, and dominant beliefs of Turkic peoples. Etymology Origin As an ethnonym, the etymology of ''Turk'' is still unknown. It is generally believed that the name ''Türk'' may have come from Old Turkic migration-term , which means 'created, born'. As a word in Turkic languages, ''Turk'' may mean "strong, strength, ripe" or "flourishing, in full strength". It may also mean ripe as for a fruit or "in the prime of life, young, and vigorous" for a person. The name ''Gök-türk'' emerged from the Modern Turkish reading of the word ''Kök'' as ''Gök'' with assumption of equivalence to "sky" in Moder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kura (South Caucasus River)
The Kura, also known in Georgian as Mtkvari ( ), is an east-flowing transboundary river south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains which drains the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus east into the Caspian Sea. It also drains the north side of the Lesser Caucasus, while its main tributary, the Aras, drains the south side of those mountains. Starting in northeastern Turkey, the Kura flows through to Georgia, then into Azerbaijan, where it receives the Aras as a right tributary, and finally enters the Caspian Sea. The total length of the river is . People have inhabited the Caucasus region for thousands of years and first established agriculture in the Kura Valley over 4,500 years ago. Large, complex civilizations eventually grew on the river, but by 1200 CE most were reduced to ruin by natural disasters and foreign invaders. The increasing human use, and eventual damage, of the watershed's forests and grasslands, contributed to a rising intensity of floods through the 20th cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
