Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T19:07:17.936Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

22a - The Sasanid monarchy

from PART IV - THE PROVINCES AND THE NON-ROMAN WORLD

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Ze’ev Rubin
Affiliation:
Professor of History, University of Tel Aviv
Averil Cameron
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Bryan Ward-Perkins
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Michael Whitby
Affiliation:
University of Warwick
Get access

Summary

ROMANS AND SASANIDS

A chapter dealing with Iranian feudalism in a distinguished series dedicated to The Rise and Fall of the Roman World bears the title Iran, Rome’s Greatest Enemy. This title is more than merely a justification for the inclusion of a chapter on Iran in a series whose subject is Roman history. It also reflects a host of fears and prejudices fostered for long centuries in the Roman world, since the trauma of Crassus’ defeat by the Parthians at Carrhae. Not even extended periods of decline and internal disarray within the Parthian monarchy, in the course of which it was repeatedly invaded by the Roman army, could dispel the myth of the uncompromising threat posed by Iran to the Roman order. The replacement of the Parthian Arsacid dynasty by a new vigorous one, based in Fars, namely the Sasanid dynasty, at a time when the Roman empire itself was facing one of its severest crises, only aggravated its inhabitants’ deeply rooted fear of Iran. Ancient writers in the Roman oikoumene passed on this attitude to modern western scholars.

It is the Sasanid bogeyman which has left a deep imprint in modern historiography. The Sasanid state is widely regarded as a much more centralized and effective political entity than its Parthian counterpart, with a far better army. The great pretensions and aspirations of its monarchs are believed to have been fed by the fervour of religious fanaticism, inspired by the Zoroastrian priesthood, which is commonly depicted as a well organized state church.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altheim, F. and Stiehl, R. (1954) Ein Asiatischer Staat, Feudalismus unter den Sasaniden und ihren Nachbaren. WiesbadenGoogle Scholar
Altheim, F. and Stiehl, R. (1957) Finanzgeschichte der Spätantike. Frankfurt am MainGoogle Scholar
Asmussen, J. P. (1975) Manichaean Literature. Delmar, NYGoogle Scholar
Back, M. (1978) ‘Die sassanidischen Staatsinschriften’, Acta Iranica 8Google Scholar
Baynes, N. H. (1960) ‘Rome and Armenia in the fourth century’, in Byzantine Studies and Other Essays (London)Google Scholar
Blockley, R. C. (1981) The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire I (Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs, Liverpool 10). LiverpoolGoogle Scholar
Blockley, R. C. (1985) Menander the Guardsman (Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs, Liverpool 17). LiverpoolGoogle Scholar
Blockley, R. C. (1992) East Roman Foreign Policy (Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs, Liverpool 30). LeedsGoogle Scholar
Böhlig, A. (1980) Die Gnosis. Dritter Band, der Manichäismus, in Die Bibliothek der alten Welt. Zurich and MunichGoogle Scholar
Bosworth, C. E. (1999) The History of al-Tabarī, V: The Sasanids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids and Yemen (translated and annotated). New YorkGoogle Scholar
Boyce, M. (1957) ‘Some Reflections about Zurvanism’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African StudiesCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyce, M. (1968) The Letter of Tansar. RomeGoogle Scholar
Boyce, M. (1979) Zoroastrians, their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London and New YorkGoogle Scholar
Boyce, M. (1984) Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. ManchesterGoogle Scholar
Boyce, M. (1990) ‘Some further reflections on Zurvanism’, Acta Iranica 16Google Scholar
Braund, D. (1994) Georgia in Antiquity, a History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC–AD 562 (Oxford)Google Scholar
Browne, E. G. (1900) ‘Some account of the Arabic work entitled “Nihāyatuʿl-irab fī, akhbariʿ l-Furs waʿl-ʿArab”’, Journal of Roman Archaeology: 195–259Google Scholar
Cameron, Averil (1969/1970) ‘Agathias on the Sassanians’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23/24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, Averil (1995) (ed.) The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East. III States, Resources and Armies (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 1). Princeton.Google Scholar
Chaumont, M.-L. (1958) ‘Le culte d’Anahita à Staxr et les premiers Sassanides’, RHR 153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaumont, M.-L. (1960) ‘Recherches sur le clergé Zorastrien: Le herbad’, RHR 157 158.Google Scholar
Chaumont, M.-L. (1976) ‘L’Arménie entre Rome et l’Iran I. De l’avènement d’Auguste à l’avènement de Dioclétien’, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, ed. H. Temporini Ant. Afr. Antiquités Africaines II, 9.1.Google Scholar
Chaumont, M.-L. (1988) La Christianisation de l’empire iranien des origines aux persecutions du IVe siècle (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Subsidia 80). Louvain.Google Scholar
Christensen, A. (1925) Le règne du roi Kawadh et le communisme Mazdakite. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Christensen, A. (1944) L’Iran sous les Sassanides. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Crone, P. (1991) ‘Kavad’s heresy and Mazdak’s revolt’, Iran 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dabrowa, E. (ed.) (1994) The Roman and Byzantine Army in the East.Kraków.Google Scholar
Dodgeon, M. and Lieu, S. N. C. (1991) The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars, AD 226–363: A Documentary History.London and New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, W. B. (1968) (ed.) The Cambridge History of Iran I, The Land of Iran.Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frye, R. N. (1959) ‘Zurvanism again’, Harvard Theological Review 52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frye, R. N. (1984) The History of Ancient Iran (Munich).Google Scholar
Ghirshman, R. (1962) Iran, Parthians and Sassanians.London.Google Scholar
Göbl, R. (1971) Sasanian Numismatics.Würzburg.Google Scholar
Goodblat, D. M. (1979) ‘The poll tax in Sassanian Babylonia’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 22.Google Scholar
Grignaschi, M. (1971) ‘La riforma tributaria di Hosro I e il feudalismo sassanide’, in La Persia nel medioevo, Accademia nazionale dei Lincei (Rome).Google Scholar
Guidi, M. Morony M.] (1992) ‘Mazdak’, Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd edn, VI.Google Scholar
Hahn, I. (1959) ‘Sassanidische und spätrömische Besteuerung’, Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarium Hungaricae 7.Google Scholar
Herrmann, G. (1977) The Iranian Revival. London.Google Scholar
Howard-Johnston, J. D. (1994) ‘The official history of Heraclius’ Persian campaigns’ in Dabrowa, (ed.) (1994).Google Scholar
Howard-Johnston, J. D. (1995) ‘The two great powers in late antiquity: a comparison’, in Cameron, Averil (ed.) (1995).Google Scholar
Humbach, H. and Skjaervø, P. O. (1983) The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Huyse, P. (1999) ‘Die dreisprächige Inschrift Šaburs I an der Kaʿaba-i Zardušt’, Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum III, Pahlavi Inscriptions I. London.Google Scholar
Klíma, O. (1957) Mazdak. Geschichte einer sozialen Bewegung im Sassanidischen Persien. Prague.Google Scholar
Klíma, O. (1977) Beiträge zur Geschichte des Mazdakismus. Prague.Google Scholar
Labourt, J. (1904) Le Christianisme dans l’empire Perse sous la dynastie Sassanide. Paris.Google Scholar
Langlois, V. (1867, 1869) Collection des historiens anciens et modernes de l’Arménie, 2 vols. Paris.Google Scholar
Lee, A. D. (1993) Information and Frontiers: Roman Foreign Relations in Late Antiquity. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieu, S. N. C. (1994) Manichaeism in Mesopotamia and the Roman Near East. Leiden.Google Scholar
Loginov, S. D. and Nikitin, A. B. (1993a) ‘Sasanian coins of the third century from Merv’, Mesopotamia 18.Google Scholar
Loginov, S. D. and Nikitin, A. B. (1993b) ‘Coins of Shapur II from Merv’, Mesopotamia 18.Google Scholar
Loginov, S. D. and Nikitin, A. B. (1993c) ‘Sasanian coins of the late 4th–7th centuries from Merv’, Mesopotamia 18.Google Scholar
Lukonin, V. G. (1961) Iran v epokhu pervykh Sasanidov. Leningrad.Google Scholar
Millar, F. (1993) The Roman Near East, 31 BC–AD 337. Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Nöldeke, T. (1878) Geschichte des Artachsir i Papakan (Beiträge zur Kunde der indo-germanischen Sprachen 4) (Göttingen).Google Scholar
Nöldeke, T. (1879) Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden. Leiden.Google Scholar
Nöldeke, T. (1887) Aufsätze zur persischen Geschichte. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Nöldeke, T. (1920) Das iranische Nationalepos. 2nd edn. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Pellat, C. (1954) Le Livre de la couronne. Paris.Google Scholar
Pigulevskaja, N. (1963) Les villes de l’état Iranien aux époques Parthe et Sassanide. Paris.Google Scholar
Pigulevskaya, N. V. (1946) Vizantiya i Iran na rubezhe VI i VII vekov. Moscow and Leningrad.Google Scholar
Pigulevskaya, N. V. (= Pigulevskaja, N.) (1937) ‘K voprosu o podatnoj reforme Khosroya Anushervana’, Vestnik Drevnej Istorii 1.Google Scholar
Potter, D. S. (1990) Prophecy and History in the Crisis of the Roman Empire, a Historical Commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle. Oxford.Google Scholar
Rubin, Z. (1986) ‘Diplomacy and war in the relations between Byzantium and the Sassanids in the fifth century ad’ (British Archaeological Reports, Oxford International Series 297) (Oxford).Google Scholar
Rubin, Z. (1995) ‘The reforms of Khusro Anushirwan’, in Cameron, Averil (ed.) (1995).Google Scholar
Schippmann, K. (1990) Grundzüge der Geschichte des Sasanidischen Reiches. Darmstadt.Google Scholar
Shaked, S. (1979) The Wisdom of the Sasanian Sages (Denkard VI) (Persian Heritage Series 34). Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Shaki, M. (1981) ‘The Denkard account of the history of the Zoroastrian Scriptures’, Archív Orientální 49.Google Scholar
Solodukho, J. A. (1948) ‘Podati i povinosti v Irake v III–V nashej ëry’, Sovetskoe Vostokovedenie 5.Google Scholar
Stratos, A. N. (1968) Byzantium in the Seventh Century I: 602–34. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Whitby, M. (1994) ‘The Persian king at war’, in /Dabrowa, (ed.) (1994).Google Scholar
Widengren, G. (1956) ‘Recherches sur le féodalisme iranien’, Orientalia Suecana 5.Google Scholar
Widengren, G. (1961) ‘The status of the Jews in the Sassanian Empire’, Iranica Antiqua 12.Google Scholar
Widengren, G. (1965) Die Religionen Irans. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Widengren, G. (1967) Der Feudalismus im alten Iran. Cologne and Opladen.Google Scholar
Widengren, G. (1976) ‘Iran der grosse Gegner Roms: Königsgewalt, Feudalismus, Militärwesen’, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, ed. H. Temporini Ant. Afr. Antiquités Africaines II, 9.1.Google Scholar
Wiesehöfer, J. (1996) Ancient Persia. London (translation of Wiesehöfer, J. (1998) Das antike Persien, von 550 v. Chr. bis 650 n. Chr. Munich and Zurich.Google Scholar
Wikander, S. (1946) Feuerpriester in Kleinasien und Iran. Lund.Google Scholar
Wolski, J. (1976) ‘Iran und Rom. Versuch einer historischen Wertung der gegenseitigen Beziehungen’, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, ed. H. Temporini Ant. Afr. Antiquités Africaines II, 9.1.Google Scholar
Yar-Shater, E. (1971) ‘Were the Sasanians heirs to the Achaemenids?’, in La Persia nel Medioevo (Accademia nazionale dei Lincei).Google Scholar
Yar-Shater, E. (1983) (ed.) The Cambridge History of Iran III. The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaehner, R. C. (1955) Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma. Oxford.Google Scholar
Zaehner, R. C. (1975) The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism. London.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×