The Sasanian Era

by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis (Editor), Sarah Stewart (Editor)

Overview

This latest volume in "The Idea of Iran" series concentrates on the Sasanian period. Seizing power from the previous dynasty - the Parthians - the Sasanians ruled Iran and most of the ancient Near East from 224 until 642 CE. They are particularly fascinating because of their adherence to Zoroastrianism, an ancient dualistic Iranian religion named after the prophet Zarathustra (or, in Greek, Zoroaster). The Sasanians expressed the divine aspect of their rule in a variety of forms, such as on coins, rock reliefs and silver plates, and architecture and the arts flourished under their aegis. Sasanian military success brought them into conflict with Rome, and later Byzantium. Their empire eventually collapsed under the force of the Arab army in AD 642, when Zoroastrianism was replaced with Islam.Engaging with all the major aspects of Sasanian culture, twelve eminent scholars address subjects which include: early Sasanian art and iconography; early Sasanian coinage; religion and identity in the Sasanian empire; later Sasanian orality and literacy; and state and society in late antique Iran.
The volume in question arguably comprises the most complete and comprehensive treatment of the Sasanian civilization yet to be published in English.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857733092
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	07/20/2010
Series:	The Idea of Iran
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis is Curator of Islamic and Iranian Coins at the British Museum and Joint Editor of IRAN, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies. Sarah Stewart is Deputy Director of the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and teaches Zoroastrianism in the Department of religions at SOAS.
Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis is Curator of Middle Eastern Coins at the British Museum, UK, as well as Honorary Director of the British Institute of Persian Studies. Her other publications include The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Persia (I.B. Tauris).
Sarah Stewart is Shapoorji Pallonji Senior Lecturer in Zoroastrianism at SOAS, UK. Her current research centres on the oral history of Zoroastrians in Iran.

Table of Contents

* Acknowledgements
• Map of the Sasanian Empire
• Introduction
• Image and Identity: Early Sasanian Art and Iconography
• Early Sasanian Coinage
• The layout of Ardashir Khurreh and the Manifestation of Ardashir Papakan’s State Ideology
• How Pious was Shahpur I? On the Role of Religion under the Early Sasanians
• The ‘King of Kings’ who is from the ‘Race of Gods’: On the Role of Religion under the Early Sasanians
• The Sasanians in the East: A Bactrian Archive from Northern Afghanistan
• Religion in the Sasanian Empire: Eran, Aneran, and other Designations
• The Roman Wars of the Sasanian King of Kings Shahpur II
• State and Society in Late Antique Iran
• Prices and Drachms in the Late Sasanian Period
• Late Sasanian Society between Orality and Literacy
• Bibliography
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