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99-533: During the Arab conquest of Iran , Istakhr was noted for its stiff resistance, which resulted in the death of many of its inhabitants. Istakhr remained a stronghold of Zoroastrianism long after the conquests, and remained relatively important in the early Islamic era. It went into gradual decline after the founding of nearby Shiraz , before being destroyed and abandoned under the Buyids . Cursorily explored by Ernst Herzfeld and

198-469: A grandson of Khosrau II and was said to be a mere child aged 8 years. After the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah in 628, Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad sent many letters to the princes, kings, and chiefs of the various tribes and kingdoms of the time, exhorting them to convert to Islam and bow to the order of God. These letters were carried by ambassadors to Persia , Byzantium , Ethiopia , Egypt , Yemen , and

297-506: A king of their own, yet their power is very much diminished, and they are subject to the king of Parthia. Under Vologases V ( r.  191–208 ), the Parthian Empire was in decline, due to wars with the Romans , civil wars and regional revolts. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus ( r.  193–211 ) invaded Parthian domains in 196, and two years later did it again, this time sacking

396-586: A lengthy period during his struggle against Caliph Muawiyah I ( r.   661–680). Following the ascension of the Abbasids, the political center of Fars shifted gradually to Shiraz . This contributed heavily to the decline of Istakhr. However, the city is still mentioned in the wars between the Saffarids and the caliphal governors in Fars. On 11 April 890, Saffarid ruler Amr ibn al-Layth ( r.   879-901) defeated

495-555: A major offence in the Levant, Yazdegerd ordered the concentration of massive armies to push the Muslims out of Mesopotamia for good through a series of well-coordinated attacks on two fronts. Umar ordered his army to retreat to the Arabian border and began raising armies at Medina for another campaign into Mesopotamia. Owing to the critical situation, Umar wished to command the army personally, but

594-414: A native), described it as a medium-sized town. The geographer Al-Maqdisi , writing some thirty years later, in 985, lauded the bridge over the river at Istakhr and its "fine park". He also noted the town's chief mosque was decorated with bull capitals . According to Boyce and Streck & Miles, this mosque was originally the same Sasanian temple where the ādur ī anāhīd ardaxšīr ("fire of Anahid-Ardashir")

693-470: A preceding ruler. The coin legends are written from right to left, wrapping the central scene in a counterclock-wise manner: [REDACTED] Legend, written from right to left, counterclock-wise: 𐡃‬𐡀𐡓𐡉‬𐡅‬ 𐡌𐡋‬𐡊‬ 𐡁𐡓𐡄 𐡅‬𐡕‬𐡐‬𐡓‬𐡃‬𐡕 𐡌‬𐡋𐡊‬ ← → d’ryw mlk' brh wtprdt mlk’ "Darius the King, son of Vadfradad

792-526: A prime target for the Muslims. Sasanian society was divided into four classes: priests, warriors, secretaries, and commoners. The latter formed the bulk of the population, served as its sole tax base, and remained its poorest class. At the climax of Khosrau II's ambitious Byzantine territory conquests in the Levant and much of Asia Minor , taxes rose dramatically, and most people could not pay. Years of Sassanid-Byzantine wars had ruined trade routes and industry,

891-724: A team from the University of Chicago in the first half of the 20th century, much of Sasanian Istakhr remains unexcavated. "Istakhr" (also spelled Estakhr ) is the New Persian form of the Middle Persian Stakhr (also spelled Staxr ), and is believed to mean "strong(hold)". According to the Iranologist Ernst Herzfeld , who based his arguments on coins of the Persian Frataraka governors and Kings of Persis ,

990-496: A valuer. The gold medal of Adud al-Dawla, dated 969/70, which depicts him wearing a Sasanian-style crown, may have been created at Istakhr. The last numismatic evidence of Istakhr, denoting its castle rather than the city itself, dates to 1063. The coin in question was minted on the order of Rasultegin, an obscure Seljuq prince of Fars. However, Bivar notes that some coins attributed to other areas of Fars may in fact be coins from Istakhr. According to Bivar, who bases his arguments on

1089-467: A year later when he tried to escape. In later periods, the castle was often used "as a state prison for high officials and princes". In c.  1590 , the castle of Istakhr was reportedly still in good condition and inhabited. Some time later, a rebel Safavid general took refuge in the castle. It was subsequently besieged by Safavid Shah ("King") Abbas the Great ( r.   1588–1629), resulting in

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1188-529: Is His servant and Prophet. Under the Command of God, I invite you to Him. He has sent me for the guidance of all people so that I may warn them all of His wrath and may present the unbelievers with an ultimatum. Embrace Islam so that you may remain safe. And if you refuse to accept Islam, you will be responsible for the sins of the Magi. There are differing accounts of the reaction of Khosrau II . Years of warfare between

1287-778: Is attested in Syriac as Istahr and in Armenian as Stahr . It probably appears in the Talmud as Istahar . Istakhr is located in Iran's southwestern province of Fars , historically known as Parsa (Old Persian), Pars (Middle Persian) and Persis (Greek), whence Persia. It lies in the valley of the Polvar River, between the Kuh-e Rahmat and the Naqsh-e Rostam , where the Polvar River valley opens into

1386-483: Is now Iraq was under Islamic control. Khalid received a call for aid from northern Arabia at Dawmat al-Jandal, where another Muslim Arab general, Iyad ibn Ghanm , was trapped among the rebel tribes. Khalid went there and defeated the rebels in the Battle of Dawmat al-Jandal in the last week of August. Upon his return, he received news of the assembling of a large Persian army. He decided to defeat them all separately to avoid

1485-716: Is now widely believed that the annexation of the Lakhmid kingdom was one of the main factors behind the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the subsequent Islamic conquest of Persia, as the Lakhmids agreed to act as spies for the Muslims after being defeated in the Battle of Hira by Khalid ibn al-Walid . The Persian ruler Khosrau II (Parviz) defeated a dangerous rebellion within his own empire, Bahram Chobin 's rebellion. He then turned his focus to his traditional Byzantine enemies, leading to

1584-641: The Achaemenid Empire (6th century BCE – 4th century BCE) and the Sasanian Empire (3rd century CE – 7th century CE). Persis (also known as Pars ), a region in the southwestern Iranian plateau , was the homeland of a southwestern branch of the Iranian peoples , the Persians . It was also the birthplace of the first Iranian Empire, the Achaemenids. The region served as the center of the empire until its conquest by

1683-504: The Arab governor installed there. In 648/9, General Abdallah ibn Amir , governor of Basra, conducted another campaign which once again forced Istakhr to surrender after heavy fighting. The suppression of subsequent revolts resulted in the death of many Persians . However, the restive people of Istakhr revolted once again, which prompted the Arabs to undertake yet another campaign against Istakhr, in 649. This final campaign once again resulted in

1782-527: The Arab conquest of Iran , was a major military campaign undertaken by the Rashidun Caliphate between 632 and 654. As part of the early Muslim conquests , which had begun under Muhammad in 622, it led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the eventual decline of Zoroastrianism , which had been predominant throughout Persia as the nation's official religion. The persecution of Zoroastrians by

1881-527: The Battle of Ullais , fought in mid-May. The Persian court, already disturbed by internal problems, was thrown into chaos. In the last week of May, the important city of Al-Hirah fell to the Muslims . After resting his armies, in June, Khalid laid siege to the city of al-Anbar , which surrendered in July. Khalid then moved south, and conquered the city of Ayn al-Tamr in the last week of July. At this point, most of what

1980-522: The Bazrangid ruler of Persis, Gochihr, taking Istakhr for himself. According to the medieval Iranian historian al-Tabari (d. 923), it was at the urging of his son Ardashir that Pabag rebelled. However, Daryaee considers this statement unlikely, and states that it was in reality Shapur that helped Pabag to capture Istakhr, as demonstrated by the latter's coinage which has portraits of both them. There he appointed his eldest son Shapur as his heir. This

2079-582: The Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628 . For a few years, he succeeded. From 612 to 622, he extended the Persian borders almost to the same extent that they were under the Achaemenid dynasty (550–330 BC), capturing Western states as far as Egypt , Palestine (the conquest of the latter being assisted by a Jewish army), and more. The Byzantines regrouped and pushed back in 622 under Heraclius . Khosrau

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2178-608: The Euphrates River. The border was constantly contested. Most battles, and thus most fortifications, were concentrated in the hilly regions of the north, as the vast Arabian or Syrian Desert (Roman Arabia) separated the rival empires in the south. The only dangers expected from the south were occasional raids by nomadic Arab tribesmen. Both empires therefore allied themselves with small, semi-independent Arab principalities, which served as buffer states and protected Byzantium and Persia from Bedouin attacks. The Byzantine clients were

2277-580: The Ghassanids ; the Persian clients were the Lakhmids . The Ghassanids and Lakhmids feuded constantly, which kept them occupied, but that did not greatly affect the Byzantines or the Persians. In the 6th and 7th centuries, various factors destroyed the balance of power that had held for so many centuries. The conflict with the Byzantines greatly contributed to its weakness, by draining Sassanid resources, leaving it

2376-598: The Macedonian king Alexander the Great ( r.  336–323 BC ). Since the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, Persis was ruled by local dynasts subject to the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire . These dynasts held the ancient Persian title of frataraka ("leader, governor, forerunner"), which is also attested in the Achaemenid-era. Later the frataraka Wadfradad II (fl. 138 BCE)

2475-609: The Maysan region, which the Muslims seized later as well. Kings of Persis The Kings of Persis , also known as the Darayanids , were a series of Iranian kings, who ruled the region of Persis in southwestern Iran , from the 2nd century BCE to 224 CE. They ruled as vassal kings of the Parthian Empire , until they toppled them and established the Sasanian Empire . They effectively formed some Persian dynastic continuity between

2574-610: The Muslim armies. Moreover, the powerful northern and eastern Parthian families, the kust-i khwarasan and kust-i adurbadagan, withdrew to their respective strongholds and made peace with the Arabs, refusing to fight alongside the Sassanians. Another important theme of Pourshariati's study is a re-evaluation of the traditional timeline. Pourshariati argues that the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia "took place, not, as has been conventionally believed, in

2673-628: The Muslim conquest of Persia , they relied solely on the accounts of the Armenian Christian bishop Sebeos , and accounts in Arabic written some time after the events they describe. The most significant work was probably that of Arthur Christensen , and his L’Iran sous les Sassanides , published in Copenhagen and Paris in 1944. Recent scholarship has begun to question the traditional narrative: Parvaneh Pourshariati , in her Decline and Fall of

2772-451: The Muslim conquest of Pars , as part of the Arab conquest of Iran , the invaders first established headquarters at Beyza . The citizens of Istakhr firmly resisted the Arabs. The first attempt, in 640, led by Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami was a complete failure. In 643, the Arabs conducted a new campaign led by Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and Uthman ibn Abu al-As which forced Istakhr to surrender. The people of Istakhr, however, quickly revolted and killed

2871-587: The Qal-e ye Oshkonvan , the city's armory. Though the locations of these fortresses appear to be relatively distant from Istakhr's inner core, in the Medieval era they were "regarded as within the greater city" of Istakhr. In the closing years of the Buyid Abu Kalijar, a vizier engaged in a dispute with a local landowner of Istakhr. Abu Kalijar, in turn, sent an army to Istakhr under Qutulmish who destroyed and pillaged

2970-613: The Safavids forcefully converted Iran to Shia Islam in the 18th century. This was the first time since the collapse of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC with the Battle of Opis , that Mesopotamia was ruled again by Semitic -speaking people, after centuries of Persian ( Achaemenid , Parthian and Sasanian empires), and Roman-Greek ( Macedonian , Seleucid the Roman empires) ruling periods. When Western academics first investigated

3069-546: The early Muslims during and after this conflict prompted many of them to flee eastward to India , where they were granted refuge by various kings. While Arabia was experiencing the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Persia was struggling with unprecedented levels of political, social, economic, and military weakness; the Sasanian army had greatly exhausted itself in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 . Following

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3168-518: The 3rd century BC to the early 3rd century AD. Sasan , the eponymous ancestor of the later Sasanian dynasty , hailed from Istakhr and originally served as the warden of the important Anahid fire-temple within the city. According to tradition, Sasan married a woman of the Bazrangi dynasty, who ruled in Istakhr as Parthian vassals in the early 3rd century. In 205/6, Sasan's son Papak dethroned Gochihr ,

3267-596: The Arabs managed to maintain their presence in the area. Later on, the Persians defeated Abu Ubaid in the Battle of the Bridge . Muthanna bin Haritha was later victorious in the Battle of Buwayb . In 635 Yazdgerd III sought an alliance with Emperor Heraclius of the Eastern Roman Empire , marrying the latter's daughter (or, by some traditions, his granddaughter) in order to seal the arrangement. While Heraclius prepared for

3366-515: The Byzantines with Persian support. Umar, allegedly aware of this alliance and not wanting to risk a battle with two great powers simultaneously, quickly reinforced the Muslim army at Yarmouk to engage and defeat the Byzantines. Meanwhile, he ordered Saad to enter into peace negotiations with Yazdegerd III and invite him to convert to Islam to prevent Persian forces from taking the field. Heraclius instructed his general Vahan not to engage in battle with

3465-606: The Caliphal governor Musa Muflehi at Istakhr. According to the Iranologist Adrian David Hugh Bivar , the last coin attributed to Istakhr is a coin supposedly minted by the Dulafids in 895/6. The area became part of the Buyids in the first half of the 10th century. At the turn of the millennium, numerous travel writers and geographers wrote about Istakhr. In the mid-10th century, the travel writer Istakhri (himself

3564-480: The French duo Eugène Flandin and Pascal Coste in late 1840. Sasanian Istakhr remains largely unexcavated. Arab conquest of Iran Khuzestan Central Persia Caucasus Pars Khorasan Other geographies Byzantine Empire Sassanid Persia Caucasus Other regions The Muslim conquest of Persia , also called the Muslim conquest of Iran , the Arab conquest of Persia , or

3663-546: The Kings of Persis consists in individualized portraits of the rulers on the obverse, and often the rulers shown in a devotional role on the reverse. The style of the coins is often influenced by Parthian coinage, particularly in respect to the dress and the headgear of the rulers. A reverse legend in Aramaic , using the Aramaic script , gives the name of the ruler and his title (𐡌‬𐡋𐡊 mlk' : King), and often his relationship to

3762-592: The Middle Persian word in turn derives from Old Persian *Parsa-staxra ("stronghold of Pars"), owing to the city's close connections with the nearby Persepolis platform. Herzfeld interpreted the Aramaic characters "PR BR" inscribed on these coins as an abbreviation of Aramaic prsʾ byrtʾ ("the Fortress of Parsa"), which in turn may be the equivalent of the aforementioned Old Persian words. The abbreviation "ST", denoting Istakhr, also appears on Sasanian coins . Istakhr

3861-602: The Muslims before receiving explicit orders. Fearing more Arab reinforcements, Vahan attacked the Muslim army in the Battle of Yarmouk in August 636, and was routed. With the Byzantine threat ended, the Sasanian Empire was still a formidable power with vast manpower reserves, and the Arabs soon found themselves confronting a huge Persian army with troops drawn from every corner of the empire, including war elephants, and commanded by its foremost generals. Within three months, Saad defeated

3960-517: The Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. At the same time, revolts occurred in Media and Persis. The Iranologist Touraj Daryaee argues that the reign of Vologases V was "the turning point in Parthian history, in that the dynasty lost much of its prestige." The kings of Persis were now unable to depend on their weakened Parthian overlords. Indeed, in 205/6, a local Persian ruler named Pabag rebelled and overthrew

4059-447: The Persian army in the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah , effectively ending Sasanian rule west of Persia proper. This victory is largely regarded as a decisive turning point in Islam's growth: with the bulk of Persian forces defeated, Saad with his companions later conquered Babylon ( Battle of Babylon (636) ), Kūthā , Sābāṭ ( Valashabad ) and Bahurasīr ( Veh-Ardashir ). Ctesiphon , the capital of

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4158-475: The Persians decided to take back their lost territory. The Muslim army was forced to leave the conquered areas and concentrate on the border. Umar immediately sent reinforcements to aid Muthanna ibn Haritha in Mesopotamia under the command of Abu Ubaid al-Thaqafi . At that time, a series of battles between the Persians and Arabs occurred in the region of Sawad , such as Namaraq , Kaskar and Baqusiatha, in which

4257-567: The Roman forces, it was too slow and regimented to act with full force against the agile and unpredictable lightly armed Arab cavalry and foot archers. The Persian army had a few initial successes. War elephants temporarily halted the Arab army, but when Arab veterans returned from the Syrian fronts, where they had been fighting against Byzantine forces, they provided crucial instruction on how to effectively counter

4356-488: The Sasanian Empire. In 642, Umar ibn al-Khattab , eight years into his reign as Islam's second caliph , ordered a full-scale invasion of the rest of the Sasanian Empire. Directing the war from the city of Medina in Arabia, Umar's quick conquest of Persia in a series of coordinated and multi-pronged attacks became his greatest triumph, contributing to his reputation as a great military and political strategist. In 644, however, he

4455-561: The Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran , published in 2008, provides both a detailed overview of the problematic nature of trying to establish exactly what happened, and a great deal of original research that questions fundamental facts of the traditional narrative, including the timeline and specific dates. Pourshariati's central thesis is that contrary to what

4554-516: The Sasanian towns in Mesopotamia , actions that generated a considerable amount of booty was collected. Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha went to Medina to inform Abu Bakr about his success and was appointed commander of his people, after which he began to raid deeper into Mesopotamia. Using the mobility of his light cavalry , he could easily raid any town near the desert and disappear again into the desert, beyond

4653-548: The Sasanians and the Byzantines, as well as the strain of the Khazar invasion of Transcaucasia , had exhausted the army. No effective ruler followed Khosrau II , causing chaos in society and problems in the provincial administration, until Yazdegerd III rose to power. All these factors undermined the strength of the Persian army. Yazdegerd III was merely 8 years old when he came to the throne and, lacking experience, did not try to rebuild

4752-406: The Sassanid Empire, fell in March 637 after a siege of three months. In December 636, Umar ordered Utbah ibn Ghazwan to head south to capture al-Ubulla (known as "port of Apologos" in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea ) and Basra , in order to cut ties between the Persian garrison there and Ctesiphon . Utbah ibn Ghazwan arrived in April 637, and captured the region. The Persians withdrew to

4851-403: The army. The Sasanian Empire was highly decentralized, and was in fact a "confederation" with the Parthians , who themselves retained a high level of independence. After the last Sasanian-Byzantine war, the Parthians wanted to withdraw from the confederation, and the Sasanians were thus ill-prepared and ill-equipped to mount an effective and cohesive defense against the Muslim armies. Moreover,

4950-408: The city of Al-Hirah in Iraq on the same day. This assertion has been brought under scrutiny by some modern historians of Islam—notably Grimme and Caetani. Particularly in dispute is the assertion that Khosrau II received a letter from Muhammad, as the Sassanid court ceremony was notoriously intricate, and it is unlikely that a letter from what at the time was a minor regional power would have reached

5049-405: The city. Istakhr never recovered and became a village with "no more than a hundred inhabitants". In 1074, during Seljuq rule, a rebel named Fadluya had gained control over the province of Fars and had entrenched himself in Istakhr's castle. Nizam al-Mulk , the renowned vizier of the Seljuq Empire, subsequently besieged the fortress. Fadluya was captured and imprisoned in the fortress and executed

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5148-424: The construction of a statue of Anahid and a temple near what would become Istakhr. This temple may be identified with the ruins of the temple mentioned by the 10th-century geographer al-Masudi as being located c.  one parasang from Istakhr. According to the Iranologist Mary Boyce , the ruins of this temple probably belonged to the original Achaemenid building, which had been destroyed and pillaged by

5247-451: The death of 40,000 of its inhabitants. Istakhr's Sasanian fortress, located on the Marvdasht 's "easternmost outcrop", became the location of the last resistance to the Arab conquest of Pars. Istakhr remained a stronghold of Zoroastrianism long after the fall of the Sasanians. Many Arab-Sasanian coins and Reformed Umayyad coins were minted at Istakhr during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods. Istakhr remained "a fairly important place" in

5346-401: The destruction of the castle. According to the Italian traveler Pietro della Valle , who visited Istakhr in 1621, it was in ruins. In the first half of the 20th century, Istakhr was cursorily explored by Ernst Herzfeld followed by a team from the University of Chicago led by Erich Schmidt . The most detailed account of the ruins of Istakhr predating the 20th century excavations was made by

5445-421: The early Islamic period. It was the site of an important fortress, which in Islamic times, "as no doubt earlier", often functioned as the treasury of the rulers of the city. The fortress is variously known as Qal-e-ye Estakhr ("Castle of Estakhr") or Estakhr-Yar ("Friend of Estakhr"). Under the Umayyad Caliphate, governors often resided at the castle; for instance, Ziyad ibn Abih resided at Istakhr's castle for

5544-421: The early kings of Persis were tributaries to the Seleucid rulers, until c.140 BC, when the Parthians conquered the region: The Persians have kings who are subject to other kings, formerly of the kings of Macedonia , but now to the kings of the Parthians. The Parthian Empire then took control of Persis under Arsacid king Mithridates I (ca. 171–138 BC), but visibly allowed local rulers to remain, and permitted

5643-448: The emission of coinage bearing the title of Mlk ("King"). From then on, the coinage of the Kings of Persis would become quite Parthian in character and style. Under the Parthians, these dynasts were called kings and their title appeared on their coins: for example "dʾryw MLKʾ BRH wtprdt MLKʾ" (Dārāyān the King, son of Wādfradād the King). The Arsacid influence is very clear in the coinage, and Strabo also reports (15. 3.3) that during

5742-432: The entirety of the Arab Peninsula under the authority of the Caliph at Medina. Abu Bakr set in motion a historical trajectory (continued later by Umar and Uthman) that in a few decades led to one of the largest empires in history , beginning with a confrontation with the Sassanid Empire under the general Khalid ibn al-Walid . After the Ridda wars , a tribal chief of northeastern Arabia, Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha , raided

5841-416: The execution of Sasanian shah Khosrow II in 628, Persia's internal political stability began deteriorating at a rapid pace. Subsequently, ten new royal claimants were enthroned within the next four years. Shortly afterwards, Persia was further devastated by the Sasanian Interregnum , a large-scale civil war that began in 628 and resulted in the government's decentralization by 632. Amidst Persia's turmoil,

5940-409: The first Rashidun invasion of Sasanian territory took place in 633, when the Rashidun army conquered parts of Asoristan , which was the Sasanians' political and economic centre in Mesopotamia . Later, the regional Rashidun army commander Khalid ibn al-Walid was transferred to oversee the Muslim conquest of the Levant , and as the Rashidun army became increasingly focused on the Byzantine Empire ,

6039-402: The first epidemic was brought by the Sasanian armies from its campaigns in Constantinople , Syria , and Armenia . It caused the death of many Aryan and therefore contributed to the fall of the Sasanian Empire. Khosrau II was executed in 628 and, as a result, there were numerous claimants to the throne; from 628 to 632 there were ten kings and queens of Persia. The last, Yazdegerd III , was

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6138-580: The hands of the Shahanshah. With regards to Persia, Muslim histories further recount that at the beginning of the seventh year of migration, Muhammad appointed one of his officers, Abdullah Huzafah Sahmi Qarashi, to carry his letter to Khosrau II inviting him to convert: In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad, the Messenger of God, to the great Kisra of Persia. Peace be upon him, who seeks truth and expresses belief in God and in His Prophet and testifies that there are no gods but one God whom has no partners, and who believes that Muhammad

6237-451: The heresy, alienating the Ghassanids and sparking rebellions on their desert frontiers. The Lakhmids also revolted against the Persian king Khusrau II. Nu'man III (son of Al-Monder IV), the first Christian Lakhmid king, was deposed and killed by Khusrau II in 602, because of his attempt to throw off Persian suzerainty. After Khusrau's assassination in 628, the Persian Empire fractured and the Lakhmids were effectively semi-independent. It

6336-438: The high-ranking status of Kartir, the appointment of these posts signify that the sacred fires at Istakhr were held in very high regard. Istakhr would reach its apex during the Sasanian era, serving as principal city, region, and religious centre of the Sasanian province of Pars . A center of major economic activity, Istakhr hosted an important Sasanian mint, abbreviated with the initials "ST" ( Staxr ) which produced coins from

6435-497: The invaders. When the main Arab army reached the Persian borders, Yazdegerd III procrastinated in dispatching an army against the Arabs. Even Rostam-e Farokhzad , who was both Eran Spahbod and Viceroy , did not see the Arabs as a threat. Without opposition, the Arabs had time to consolidate and fortify their positions. When hostilities between the Sasanians and the Arabs finally began, the Persian army faced fundamental problems. While their heavy cavalry had proved effective against

6534-531: The invading Macedonians led by Alexander the Great ( r.   336–323). Istakhr's foundation as a separate city took place very shortly after the decline of nearby Persepolis by Alexander. It appears that much of Persepolis' rubble was used for the building of Istakhr. When Seleucus I ( r.   305–280) died in 280 BC, the local Persians of Persis began to reassert their independence. The center of resistance appears to have been Istakhr, which with its surrounding hills provided better protection than

6633-423: The last major battle of the Sassanids. The Sassanid dynasty came to an end with the death of Yazdegerd III in 651. Muhammad died in June 632, and Abu Bakr took the title of Caliph and political successor at Medina . Soon after Abu Bakr 's succession, several Arab tribes revolted, in the Ridda Wars ( Arabic for the Wars of Apostasy). The Ridda Wars preoccupied the Caliphate until March 633, and ended with

6732-430: The members of Majlis ash-Shura demurred, claiming that the two-front war required Umar's presence in Medina. Accordingly, Umar appointed Saad ibn Abi Waqqas , a respected senior officer, even though Saad was suffering from sciatica. Saad left Medina with his army in May 636 and arrived at Qadisiyyah in June. While Heraclius launched his offensive in May 636, Yazdegerd was unable to muster his armies in time to provide

6831-421: The month of November. These devastating defeats ended Persian control over Mesopotamia, and left the Persian capital Ctesiphon vulnerable. Before attacking Ctesiphon, Khalid decided to eliminate all Persian forces in the south and west. He accordingly marched against the border city of Firaz , where he defeated the combined forces of the Sasanian Persians , the Byzantines and Christian Arabs in December. This

6930-483: The most venerated of Zoroastrian fires". The identification of this temple at Istakhr with Anahid persisted, and the historian al-Tabari (died 923) stated that it was known as "the house of Anahid's fire". The influential Zoroastrian priest Kartir was, amongst other posts, appointed as warden ( pādixšāy ) of "fire(s) at Stakhr of Anahid-Ardashir and Anahid the Lady" ( ādur ī anāhīd ardaxšīr ud anāhīd ī bānūg ) by Bahram II ( r.   274–293). Boyce notes that given

7029-399: The nearby former Achaemenid ceremonial capital of Persepolis. Furthermore, an important road, known as the "winter road", extended across Istakhr, leading from Persis to Isfahan through Pasargadae and Abada . The core of Istakhr as a city was located on the south and east side of the Polvar River. It flourished as the capital of the Persian Frataraka governors and Kings of Persis from

7128-527: The newly conquered Mesopotamian territories were retaken by the Sasanian army. The second Rashidun invasion began in 636, under Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas , when a key victory at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah permanently ended all Sasanian control to the west of modern-day Iran . For the next six years, the Zagros Mountains , a natural barrier, marked the political boundary between the Rashidun Caliphate and

7227-685: The notable exception of the provinces along the Caspian Sea (i.e., in Tabaristan and Transoxiana ), had come under Muslim domination. Many localities fought against the invaders; although the Rashidun army had established hegemony over most of the country, many cities rose in rebellion by killing their Arab governors or attacking their garrisons. Eventually, military reinforcements quashed the Iranian insurgencies and imposed complete control. The Islamization of Iran

7326-553: The objective of Khalid, Abu Bakr sent reinforcements and ordered the tribal chiefs of northeastern Arabia, Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha, Mazhur bin Adi, Harmala and Sulma to operate under Khalid's command. Around the third week of March 633 (first week of Muharram 12th Hijrah) Khalid set out from Al-Yamama with an army of 10,000. The tribal chiefs, with 2,000 warriors each, joined him, swelling his ranks to 18,000. After entering Mesopotamia, he dispatched messages to every governor and deputy who ruled

7425-405: The period from 628 to 632." An important consequence of this change in timeline means that the Arab conquest started precisely when the Sasanians and Parthians were engaged in internecine warfare over who was to succeed the Sasanian throne. When Arab squadrons made their first raids into Sasanian territory, Yazdegerd III did not consider them a threat, and he refused to send an army to encounter

7524-413: The plain of Marvdasht . This plain stretches near the platform of Persepolis. In all likelihood, what became Istakhr was originally part of the settlements which surrounded the Achaemenid royal residences. Its religious importance as a Zoroastrian center was signified as early as the 4th century BC during the reign of Achaemenid King Artaxerxes II ( r.   404-358). During his reign, he ordered

7623-475: The population's main income sources. The existing Sassanid administrative structure proved inadequate when faced with the combined demands of a suddenly expanded empire, economy, and population. Rapid turnover of rulers and increasing provincial landholder ( dehqan ) power further diminished the Sasanians. Over a period of fourteen years and twelve successive kings, the Sassanid Empire weakened considerably, and

7722-570: The power of the central authority passed into the hands of its generals. Even when a strong king emerged following a series of coups, the Sassanids never completely recovered. The Byzantine clients, the Arab Ghassanids , converted to the Monophysite form of Christianity , which was regarded as heretical by the established Byzantine Eastern Orthodox Church . The Byzantines attempted to suppress

7821-551: The powerful northern and eastern Parthian families, the Kust-i Khwarasan and Kust-i Adurbadagan, withdrew to their respective strongholds and made peace with the Arabs, refusing to fight alongside the Sasanians . Pourshariati argues that the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia "took place, not, as has been conventionally believed, in the years 632–634, after the accession of the last Sasanian king Yazdgerd III (632–651) to power, but in

7920-475: The provinces calling on them to either embrace Islam or pay tribute. Khalid did not receive any responses and continued with his tactical plans. Khalid went on to win decisive victories in four consecutive battles: the Battle of Chains , fought in April; the Battle of River , fought in the third week of April; the Battle of Walaja the following month (where he successfully used a double envelopment manoeuvre), and

8019-425: The reach of the Sasanian army . Al-Muthanna's acts made Abu Bakr think about the expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate . To ensure victory, Abu Bakr used a volunteer army and put his best general, Khalid ibn al-Walid , in command. After defeating the self-proclaimed prophet Musaylimah in the Battle of Yamama , Khalid was still at Al-Yamama when Abu Bakr ordered him to invade the Sasanian Empire. Making Al-Hirah

8118-560: The reign of Bahram V ( r.   420-438) until the fall of the dynasty, as well as the Sasanian royal treasury ( ganj ī šāhīgān ). This treasury is frequently mentioned in the Denkard and the Madayān i hazar dadestan . The treasury also held one of the limited copies of the Great Avesta , probably one of the very same copies from which the modern-day extant Avestan manuscript derives. During

8217-418: The risk of being defeated by a large unified Persian army. Four divisions of Persian and Christian Arab auxiliaries were present at Hanafiz, Zumiel, Sanni and Muzieh. Khalid divided his army into three units, and employed them in well-coordinated attacks against the Persians from three different sides at night, in the Battle of Muzayyah , then the Battle of Saniyy , and finally the Battle of Zumail , all during

8316-500: The ruler of Istakhr. In turn, Papak's sons, Shapur and Ardashir V, ruled as the last two Kings of Persis. In 224, Ardashir V of Persis founded the Sasanian Empire and became regnally known as Ardashir I ( r.   224–242). Boyce states that the temple, which had been destroyed by the Macedonians centuries earlier, was restored under the Sasanians. She adds that according to Al-Masudi, who in turn based his writings on tradition,

8415-508: The temple had "originally been an 'idol-temple', which was subsequently turned into a fire temple by Homay , the legendary predecessor of the Achaemenid dynasty". It appears that in the early Sasanian period, or perhaps a bit before that, the Zoroastrian iconoclastic movement had resulted in the cult-image of Anahid being replaced by a sacred fire. Al-Masudi identified this sacred fire as "one of

8514-528: The time of Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE), the kings of the Persians were as subservient to the Parthians as they had been earlier to the Macedonians : But afterwards different princes occupied different palaces; some, as was natural, less sumptuous, after the power of Persis had been reduced first by the Macedonians, and secondly still more by the Parthians. For although the Persians have still a kingly government, and

8613-427: The title of "king" and the portrait of Pabag. The obverse of Shapur's coins had the inscription "(His) Majesty, king Shapur" and the reverse had "son of (His) Majesty, king Pabag". Shapur's reign, however, proved short; he died under obscure conditions in 211/2. Ardashir thus succeeded Shapur as Ardashir V, and went on to conquer the rest of Iran, establishing the Sasanian Empire in 224 as Ardashir I. The coinage of

8712-535: The top of the castle of Istakhr, which in turn melted into a cistern contained by a dam. This dam was founded by the Buyid 'Adud al-Dawla ( r.   949-983) to create a proper water reservoir for the castle's garrison. According to a contemporaneous source, the Buyid Abu Kalijar ( r.   1024–1048) found enormous quantities of silver and costly gems stored in the castle when he ascended it with his son and

8811-464: The war elephants. These factors contributed to the decisive Sassanid defeat at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah. The Persians, who had only one generation before conquered Egypt and Asia Minor, lost decisive battles when nimble, lightly armed Arabs accustomed to skirmishes and desert warfare attacked them. The Arab squadrons defeated the Persian army in several more battles culminating in the Battle of Nahāvand ,

8910-419: The writings of Ibn al-Athir , the treasury of Istakhr held the treasures of earlier dynasties. Ibn al-Athir wrote that when Seljuq Sultan Alp Arslan ( r.   1063-1072) conquered the castle of Istakhr in 1066/7, its governor handed him a valuable cup inscribed with the name of the mythical Iranian king Jamshid . Istakhr also held the Qal-e ye Shekaste , which functioned as the city's textile store, and

9009-533: The years 632–634, after the accession of the last Sasanian king Yazdgerd III (632–651) to power, but in the period from 628 to 632." An important consequence of this change in timeline means that the Arab conquest started precisely when the Sassanians and Parthians were engaged in internecine warfare over succession to the Sassanian throne. Since the 1st century BC , the border between the Roman (later Byzantine ) and Parthian (later Sasanian ) empires had been

9108-405: Was assassinated by the Persian craftsman Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz , who had been captured by Rashidun troops and brought to Arabia as a slave. Some Iranian historians have defended their forebears by using Arab sources to illustrate that "contrary to the claims of some historians, Iranians, in fact, fought long and hard against the invading Arabs." By 651, most of the urban centres in Iranian lands, with

9207-577: Was commonly assumed, the Sassanian Empire was highly decentralized, and was in fact a "confederation" with the Parthians , who themselves retained a high level of independence. Despite their recent victories over the Byzantine Empire , the Parthians unexpectedly withdrew from the confederation, and the Sassanians were thus ill-prepared and ill-equipped to mount an effective and cohesive defense against

9306-421: Was defeated at the Battle of Nineveh in 627, and the Byzantines recaptured all of Syria and penetrated far into the Persian provinces of Mesopotamia . In 629, Khosrau's general Shahrbaraz agreed to peace, and the border between the two empires was once again the same as it had been in 602. The Plague of Sheroe (627–628) was one of several epidemics that occurred in or close to Iran within two centuries after

9405-505: Was gradual and incentivized in various ways over a period of centuries, though some Iranians never converted and there is widespread evidence of Zoroastrian scriptures and all other pre-Islamic being systematically burnt and Zoroastrian priests being executed, particularly in areas that were centers of resistance. Islam had become Iran's predominant religion by the Late Middle Ages ; the majority of Iranians were Sunni Muslims until

9504-527: Was located and where Yazdegerd III ( r.   632–651) the last Sasanian King was crowned. However, according to the modern art historian Matthew Canepa , archaeological evidence shows that the mosque was built in the 7th century during Arab overlordship, and was, therefore, not a converted Sasanian temple. Al-Maqdisi also noted it was assumed that the mosque had originally been a fire temple , in which "pieces of carving from Persepolis had been used". The region's cold climate created accumulations of snow at

9603-578: Was made a vassal of the Iranian Parthian (Arsacid) Empire . The frataraka were shortly afterwards replaced by the Kings of Persis, most likely at the accession of the Arsacid monarch Phraates II ( r.  132–127 BC ). Unlike the fratarakas , the Kings of Persis used the title of shah ("king"), and laid foundations to a new dynasty, which may be labelled the Darayanids. According to Strabo,

9702-438: Was much to the dislike of Ardashir, who had become the commander of Darabgerd after the death of Tiri. Ardashir in an act of defiance, left for Ardashir-Khwarrah , where he fortified himself, preparing to attack his brother Shapur after Pabag's death. Pabag died a natural death sometime between 207 and 210 and was succeeded by Shapur, who became king of Persis. After his death, both Ardashir and Shapur started minted coins with

9801-647: Was the last battle in his conquest of Mesopotamia. While Khalid was on his way to attack Qadissiyah (a key fort en route to Ctesiphon), Abu Bakr ordered him to the Roman front in Syria to assume command there. According to the will of Abu Bakr, Umar was to continue the conquest of Syria and Mesopotamia. On the northeastern borders of the Empire, in Mesopotamia, the situation was rapidly deteriorating. During Abu Bakr 's era, Khalid ibn al-Walid had left Mesopotamia with half his army of 9000 soldiers to assume command in Syria, whereupon

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