Misplaced Pages

#898101

125-619: In, the first ruler of the Sasanian dynasty , Ardashir I (r. 224–242) after having conquered his native province, Pars , invaded Meshan, killing its ruler, Bandu. Ardashir had a city named Karkh Meshan rebuilt, and had it renamed as Astarabad-Ardashir. According to a fragmentary Manichean account found in Turfan , Mihr-šāh, a brother of the Sasnian king Shapur I (r. 240-270), ruled as the vassal-king of Meshan. According to this Manichean account, Mihr-šāh

250-507: A Babylonian rabbi called Samuel . This friendship was advantageous for the Jewish community and gave them a respite from the oppressive laws enacted against them. Later kings reversed Shapur's policy of religious tolerance. When Shapur's son Bahram I acceded to the throne, he was pressured by the Zoroastrian high-priest Kartir Bahram I to kill Mani and persecute his followers. Bahram II

375-485: A utopian society. The Qarmatians' goal was to build a society based on reason and equality. The state was governed by a council of six with a chief who was primus inter pares . All property within the community was distributed evenly among all initiates. The Qarmatians were organized as an esoteric society but not as a secret one; their activities were public and openly propagated, but new members had to undergo an initiation ceremony involving seven stages. For much of

500-559: A general amnesty, which brought Armenia back into the Sassanid Empire. Around 570, "Ma 'd-Karib", half-brother of the King of Yemen, requested Khosrow I's intervention. Khosrow I sent a fleet and a small army under a commander called Vahriz to the area near present Aden , and they marched against the capital San'a'l, which was occupied. Saif, son of Mard-Karib, who had accompanied the expedition, became King sometime between 575 and 577. Thus,

625-495: A hunting trip in 309. Following Hormizd II's death, northern Arabs started to ravage and plunder the western cities of the empire, even attacking the province of Fars, the birthplace of the Sassanid kings. Meanwhile, Persian nobles killed Hormizd II's eldest son, blinded the second, and imprisoned the third (who later escaped into Roman territory). The throne was reserved for Shapur II , the unborn child of one of Hormizd II's wives who

750-423: A legitimizing and unifying ideal. This period saw the construction of many grand monuments, public works, and patronized cultural and educational institutions. The Sasanian Empire's cultural influence extended far beyond the physical territory that it controlled, impacting regions as distant as Western Europe , Eastern Africa , and China and India . It also helped shape European and Asian medieval art. With

875-581: A major Byzantine offensive in Armenia was defeated at Anglon . Also in 541, Khosrow I entered Lazica at the invitation of its king, captured the main Byzantine stronghold at Petra , and established another protectorate over the country, commencing the Lazic War . A five-year truce agreed to in 545 was interrupted in 547 when Lazica again switched sides and eventually expelled its Persian garrison with Byzantine help;

1000-681: A member of the Parthian House of Karen , one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran , quickly raised a new force and stopped the Hephthalites from achieving further success. Peroz's brother, Balash , was elected as shah by the Iranian magnates, most notably Sukhra and the Mihranid general Shapur Mihran . Balash (484–488) was a mild and generous monarch, and showed care towards his subjects, including

1125-564: A monumental inscription in Persian and Greek in the vicinity of Persepolis . He exploited his success by advancing into Anatolia (260), but withdrew in disarray after defeats at the hands of the Romans and their Palmyrene ally Odaenathus , suffering the capture of his harem and the loss of all the Roman territories he had occupied. Shapur had intensive development plans. He ordered the construction of

1250-484: A new city there and named it "Batan Ardashir" after his father. Mazun stretched from Oman in the south to the Shatt al-Arab in the north, and included the archipelago of Bahrain; thus it is roughly coterminous with the modern definition of Eastern Arabia. It was subdivided into the three districts of Haggar ( Hofuf , Saudi Arabia), Batan Ardashir ( Al-Qatif , Saudi Arabia), and Mishmahig ( Muharraq , Bahrain), which included

1375-616: A number of battles he crushed them and drove them out beyond the Oxus river in 450. During his eastern campaign, Yazdegerd II grew suspicious of the Christians in the army and expelled them all from the governing body and army. He then persecuted the Christians in his land, and, to a much lesser extent, the Jews . In order to reestablish Zoroastrianism in Armenia, he crushed an uprising of Armenian Christians at

SECTION 10

#1732855932899

1500-773: A provincial official located in Dilmun, Ilī-ippašra , to his friend Enlil-kidinni in Mesopotamia. The names referred to are Akkadian . These letters hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon . Following the collapse of the Kassite dynasty, Mesopotamian documents make no mention of Dilmun, with the exception of Assyrian inscriptions dated to 1250 BC which proclaimed the Assyrian king to be "King of Dilmun and Meluhha ". Assyrian inscriptions at this time also recorded tribute from Dilmun. There are other Assyrian inscriptions during

1625-410: A rational system of taxation based upon a survey of landed possessions , which his father had begun, and he tried in every way to increase the welfare and the revenues of his empire. Previous great feudal lords fielded their own military equipment, followers, and retainers. Khosrow I developed a new force of dehqans , or "knights", paid and equipped by the central government and the bureaucracy, tying

1750-457: A relatively peaceful era with the Romans, and he even took the young Theodosius II (408–450) under his guardianship. Yazdegerd also married a Jewish princess, who bore him a son called Narsi. Yazdegerd I's successor was his son Bahram V (421–438), one of the most well-known Sasanian kings and the hero of many myths. These myths persisted even after the destruction of the Sasanian Empire by

1875-778: A strategically critical area for control of the Silk Road . Shapur therefore marched east toward Transoxiana to meet the eastern nomads, leaving his local commanders to mount nuisance raids on the Romans. He crushed the Central Asian tribes, and annexed the area as a new province. In the east around 325, Shapur II regained the upper hand against the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom and took control of large territories in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan . Cultural expansion followed this victory, and Sasanian art penetrated Transoxiana , reaching as far as China. Shapur, along with

2000-456: Is 60 km (37 miles) inland and thus less likely to be the starting point for a trader's route, making the location within the archipelago of islands comprising the modern Kingdom of Bahrain , particularly the main island of Bahrain itself, another possibility. Various other identifications of the site have been attempted, with Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville choosing Qatif and Carsten Niebuhr preferring Kuwait. The island of Bahrain

2125-581: Is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain , Iraq , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia ( Eastern Province ), and the United Arab Emirates . The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as " Bahrain " for a millennium. Until very recently, the whole of Eastern Arabia, from the Shatt al-Arab to the mountains of Oman ,

2250-399: Is more likely that these actually submitted to Ardashir's son, the future Shapur I . In the west, assaults against Hatra , Armenia and Adiabene met with less success. In 230, Ardashir raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively. Ardashīr began leading campaigns into Greater Khurasan as early as 233, extending his power to Khwarazm in

2375-546: Is not geographically a part of Eastern Arabia. In Arabic, Baḥrayn is the dual form of baḥr ( Arabic : بَحْر , lit.   'sea'), so al-Baḥrayn means "the Two Seas". However, which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute. The term appears five times in the Qur'an , but does not refer to the modern island —originally known to the Arabs as “Awal”—but rather to

2500-420: Is their orientation and focus towards the sea. Maritime -focused life in the small Gulf Arab states has resulted in a sea-oriented society where livelihoods have traditionally been earned in marine industries . The Arabs of Eastern Arabia speak a dialect known as Gulf Arabic . Approximately 2 million Saudis (out of a population of 34 million) speak Gulf Arabic. Khaleeji entertainment is popular throughout

2625-562: Is usually identified with the whole of the parallel Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, with the narrow gap between these mountains constituting the tunnel. Dilmun, sometimes described as “the place where the sun rises” and “the Land of the Living”, is the scene of some versions of the Eridu Genesis , and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Utnapishtim ( Ziusudra ), was taken by

SECTION 20

#1732855932899

2750-732: The Akkadian period (c. 2300 BC), but the trade probably started in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2600 BC). Some Meluhhan vessels may have sailed directly to Mesopotamian ports, but by the Isin-Larsa Period (c. 1900 BC), Dilmun monopolized the trade. The Bahrain National Museum assesses that its "Golden Age" lasted from c. 2200 BC to 1600 BC. In the Epic of Gilgamesh , Gilgamesh had to pass through Mount Mashu to reach Dilmun. Mount Mashu

2875-719: The Arab world . Although performed in the Gulf Arabic dialect, its influence reaches as far as Tunisia . Kuwaiti popular culture, in the form of poetry, film, theater, and soap operas, is exported to neighbouring states. The Arab world's three largest broadcast networks ( Al Jazeera Network , Al Arabiya , and MBC Group ) are all located in Eastern Arabia as well. Islam is dominant in Eastern Arabia. The main sects are Sunni Islam , Ibadi Islam (dominant in Oman); and Shia Islam . Before

3000-581: The Battle of Vartanantz in 451. The Armenians, however, remained primarily Christian. In his later years, he was engaged yet again with the Kidarites right up until his death in 457. Hormizd III (457–459), the younger son of Yazdegerd II, then ascended to the throne. During his short rule, he continually fought with his elder brother Peroz I , who had the support of the nobility, and with the Hephthalites in Bactria . He

3125-621: The Malays may also have been deported to Meshan, either as captives or recruited sailors. Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire ( / s ə ˈ s ɑː n i ə n , s ə ˈ s eɪ n i ə n / ), officially Ērānšahr ( Middle Persian : 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭𐭱𐭲𐭥𐭩 , lit.   ' Empire of the Iranians ' ), was the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire . Named after the House of Sasan , it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651, making it

3250-683: The Mamikonian family, touching off a revolt which led to the massacre of the Persian governor and his guard in 571, while rebellion also broke out in Iberia . Justin II took advantage of the Armenian revolt to stop his yearly payments to Khosrow I for the defense of the Caucasus passes. The Armenians were welcomed as allies, and an army was sent into Sassanid territory which besieged Nisibis in 573. However, dissension among

3375-615: The Muslim conquest of Persia , the influence of Sasanian art , architecture , music , literature , and philosophy was gradually absorbed into nascent Islamic culture , which, in turn, ensured the spread of Iranian culture, knowledge, and ideas throughout the expanding Muslim world . Officially, the empire was known as the Empire of the Iranians ( Middle Persian : 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭𐭱𐭲𐭥𐭩 , ērānšahr , Parthian : 𐭀𐭓𐭉𐭀𐭍𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓 , aryānšahr , Greek : Ἀριανῶν ἔθνος , Arianōn ethnos ),

3500-538: The Paikuli inscription , Meshan was ruled by an Iranian aristocrat named Adurfarrobay, who would later rebel against Narseh and support a claimant to the Sasanian throne, Bahram III . During the 5th century, Vahman-Ardashir had seemingly succeeded Karkh Meshan as the capital of Meshan, due to its mention as the chief city of Meshan by Syriac sources. The port of Obolla (Apologos) was located in this province. Like most of

3625-499: The Tigris , taking Ctesiphon. Narseh had previously sent an ambassador to Galerius to plead for the return of his wives and children. Peace negotiations began in the spring of 299, with both Diocletian and Galerius presiding. The conditions of the peace were heavy: Persia would give up territory to Rome, making the Tigris the boundary between the two empires. Further terms specified that Armenia

3750-540: The first dam bridge in Iran and founded many cities, some settled in part by emigrants from the Roman territories, including Christians who could exercise their faith freely under Sassanid rule. Two cities, Bishapur and Nishapur , are named after him. He particularly favoured Manichaeism , protecting Mani (who dedicated one of his books, the Shabuhragan , to him) and sent many Manichaean missionaries abroad. He also befriended

3875-709: The 10th century the Qarmatians were the most powerful force in the Persian Gulf and Middle East, controlling the coast of Oman, and collecting tribute from the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad and from the rival Ismaili Fatimid caliph in Cairo , whom they did not recognize. The land they ruled over was extremely wealthy, with a huge slave-based economy. According to academic Yitzhak Nakash: The Qarmatian state had vast fruit and grain estates both on

Meshan - Misplaced Pages Continue

4000-561: The 7th century CE , the population of Eastern Arabia consisted of partially Christianized Arabs , Arab Zoroastrians , Jews and Aramaic -speaking agriculturalists. Some sedentary dialects of Eastern Arabia exhibit Akkadian , Aramaic and Syriac features. The sedentary people of ancient Bahrain were Aramaic speakers and to some degree Persian speakers, while Syriac functioned as a liturgical language . The Kingdom of Dilmun first appears in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to

4125-623: The Alchon Tamgha and the name "Alchono" in Bactrian script on the obverse, and with attendants to a fire altar on the reverse. 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 Christians were persecuted. The latter was a reaction against the Christianization of

4250-587: The Arabian Peninsula, only 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the ancient burial grounds of Dilmun on the island of Bahrain. Prior to Gerrha, the area belonged to the Dilmuni civilization. Gerrha itself was the center of an Arab kingdom from approximately 650 BC to circa 300 AD. The kingdom was attacked by Antiochus III the Great in 205-204 BC, though it seems to have survived. It is unknown exactly when Gerrha fell, but

4375-543: The Arabs. Bahram gained the crown after Yazdegerd's sudden death (or assassination), which occurred when the grandees opposed the king with the help of al-Mundhir , the Arabic dynast of al-Hirah . Bahram's mother was Shushandukht , the daughter of the Jewish Exilarch . In 427, he crushed an invasion in the east by the nomadic Hephthalites , extending his influence into Central Asia, where his portrait survived for centuries on

4500-555: The Bahrain archipelago. The Christian name used for the region encompassing north-eastern Arabia was Beth Qatraye, which translates to "region of the Qataris " in Syriac . It included Bahrain , Tarout , Al-Khatt , Al-Aḥsā , and Qatar. By the 5th century, Beth Qatraye was a major center for Nestorian Christianity , which had come to dominate the southern shores of the Persian Gulf. Within

4625-478: The Byzantine Empire and met little effective resistance. Khosrow's generals systematically subdued the heavily fortified frontier cities of Byzantine Mesopotamia and Armenia, laying the foundations for unprecedented expansion. The Persians overran Syria and captured Antioch in 611. In 613, outside Antioch, the Persian generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin decisively defeated a major counter-attack led in person by

4750-422: The Byzantine Empire held a small portion of western Armenia. Bahram IV's son Yazdegerd I (399–421) is often compared to Constantine I . Both were physically and diplomatically powerful, opportunistic, practiced religious tolerance and provided freedom for the rise of religious minorities. Yazdegerd stopped the persecution against the Christians and punished nobles and priests who persecuted them. His reign marked

4875-483: The Byzantine Empire, Nestorians were persecuted as heretics, but as eastern Arabia was far enough from the empire's borders that Nestorianism flourished. Several notable Nestorian writers originated from Beth Qatraye, including Isaac of Nineveh , Dadisho Qatraya , Gabriel of Qatar and Ahob of Qatar. Christianity declined with the arrival of Islam in Eastern Arabia in 628. By 676, the bishops of Beth Qatraye had stopped attending synods; although Christianity persisted in

5000-584: The Byzantine emperor Heraclius . Thereafter, the Persian advance continued unchecked. Jerusalem fell in 614, Alexandria in 619, and the rest of Egypt by 621. The Sassanid dream of restoring the Achaemenid boundaries was almost complete, while the Byzantine Empire was on the verge of collapse. This remarkable peak of expansion was paralleled by a blossoming of Persian art , music , and architecture . While successful at its first stage (from 602 to 622),

5125-631: The Byzantine generals not only led to an abandonment of the siege, but they in turn were besieged in the city of Dara , which was taken by the Persians. Capitalizing on this success, the Persians then ravaged Syria, causing Justin II to agree to make annual payments in exchange for a five-year truce on the Mesopotamian front, although the war continued elsewhere. In 576 Khosrow I led his last campaign, an offensive into Anatolia which sacked Sebasteia and Melitene , but ended in disaster: defeated outside Melitene,

Meshan - Misplaced Pages Continue

5250-506: The Christians. However, he proved unpopular among the nobility and clergy who had him deposed after just four years in 488. Sukhra, who had played a key role in Balash's deposition, appointed Peroz's son Kavad I as the new shah of Iran. According to Miskawayh (d. 1030), Sukhra was Kavad's maternal uncle. Kavad I (488–531) was an energetic and reformist ruler. He gave his support to the sect founded by Mazdak , son of Bamdad, who demanded that

5375-486: The Eastern Romans, founded several cities, some of which were named after him, and began to regulate taxation and internal administration. After the reign of Kavad I, his son Khosrow I , also known as Anushirvan ("with the immortal soul"; ruled 531–579), ascended to the throne. He is the most celebrated of the Sassanid rulers. Khosrow I is most famous for his reforms in the aging governing body of Sassanids. He introduced

5500-462: The Euphrates in 296, he was eventually decisively defeated by them. Galerius had been reinforced, probably in the spring of 298, by a new contingent collected from the empire's Danubian holdings. Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia , leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia. Narseh retreated to Armenia to fight Galerius's force, to

5625-437: The Hephthalites. Smbat, with the aid of a Persian prince named Datoyean, repelled the Hephthalites from Persia, and plundered their domains in eastern Khorasan , where Smbat is said to have killed their king in single combat. After Maurice was overthrown and killed by Phocas (602–610) in 602, however, Khosrow II used the murder of his benefactor as a pretext to begin a new invasion, which benefited from continuing civil war in

5750-538: The Indus Valley city of Harappa were evidently used to seal bundles of merchandise, as clay seal impressions with cord or sack marks on the reverse side testify. A number of these Indus Valley seals have turned up at Ur and other Mesopotamian sites. The “Arabian Gulf” types of circular, stamped (rather than rolled) seals known from Dilmun appear at Lothal in Gujarat , India, as well as in Mesopotamia. These seals support

5875-604: The Indus region that are not native to Mesopotamia. Instances of all of these trade goods have been found. The importance of this trade is shown by the fact that the weights and measures used at Dilmun were in fact identical to those used by the Indus, and were not used in Southern Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian trade documents, lists of goods, and official inscriptions mentioning Meluhha supplement Harappan seals and archaeological finds. Literary references to trade with Meluhha date from

6000-474: The Mediterranean and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria ... With the waning of Seleucid Greek power, Tylos was incorporated into Characene , the state founded by Hyspaosines in 127 BC in modern-day Kuwait . A building inscription found in Bahrain indicates that Hyspoasines occupied

6125-441: The Persian Gulf trade route, the Parthians established garrisons on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf. In the 3rd century AD, the Sasanians succeeded the Parthians and held the area until the rise of Islam four centuries later. Ardashir , the first ruler of the Sasanian dynasty, conquered Bahrain and northern Oman, and appointed his son, Shapur I , as the governor of eastern Arabia, the province of Mazun . Shapur constructed

6250-438: The Persian Gulf, are large plantations of cotton trees, from which are manufactured clothes called sindones , of different degrees of value, some being costly, others less expensive. The use of these is mostly confined to India, but extends also to Arabia.” The Greek historian, Theophrastus , states that much of the archipelago was covered in these cotton trees and noted that textiles were a major industry. According to him, Tylos

6375-442: The Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories. The emperor Gordian III 's (238–244) subsequent advance down the Euphrates was defeated at Meshike (244), leading to Gordian's murder by his own troops and enabling Shapur to conclude a highly advantageous peace treaty with the new emperor Philip the Arab , by which he secured the immediate payment of 500,000 denarii and further annual payments. Shapur soon resumed

SECTION 50

#1732855932899

6500-496: The Persians in Anatolia and the Caucasus, winning a string of victories against Persian forces under Shahrbaraz , Shahin , and Shahraplakan (whose competition to claim the glory of personally defeating the Byzantine emperor contributed to their failure), sacking the great Zoroastrian temple at Ganzak , and securing assistance from the Khazars and Western Turkic Khaganate . Eastern Arabia Eastern Arabia ( Arabic : ٱلْبَحْرَيْن , romanized :  Al-Baḥrayn ),

6625-441: The Persians suffered heavy losses as they fled across the Euphrates under Byzantine attack. Taking advantage of Persian disarray, the Byzantines raided deep into Khosrow's territory, even mounting amphibious attacks across the Caspian Sea . Khosrow sued for peace, but he decided to continue the war after a victory by his general Tamkhosrow in Armenia in 577, and fighting resumed in Mesopotamia. The Armenian revolt came to an end with

6750-445: The Phoenicians originated from Bahrain. This theory was accepted by the 19th-century German classicist Arnold Heeren who said that: "In the Greek geographers, for instance, we read of two islands, named Tyrus or Tylos , and Arad, Bahrain , which boasted that they were the mother country of the Phoenicians, and exhibited relics of Phoenician temples." The people of Tyre in particular have long maintained Persian Gulf origins, and

6875-422: The Roman Empire by Constantine the Great . Shapur II, like Shapur I, was amicable towards Jews , who lived in relative freedom and gained many advantages during his reign. At the time of his death, the Persian Empire was stronger than ever, with its enemies to the east pacified and Armenia under Persian control. From Shapur II's death until Kavad I 's first coronation, there was a largely peaceful period with

7000-462: The Romans (by this time the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire ) engaged in just two brief wars with the Sasanian Empire, the first in 421–422 and the second in 440 . Throughout this era, Sasanian religious policy differed dramatically from king to king. Despite a series of weak leaders, the administrative system established during Shapur II's reign remained strong, and the empire continued to function effectively. After Shapur II died in 379,

7125-421: The Romans in the west, where Persian forces won a series of battles but were unable to make territorial gains due to the failure of repeated sieges of the key frontier city of Nisibis, and Roman success in retaking the cities of Singara and Amida after they had previously fallen to the Persians. These campaigns were halted by nomadic raids along the eastern borders of the empire, which threatened Transoxiana ,

7250-419: The Romans; an attempt by the Iberians in 524/525 to do likewise triggered a war between Rome and Persia. In 527, a Roman offensive against Nisibis was repulsed and Roman efforts to fortify positions near the frontier were thwarted. In 530, Kavad sent an army under Perozes to attack the important Roman frontier city of Dara . The army was met by the Roman general Belisarius , and, though superior in numbers,

7375-434: The Sasanian Empire encompassed all of modern-day Iran and Iraq and parts of the Arabian Peninsula (particularly Eastern Arabia and South Arabia ), as well as the Caucasus , the Levant , and parts of Central Asia and South Asia . One of the high points in Iranian civilization, the Sasanian dynasty's rule was characterized by a complex and centralized government bureaucracy, and also revitalized Zoroastrianism as

7500-421: The Sassanids were able to establish a base in South Arabia to control the sea trade with the east. Later, the south Arabian kingdom renounced Sassanid overlordship, and another Persian expedition was sent in 598 that successfully annexed southern Arabia as a Sassanid province, which lasted until the time of troubles after Khosrow II. Khosrow I's reign witnessed the rise of the dihqans (literally, village lords),

7625-399: The Tigris, and agreed not to interfere in the affairs of Armenia and Georgia. In the aftermath of this defeat, Narseh gave up the throne and died a year later, leaving the Sassanid throne to his son, Hormizd II . Unrest spread throughout the land, and while the new king suppressed revolts in Sakastan and Kushan, he was unable to control the nobles and was subsequently killed by Bedouins on

SECTION 60

#1732855932899

7750-691: The Tigris, had to hand over all the provinces the Persians had ceded to Rome in 298, as well as Nisibis and Singara, to secure safe passage for his army out of Persia. From around 370, however, towards the end of the reign of Shapur II , the Sasanians lost the control of Bactria to invaders from the north: first the Kidarites , then the Hephthalites and finally the Alchon Huns , who would follow up with an invasion of India . These invaders initially issued coins based on Sasanian designs. Various coins minted in Bactria and based on Sasanian designs are extant, often with busts imitating Sassanian kings Shapur II (r. 309 to 379) and Shapur III (r. 383 to 388), adding

7875-444: The alliance, Khosrow also married Maurice's daughter Miriam. Under the command of Khosrow and the Byzantine generals Narses and John Mystacon , the new combined Byzantine-Persian army raised a rebellion against Bahram, defeating him at the Battle of Blarathon in 591. When Khosrow was subsequently restored to power he kept his promise, handing over control of western Armenia and Caucasian Iberia . The new peace arrangement allowed

8000-417: The area was under Sassanid Persian control after 300 AD. Gerrha was described by Strabo as inhabited by Chaldean exiles from Babylon , who built their houses of salt and repaired them by the application of salt water. Pliny the Elder ( Natural History , 6.32) says it was 8 kilometres (5 mi) in circumference with towers built of square blocks of salt. Gerrha was destroyed by the Qarmatians at

8125-437: The area. Al Khamis Mosque , built during the reign of the Umayyad caliph Umar II , was one of the earliest mosques built in eastern Arabia. The expansion of Islam did not affect eastern Arabia's reliance on trade, and its prosperity continued to be dependent on markets in India and Mesopotamia. After Baghdad emerged as the seat of the caliph in 750 following the Abbasid Revolution , eastern Arabia greatly benefited from

8250-421: The army and bureaucracy more closely to the central government than to local lords. Emperor Justinian I (527–565) paid Khosrow I 440,000 pieces of gold as a part of the "eternal peace" treaty of 532. In 540, Khosrow broke the treaty and invaded Syria, sacking Antioch and extorting large sums of money from a number of other cities. Further successes followed: in 541 Lazica defected to the Persian side, and in 542

8375-409: The attention of Artabanus IV, the Parthian king, who initially ordered the governor of Khuzestan to wage war against Ardashir in 224, but Ardashir was victorious in the ensuing battles. In a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where the former met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir went on to invade the western provinces of

8500-436: The campaign of Khosrau II had actually exhausted the Persian army and treasuries. In an effort to rebuild the national treasuries, Khosrau overtaxed the population. Thus, while his empire was on the verge of total defeat, Heraclius (610–641) drew on all his diminished and devastated empire's remaining resources, reorganised his armies, and mounted a remarkable, risky counter-offensive. Between 622 and 627, he campaigned against

8625-459: The city's increased demand for foreign goods, especially from China and South Asia. Eastern Arabia, and Bahrain more specifically, became a principal centre of knowledge for hundreds of years stretching from the early days of Islam in the 6th century to the 18th century. Philosophers of eastern Arabia were highly esteemed, such as the 13th-century mystic, Sheikh Maitham Al Bahrani (d. 1299). The mosque of Sheikh Maitham and his tomb can be visited in

8750-514: The coinage of Bukhara (in modern Uzbekistan ). Bahram deposed the vassal king of the Iranian-held area of Armenia and made it a province of the empire. Bahram V's son Yazdegerd II (438–457) was in some ways a moderate ruler, but, in contrast to Yazdegerd I, he practised a harsh policy towards minority religions, particularly Christianity . However, at the Battle of Avarayr in 451, the Armenian subjects led by Vardan Mamikonian reaffirmed Armenia's right to profess Christianity freely. This

8875-410: The details of the fall of the Parthian Empire and subsequent rise of the Sassanian Empire in mystery. The Sassanian Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I . Ardashir's father, Papak , was originally the ruler of a region called Khir. However, by 200, Papak had managed to overthrow Gochihr and appoint himself the new ruler of the Bazrangids . Papak's mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of

9000-546: The direction of the Hajar , are close to the sea ... Tuwwam has been dominated by a branch of the Quraysh ... From the time when Islam emerged in the 7th century until the early 16th century, the term Bahrain referred to the wider historical region of eastern Arabia stretching from Bubiyan Island to the Strait of Hormuz along the coast of the Persian Gulf . Eastern Arabians were amongst

9125-421: The empire passed on to his half-brother Ardashir II (379–383; son of Hormizd II) and his son Shapur III (383–388), neither of whom demonstrated their predecessor's skill in ruling. Bahram IV (388–399) also failed to achieve anything important for the empire. During this time Armenia was divided by a treaty between the Roman and Sasanian empires. The Sasanians reestablished their rule over Greater Armenia, while

9250-437: The empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sakastan , Gorgan , Khorasan , Marw (in modern Turkmenistan ), Balkh and Chorasmia . He also added Bahrain and Mosul to the Sassanid possessions. Later Sassanid inscriptions also claim the submission of the kings of Kushan , Turan and Makuran to Ardashir, although based on numismatic evidence it

9375-457: The end of fourth millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess Inanna , in the city of Uruk . The demonym "Dilmun" is used to describe a type of axe and the ethnicity of an official in these tablets. Dilmun was also mentioned in two letters, recovered from Nippur , which were dated to the reign of Burna-Buriash II (c. 1370 BC), a king of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon . These letters were from

9500-452: The end of the 9th century, and all 300,000 inhabitants were killed. It was 3 kilometres (2 mi) from the Persian Gulf near current day Hofuf . The researcher Abdulkhaliq Al Janbi argued in his book that Gerrha was most likely the ancient city of Hajar, located in modern-day Al-Ahsa , Saudi Arabia. Al Janbi's theory is the most widely accepted one by modern scholars, although there are some difficulties with this argument given that Al Ahsa

9625-456: The first millennium BC indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun; one of the sites discovered in Bahrain indicates that Sennacherib , king of Assyria (707–681 BC), attacked the northeastern Persian Gulf and captured Bahrain. The most recent reference to Dilmun came during the Neo-Babylonian dynasty. Neo-Babylonian administrative records, dated 567 BC, stated that Dilmun was controlled by

9750-497: The first to embrace Islam during the time of the Prophet Muhammad , who ruled eastern Arabia through one of his representatives, Al-Ala'a Al-Hadhrami . Eastern Arabia embraced Islam in 628 (the seventh year of Hijrah ; i.e. 7 AH ). During the time of Umar I, a companion of Muhammad, Abu Hurairah was the governor of eastern Arabia. Umar I also appointed Uthman ibn Abi al-As , another companion of Muhammad, as governor of

9875-567: The former's disadvantage: the rugged Armenian terrain was favourable to Roman infantry, but not to Sassanid cavalry. Local aid gave Galerius the advantage of surprise over the Persian forces, and, in two successive battles, Galerius secured victories over Narseh. During the second encounter, Roman forces seized Narseh's camp, his treasury, his harem, and his wife. Galerius advanced into Media and Adiabene , winning successive victories, most prominently near Erzurum , and securing Nisibis ( Nusaybin , Turkey) before 1 October 298. He then advanced down

10000-546: The frontiers to act as guardians against invaders. He was tolerant of all religions, though he decreed that Zoroastrianism should be the official state religion , and was not unduly disturbed when one of his sons became a Christian. After Khosrow I, Hormizd IV (579–590) took the throne. The war with the Byzantines continued to rage intensely but inconclusively until the general Bahram Chobin , dismissed and humiliated by Hormizd, rose in revolt in 589. The following year, Hormizd

10125-469: The gods to live forever. Thorkild Jacobsen 's translation of the Eridu Genesis calls it " Mount Dilmun " and a “faraway, half-mythical place”. Dilmun is also described in the epic story of Enki and Ninhursag as the site at which the Creation occurred. Enki says to Ninhursag: For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench

10250-459: The head of a large army granted to him by the Hephthalite king, returned to the empire's capital. Jamasp stepped down from his position and returned the throne to his brother. No further mention of Jamasp is made after the restoration of Kavad I, but it is widely believed that he was treated favourably at the court of his brother. The second golden era began after the second reign of Kavad I. With

10375-642: The islands. From the 3rd century BC to arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD, Eastern Arabia was controlled by two other Iranian dynasties: the Parthians and the Sasanians . By about 250 BC, the Seleucids lost their territories to the Parthians, an Iranian tribe from Central Asia . The Parthian Empire brought the Persian Gulf under their control and extended their influence as far as Oman. Because they needed to control

10500-491: The king of Babylon. The name "Dilmun" fell from use after the collapse of Neo-Babylon in 538 BC. It is not certain what happened to the civilization itself; discoveries of ruins under the Persian Gulf may be of Dilmun. There is both literary and archaeological evidence of extensive trade between Ancient Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilization (which most scholars identify with Meluhha ). Impressions of clay seals from

10625-498: The kingdom. Peroz tried again to drive out the Hephthalites, but on the way to Balkh his army was trapped by the Huns in the desert. Peroz was defeated and killed by a Hephthalite army near Balkh. His army was completely destroyed, and his body was never found. Four of his sons and brothers had also died. The main Sasanian cities of the eastern region of Khorasan − Nishapur , Herat and Marw were now under Hephthalite rule. Sukhra ,

10750-629: The neighbouring Roman Empire . It was founded by Ardashir I , a ruler who rose to power as Parthia weakened amidst internal strife and the Roman–Persian Wars . After defeating Artabanus IV of Parthia during the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224, Ardashir's dynasty replaced that of the Arsacids and promptly set out to restore the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire by expanding the newly acquired Sasanian dominions. At its greatest territorial extent,

10875-402: The nomad King Grumbates , started his second campaign against the Romans in 359 and soon succeeded in retaking Singara and Amida. In response the Roman emperor Julian struck deep into Persian territory and defeated Shapur's forces at Ctesiphon . He failed to take the capital, however, and was killed while trying to retreat to Roman territory. His successor Jovian , trapped on the east bank of

11000-477: The north and Sistan in the south while capturing lands from Gorgan to Abarshahr, Marw, and as far east as Balkh . Ardashir I's son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria and the western portion of the Kushan Empire, while leading several campaigns against Rome. Invading Roman Mesopotamia , Shapur I captured Carrhae and Nisibis , but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated

11125-450: The now defunct Parthian Empire. At that time the Arsacid dynasty was divided between supporters of Artabanus IV and Vologases VI , which probably allowed Ardashir to consolidate his authority in the south with little or no interference from the Parthians. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, which was separated from the rest of Iran. Crowned in 224 at Ctesiphon as

11250-493: The oases of al-Qatif and Hadjar (modern Al-Aḥsā). It is unclear when the term began to refer exclusively to the archipelago in the Gulf of Bahrain , but it was probably after the 15th century. Today, Bahrain's "two seas" are instead generally taken to be the bay east and west of the coast, the seas north and south of the island, or the salt and fresh water present above and below the ground. In addition to wells, there are places in

11375-562: The other evidence of Dilmun being an influential trading center. What the commerce consisted of is less known; timber and precious woods, ivory , lapis lazuli , gold , luxury goods such as carnelian and glazed stone beads, pearls from the Persian Gulf, and shell and bone inlays were among the goods sent to Mesopotamia in exchange for silver , tin , woolen textiles, olive oil and grains. Copper ingots from Oman and bitumen , which occurred naturally in Mesopotamia, may have been exchanged for cotton textiles and domestic fowl, major products of

11500-557: The other western Sasanian provinces such as Asoristan , Meshan was a province with various ethnic groups; The Assyrians , the Mesenian Arabs, and the nomadic Arabs, formed the Semitic population of the province along with Nabataean and Palmyrene merchants. Iranians had also begun to settle in the province, along with the Zutt , who had been deported from India . Other Indian groups such as

11625-527: The outskirts of Manama , near the district of Mahooz . At the end of the 3rd Hijri century, Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi led the Qarmatian Revolution , a rebellion by a messianic Ismaili sect originating in Kufa in present-day Iraq. Al-Jannabi took over the city of Hajr , Bahrain's capital at that time, and Al-Aḥsā, which he made the capital of his republic. Once in control of the state, he sought to create

11750-417: The petty landholding nobility who were the backbone of later Sassanid provincial administration and the tax collection system. Khosrow I built infrastructure, embellishing his capital and founding new towns with the construction of new buildings. He rebuilt the canals and restocked the farms destroyed in the wars. He built strong fortifications at the passes and placed subject tribes in carefully chosen towns on

11875-445: The protests of his other brothers, who were put to death, Ardashir declared himself ruler of Pars. Once Ardashir was appointed shah (king), he moved his capital further to the south of Pars and founded Ardashir-Khwarrah (formerly Gur , modern day Firuzabad ). The city, well protected by high mountains and easily defensible due to the narrow passes that approached it, became the center of Ardashir's efforts to gain more power. It

12000-438: The provincial governor of Pars . Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power over all of Pars. Subsequent events are unclear due to the elusive nature of the sources. It is certain that following the death of Papak, Ardashir, the governor of Darabgerd , became involved in a power struggle with his elder brother Shapur. Sources reveal that Shapur was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him. By 208, over

12125-457: The region until the late 9th century. The dioceses of Beth Qatraye did not form an ecclesiastical province , except for a short period during the mid-to-late 7th century. They were instead subject to the Metropolitanate of Fars . Hafit { Tuwwam } abounds in palm trees; it lies in the direction of Hajar { Al-Aḥsā }, and the mosque is in the markets ... Dibba and Julfar , both in

12250-556: The rich should divide their wives and their wealth with the poor. By adopting the doctrine of the Mazdakites, his intention evidently was to break the influence of the magnates and the growing aristocracy. These reforms led to his being deposed and imprisoned in the Castle of Oblivion in Khuzestan , and his younger brother Jamasp (Zamaspes) became king in 496. Kavad, however, quickly escaped and

12375-502: The scale he envisaged, Tylos was very much part of the Hellenised world: the language of the upper classes was Greek (although Aramaic was in everyday use), while Zeus was worshipped in the form of the Arabian sun-god Shams . Tylos even became the site of Greek athletic contests. The name Tylos is thought to be a Hellenisation of the Semitic "Tilmun" (from Dilmun). The term "Tylos"

12500-586: The sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the salt water, noted by visitors since antiquity. An alternate theory offered by al-Hasa was that the two seas were the Great Green Ocean and a peaceful lake on the mainland; still another provided by al-Jawahari is that the more formal name Bahri (lit. “belonging to the sea”) would have been misunderstood and so was opted against. The term "Gulf Arab" or " Khaleeji " refers, geographically, to inhabitants of eastern Arabia. However, today

12625-572: The second longest-lived Persian imperial dynasty after the directly preceding Arsacid dynasty of Parthia . It fell to the Rashidun Caliphate during the early Muslim conquests , which marked the beginning of a monumental societal shift by initiating the Islamization of Iran . Upon succeeding the Parthians, the Sasanian dynasty re-established the Persian nation as a major power in late antiquity , and also continued to compete extensively with

12750-629: The similarity in the words "Tylos" and "Tyre" has been commented upon. Herodotus 's account (written c. 430 BC) refers to Phoenicians inhabiting the shores of the Persian Gulf: According to the Persians , who are best informed in history, the Phoenicians began the quarrel. These people, who had formerly dwelt in the far east and then to the shores of the Erythraean Sea , having migrated to

12875-403: The sole ruler of Persia, Ardashir took the title shahanshah , or "King of Kings" (the inscriptions mention Adhur-Anahid as his Banbishnan banbishn , "Queen of Queens", but her relationship with Ardashir has not been fully established), bringing the 400-year-old Parthian Empire to an end, and beginning four centuries of Sassanid rule. In the next few years, local rebellions occurred throughout

13000-485: The support of the Hephthalites , Kavad launched a campaign against the Romans. In 502, he took Theodosiopolis in Armenia, but lost it soon afterwards. In 503 he took Amida on the Tigris. In 504, an invasion of Armenia by the western Huns from the Caucasus led to an armistice, the return of Amida to Roman control and a peace treaty in 506. In 521/522 Kavad lost control of Lazica , whose rulers switched their allegiance to

13125-709: The term is first attested in the trilingual Great Inscription of Shapur I , where the king says "I am the lord of the Empire of the Iranians". More commonly, as the ruling dynasty was named after Sasan , the empire is known as the Sasanian Empire in historical and academic sources. This term is also recorded in English as the Sassanian Empire , the Sasanid Empire , and the Sassanid Empire . Conflicting accounts shroud

13250-739: The term is often applied to the inhabitants of the GCC countries in the Arabian Peninsula . "Khaleeji" has evolved into a socio-political regional identity that distinguished the GCC inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula from the wider Arab world building on the perceived cultural homogeneity within the Gulf states and their shared history. The inhabitants of Eastern Arabia's Gulf coast share similar cultures and music styles, such as fijiri , sawt and liwa . The most noticeable cultural trait of Eastern Arabia's Gulf Arabs

13375-547: The thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives. Ninlil , the Sumerian goddess of air and southerly winds, had her home in Dilmun. However, in the early epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta , the main events, which center on Enmerkar 's construction of the ziggurats in Uruk and Eridu , are described as taking place in a world "before Dilmun had yet been settled". Gerrha

13500-518: The two empires to focus on military matters elsewhere: Khosrow focused on the Sassanid Empire's eastern frontier while Maurice restored Byzantine control of the Balkans . Circa 600, the Hephthalites had been raiding the Sassanid Empire as far as Spahan in central Iran. The Hephthalites issued numerous coins imitating the coinage of Khosrow II. In c.  606/607 , Khosrow recalled Smbat IV Bagratuni from Persian Armenia and sent him to Iran to repel

13625-582: The war resumed but remained confined to Lazica, which was retained by the Byzantines when peace was concluded in 562. In 565, Justinian I died and was succeeded by Justin II (565–578), who resolved to stop subsidies to Arab chieftains to restrain them from raiding Byzantine territory in Syria. A year earlier, the Sassanid governor of Armenia, Chihor-Vishnasp of the Suren family, built a fire temple at Dvin near modern Yerevan , and he put to death an influential member of

13750-487: The war, defeated the Romans at Barbalissos (253), and then probably took and plundered Antioch . Roman counter-attacks under the emperor Valerian ended in disaster when the Roman army was defeated and besieged at Edessa and Valerian was captured by Shapur, remaining his prisoner for the rest of his life. Shapur celebrated his victory by carving the impressive rock reliefs in Naqsh-e Rostam and Bishapur , as well as

13875-460: Was a place where people moved around, settled and married unconcerned by national borders. The people of Eastern Arabia shared a culture based on the sea , as seafaring peoples . Nowadays, Eastern Arabia is a part of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf . The modern-day states of Bahrain , Iraq , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates are the most commonly listed Gulf Arab states . Most of Saudi Arabia

14000-540: Was also amenable to the wishes of the Zoroastrian priesthood. During his reign, the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon was sacked by the Romans under Emperor Carus , and most of Armenia, after half a century of Persian rule, was ceded to Diocletian . Succeeding Bahram III (who ruled briefly in 293), Narseh embarked on another war with the Romans. After an early success against the Emperor Galerius near Callinicum on

14125-508: Was also famous for exporting engraved walking canes popular in Babylon . It is not known whether Bahrain was part of the Seleucid Empire , although the archaeological site at Qalat Al Bahrain has been proposed as a Seleucid base in the Persian Gulf. Alexander had planned to settle the eastern shores of the Persian Gulf with Greek colonists, and although it is not clear that this happened on

14250-475: Was an ancient city of Eastern Arabia, on the west side of the Persian Gulf . More accurately, the ancient city of Gerrha has been determined to have existed near or under the present fort of Uqair , 80 kilometres (50 mi) northeast of Al-Aḥsā in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia . This site was first proposed by R E Cheesman in 1924. Gerrha and Uqair are archaeological sites on the eastern coast of

14375-520: Was commonly used for the archipelago; Ptolemy 's Geographia when the inhabitants are referred to as "Thilouanoi" ("inhabitants of Tylos"). Some place names in Bahrain go back to the Tylos era; for instance, the residential suburb of Arad, located in Muharraq , is believed to originate from "Arados", the ancient Greek name for the island of Muharraq . The Greek historians Herodotus and Strabo both believed

14500-419: Was crowned in utero : the crown was placed upon his mother's stomach. During his youth the empire was controlled by his mother and the nobles. Upon coming of age, Shapur II assumed power and quickly proved to be an active and effective ruler. He first led his small but disciplined army south against the Arabs, whom he defeated, securing the southern areas of the empire. He then began his first campaign against

14625-443: Was defeated at the Battle of Dara . In the same year, a second Persian army under Mihr-Mihroe was defeated at Satala by Roman forces under Sittas and Dorotheus, but in 531 a Persian army accompanied by a Lakhmid contingent under Al-Mundhir III defeated Belisarius at the Battle of Callinicum , and in 532 an "eternal peace" was concluded. Kavad succeeded in restoring order in the interior and fought with general success against

14750-452: Was given refuge by the Hephthalite king. Jamasp (496–498) was installed on the Sasanian throne upon the deposition of Kavad I by members of the nobility. He was a good and kind king; he reduced taxes in order to improve the condition of the peasants and the poor. He was also an adherent of the mainstream Zoroastrian religion, diversions from which had cost Kavad I his throne and freedom. Jamasp's reign soon ended, however, when Kavad I, at

14875-556: Was killed by his brother Peroz in 459. At the beginning of the 5th century, the Hephthalites (White Huns), along with other nomadic groups, attacked Iran. At first Bahram V and Yazdegerd II inflicted decisive defeats against them and drove them back eastward. The Huns returned at the end of the 5th century and defeated Peroz I (457–484) in 483. Following this victory, the Huns invaded and plundered parts of eastern Iran continually for two years. They exacted heavy tribute for some years thereafter. These attacks brought instability and chaos to

15000-480: Was overthrown by a palace coup and his son Khosrow II (590–628) placed on the throne. However, this change of ruler failed to placate Bahram, who defeated Khosrow, forcing him to flee to Byzantine territory, and seized the throne for himself as Bahram VI. Khosrow asked the Byzantine Emperor Maurice (582–602) for assistance against Bahram, offering to cede the western Caucasus to the Byzantines. To cement

15125-493: Was referred to by the ancient Greeks as "Tylos" ( Ancient Greek : Τύλος ) and was known for its pearls. From the 6th to 3rd century BC Bahrain was part of the Achaemenid Persian Empire . The Greek admiral Nearchus is believed to have been the first of Alexander's commanders to visit the island, and he found a verdant land that was part of a wide trading network. He recorded: “In the island of Tylos, situated in

15250-494: Was returned to Roman domination, with the fort of Ziatha as its border; Caucasian Iberia would pay allegiance to Rome under a Roman appointee; Nisibis, now under Roman rule, would become the sole conduit for trade between Persia and Rome; and Rome would exercise control over the five satrapies between the Tigris and Armenia: Ingilene , Sophanene ( Sophene ), Arzanene ( Aghdznik ), Corduene , and Zabdicene (near modern Hakkâri , Turkey). The Sassanids ceded five provinces west of

15375-419: Was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgerd. Ardashir's palace was on the north side of the city; remains of it are extant. After establishing his rule over Pars, Ardashir rapidly extended his territory, demanding fealty from the local princes of Fars, and gaining control over the neighbouring provinces of Kerman , Isfahan , Susiana and Mesene . This expansion quickly came to

15500-559: Was to be later confirmed by the Nvarsak Treaty (484). At the beginning of his reign in 441, Yazdegerd II assembled an army of soldiers from various nations, including his Indian allies, and attacked the Byzantine Empire , but peace was soon restored after some small-scale fighting. He then gathered his forces in Nishapur in 443 and launched a prolonged campaign against the Kidarites . After

15625-435: Was visited and converted by Mani himself - some scholars, however, doubt the accuracy of this source. Ardashir also built (or rebuilt) a town named Vahman-Ardashir , also known as Forat Meshan. A son of Shapur I, Shapur Mishanshah , is confirmed to have ruled Meshan from an unknown date until his death in 260, and was probably succeeded by his wife Denag . According to the inscription of king Narseh (r. 293-302), known as

#898101