Table of Contents

  • ARNOLD, THOMAS WALKER

    B. W. Robinson

    Sir (1864-1930), British orientalist.

  • ARPA KHAN

    P. Jackson

    10th Il-khan of Iran (r. 736/1335-36).

  • ARRAJĀN

    H. Gaube

    medieval city and province in southwestern Iran between Ḵūzestān and Fārs.

  • ARRĀN

    C. E. Bosworth

    a region of eastern Transcaucasia.

  • ARRIAN

    M. L. Chaumont

    Greek historian (2nd cent. CE).

  • ARROWS in Eastern Iran

    Boris A. Litvinsky

    came in use along with the bow, and the two developed in parallel. In the Bronze Age in eastern Iran, metal arrowheads of bronze were widespread, while skillfully made stone arrowheads, inherited from the earlier period, remained in use. 

  • ARSACIDS

    Multiple Authors

    (Persian Aškānīān), Parthian dynasty which ruled Iran from about 250 BCE to about 226 CE.

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  • ARSACIDS i. Origins

    A. Sh. Shahbazi

    The various accounts of the origins of Arsaces, the founder of the dynasty, reflect diverse developments over time in political ideologies.

  • ARSACIDS ii. The Arsacid dynasty

    K. Schippmann

    The rise of the Arsacids is closely linked to the history of Seleucids, who lost large parts of their Iranian possessions within a period of roughly fifteen years.

  • ARSACIDS iii. Arsacid Coinage

    M. Alram

    Coins minted in Iran under the Arsacids superseded Seleucid currency in the territories successively taken from the Seleucids. In essential denominations, iconography, and script, they are markedly Hellenistic, but they also show Iranian features.

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  • ARSACIDS iv. Arsacid religion

    M. Boyce

    It may reasonably be assumed that, at least from the time they seized power, the Arsacids were professed Zoroastrians.

  • ARSACIDS v. The “Arsacid” era

    EIr

    As an indication of their imperial aspirations, the Parthians established their own dynastic era, beginning with the vernal equinox. The historicity of this era was proved by a Babylonian tablet equating the Seleucid year 208 with 144 of the Arsacid era.

  • ARSACIDS vi. Arsacid chronology in traditional history

    A. Sh. Shahbazi

    The Parthian rule lasted 474 years, longer than any dynastic period in Iranian history, but post-Sasanian sources give various figures for the duration of the Arsacid rule.

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  • ARSACIDS vii. The Arsacid dynasty of Armenia

    C. Toumanoff

    Third dynasty of Armenia, from the first to the mid-fifth century. Arsacid rule brought about an intensification of the political and cultural influence of Iran in Armenia.

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  • ARSACIDS viii. Military Architecture Of Parthia

    Krzysztof Jakubiak

    In the western parts of the Parthian empire, i.e., in the Mesopotamian plain, military and defensive systems and fortifications developed under a clearly strong influence of earlier civilizations that had existed in the region.

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  • ARŠAK

    Cross-Reference

    See ARSACIDS.

  • ARŠĀMA

    E. Bresciani

    name of several Achaemenid notables.

  • ARSAMES

    Cross-Reference

    See ARŠĀMA.

  • ARSANES

    Cross-Reference

    See NARSE.

  • ARSANJĀN

    C. E. Bosworth

    a small town in Fārs on the northeastern fringes of the Zagros mountain massif.