ASB i. In Pre-Islamic Iran From the dawn of history the Iranians have celebrated the horse in their art and…

Bahrām VI Čōbīn Bahrām VI Čōbīn, chief commander under the Sasanian Hormozd IV and king of Iran in 590-91, was…

Bahrām I Bahrām I, the fourth Sasanian king and son of Šāpūr I (FIGURE 1), succeeded Hormozd (Ohrmezd) I and…

Bahrām II Bahrām II, the fifth Sasanian king, succeeded his father Bahrām I in September, 274 (cf. W. B. Henning,…

ARSACIDS i. Origins (اشکانیان) Our sources on the ancestry of the eponymous founder of the dynasty, Arsaces, vary irreconcilably. He…

ARMY i. Pre-Islamic Iran Introduction. Source materials for a study of pre-Islamic Iranian military concerns fall into four categories: textual…

BĀB-E HOMĀYŪN (august [royal] gate), name of a gate and its connecting street in the Qajar citadel (Arg) of Tehran…

ASTŌDĀN, “bone-receptacle, ossuary” (Persian sotōdān), from ast- “oss, bone” and -dāna “container, receptacle.” The term has an important place in…

ARSACIDS vi. Arsacid chronology in traditional history The Parthian rule lasted 474 years, longer than any dynastic period in Iranian…

ASPASTES, Greek form of an Old Persian name *Aspasta-, also attested in Elamite as Áš-ba-iš-da. The etymology of the name…

ASPAČANĀ (Elamite Ašbazana, Babylonian Aspašini, Greek Aspathines; possibly already in Nuzi (Aššuzzana), a senior official under Darius the Great and…

ARYANDES, Achaemenid satrap of Egypt. The name is of uncertain etymology (R. Schmitt, “Medisches und persisches Sprachgut bei Herodot,” ZDMG…

ARTYPHIOS, or ARTYBIOS, Greek rendering of an Old Persian name *Ardifiya (or *Ardufiya; Elamite Ir-tap/tup-pi-ya); the variants Gk. Arziphos and…

ARTACHAIĒS, Greek rendering of an Old Iranian name *Ṛtaxaya (Elamite Ir-da-(ak-)ka-(a-)ya, Aramaic ʾrtḥy), containing Old Persian arta “truth” and perhaps…

ARSITES, Greek rendering of an Old Persian name *Arsita (Babylonian Ar-ri-šit-tu), possibly a diminutive in -ita of *Aršan- “man, hero”…

ARNAVĀZ, New Persian form of the name of one of the mythical king Jamšēd’s sisters. The Avestan name Arənauuāčī (AirWb.,…

ARIYĀRAMNA (Elamite Har-ri-ya-ra-um-na, Akkadian Ar-ḭa-ra-am-na-ʾ, Greek Ariaramnēs), Old Persian proper name; the derivation from *Aryārāman-, from aryā “Arians” and rāman-…

ARIOBARZANES, Greek form of an Old Iranian proper name *Ārya-bṛzāna-, perhaps signifying “exalting the Aryans;” the Old Persian form is…

ARIAEUS, Latinized form (from Greek Ariaîos) of an Old Persian name compounded of arya- “Iranian” with a suffix -ai- (cf….

ARIARAMNEIA, a city in Cappadocia mentioned in an inscription in Greek and Aramaic as the residence of a military leader…

ARIABIGNES, an Achaemenid prince. His name derives from Old Ir. arya- + bigna, probably signifying “Gift of the Aryans […

ARDAŠĪR SAKĀNŠĀH, a vassal king of the first Sasanian king of kings, Ardašīr I. The trilingual inscription of Šāpūr on…

ARDAŠĪR III, Sasanian king (r. September, 628-29 April, 629). His father Šērōyē (Kawād II) murdered most of the Sasanian princes…

ARDAŠĪR II, Sasanian king of kings, A.D. 379-83. When his father, Hormozd II, died in 309, leading nobles and priests…

APAMĀ, name of several noble women of the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods, probably related to the Av. apama- “the latest,”…

AMORGES, Greek form of the name of several notable Iranians of the Achaemenid period. This, and the Lycian Humrkhkha (variant…

AMAZONS, designation of a fabulous race of female warriors in Greek beliefs, writings, and art, fancifully explained as a-mazos (breastless…

HISTORIOGRAPHY ii. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD The idea of history as a science seeking the truth by investigating man’s action in a…

HANG-EAFRĀSIĀB, the name of the cave in which Afrāsiāb (q.v.), the fugitive king of Turān, spent his last days. According…