1. King of Kermān (210?), defeated by Ardašīr I, who took him prisoner and took possession of his capital (Nöldeke,…

1. Walgaš (2nd cent.), son of Naṣrū, at first “lord” (mrʾ), then “king (mlkʾ) of ʿArab(s) (of Hatra)” (inscriptions 140,…

Balāš, Sasanian king of kings (484-88) (Gk. Balas, Blasēs, Blassos, Valas, etc.). Balāš, son of Yazdegerd II (r. 438-57), was…

The Parthian form of the name, the oldest, is Walagaš. In Middle Persian it is Wardāxš, in Pahlavi Walāxš. The…

ARMENIA AND IRAN  ii. The Pre-Islamic Period 1. The Achaemenid period. The Armenians probably originated from Phrygia (Herodotus 3.19, and…

BALĀSAGĀN (Ar. Balāsajān, Balāšajān; Armenian Bałasakan), an Iranian toponym in -agān (-akān) “country of the Balās),” designating a region located…

ĀZĀD (older ĀZĀT), a class of the Iranian nobility. The word (Mid Pers. ʾzʾt, ʾcʾt, plur. obl. ʾzʾtʾn, ʾcʾtʾn, Parth….

AURELIUS VICTOR, SEXTUS, born in Africa ca. 325/330, held high positions under Julian and Theodosius. He was a contemporary of…

ATROPATES (Āturpāt, lit., “protected by the fire,” cf. Av. Atərəpāta), the satrap of Media, commander of the troops from Media,…

ASTABED. The word astabid occurs in two Syriac texts as the title of a high-ranking Iranian officer and is applied…

ASPBED (older asppat from OIr. *aspa-pati-), “master of horses, chief of cavalry,” Parthian title attested in the Nisa documents and…

ARTEMITA IN APOLLONIATIS, city of the Parthian period in eastern Iraq. Artemita (Greek or Macedonian name), the principle city of…

ARRIAN, L. FLAVIUS ARRIANUS, Greek historian from Bithynia, born in Nicomedia, whose father had obtained Roman citizenship. He held very…

ARGBED, (Inscr. Mid. Persian hlgwpt, Inscr. Parthian ʾrkpty and hrkpty, i.e., (h)argbed, older (h)arkpat) a high-ranking title in the Parthian…

APPIANUS (APPIAN) OF ALEXANDRIA, historian, born probably toward the end of the 1st century A.D. Little is known of his…

APOLLODORUS OF ARTEMITA, historian. He was originally from the Greco-Parthian city of Artemita (Chalasar), in Apolloniatis. According to W. W….

ANTONY, MARK, Roman general (ca. 82-30 B.C.; Figure 1) who led a campaign in Armenia during the Parthian period. Following…

ANTIOCH, town in northern Syria situated at the foot of Mount Silpius on the left bank of the Orontes (ʿĀṣī)…

ANDARZBAD, Sasanian administrative title meaning “chief advisor” (from Mid. Pers. andarz “advice, counsel”) for a city, e.g., Ardašīr-Ḵᵛarrah or Gōr…

AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, historian who provides important information on the Sasanians. Born ca. 330-35 in Antioch on the Orontes to a…

ĀMĀRGAR, a Middle and New Persian word designating a person holding a particular administrative post. i. Etymology. ii. The post….

ALBANIA (Iranian Aran, Arm. Ałuankʿ), an ancient country in the Caucasus (for Albania in Islamic times, see Arrān). It was…

AELIANUS, CLAUDIUS, a sophist of the first third of the 3rd century A.D., from Praenest near Rome. Although he was…

AXSE, the name of a Parthian hostage in Rome, inscribed in the dedication of an epitaph engraved on a marble…

FRAMADĀR (FRAMĀTĀR), a Sasanian administrative title. In Old Persian the substantive framātar appears in royal titles and is always accompanied…

FRANCE iv. RELATIONS WITH PERSIA SINCE 1918 During the First World War, France, unlike England, Russia, Germany, and the Ottoman…

ANDĒMĀNKĀRĀN SARDĀR (ʾndymʾngʾln sldʾr), a Sasanian title engraved in Mid. Persian on a seal (reading by W. B. Henning, “Mitteliranisch,”…

AGATHIAS, Byzantine historian, b. 536 or 537 in Myrina, a small village in Asia Minor, d. about 580. He completed…

Although the Greeks sometimes assimilated Anāhitā to Aphrodite (e.g., Herodotus, Historiae 1.131-32, knows her by the name of Aphrodite Urania…

DIO CASSIUS (more correctly, Cassius Dio; b. Nicea, Bithynia, ca. 160, d. Nicea, after 229), Roman official whose Rhomaikē Historia…

CLEMENT of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens, probably b. Athens ca. 150 c.e., d. Cappadocia ca. 215), Greek convert to Christianity…

(Pseudo-) CLEMENT, the unknown author of a work of fiction falsely ascribed to Pope Clement I (88-­97 CE) and now generally…

CINNAMUS (< Gk. kinnamon or kinnamōmon “cinnamon tree,” a word borrowed from the Phoenician, according to Herodotus, 3.111; cf. Hebrew...

DARIUS viii. DARIUS SON OF ARTABANUS A son of the Parthian king Artabanus II (r. ca. 10-38 C.E.) named Darius…

CHORIENES, Sogdian nobleman and opponent of Alexander. According to Arrian (Anabasis 4), when Alexander reached Nautaca in Sogdiana on his…

CASSIODORUS, Magnus Aurelius (b. ca. 485, d. after a.d. 580), Latin author of three historical works containing material on Iran….

CAMBYSENE (Latin form of Gk. Kambysēnē), name of a region mentioned for the first time in Strabo’s Geography as one…

CALLISTHENES, the name of a Greek historian of the period of Alexander the Great. A History of Alexander of romantic…

BOYEKAN, the name of a mec naxarar “great satrap,” defeated and killed at Ṭʿawrēš (Tabrīz) by the Armenian general Vasak…

BŌRĀN (Pers. Pōrān, Pūrān), Sasanian queen, daughter of Ḵosrow II (r. 590, 591-628). There are extant coins of Bōrān dated…

BŌĒ (Gk. Boēs), the name of two of Kavād’s (r. 488-­96 and 498-531) generals. The patronymic Bōyān is found on…