BAHMAN-ARDAŠĪR (or Forāt Maysān), town and subdistrict in Maysān in lower Iraq. The town of Forāt is known from the…

BAHMAN JĀDŪYA (or Jāḏōē), Sasanian general engaged in the defense of the Sawād of ʿErāq during the Muslim conquest in…

al-BADʾ waʾl-TAʾRĪḴ (The book of creation and history), an encyclopedic compilation of religious, historical, and philosophical knowledge written in Arabic…

ANBĀR (Pers. term meaning granary), a town on the left bank of the Euphrates five km north-west of Fallūǰa and…

ʿARAB ii. Arab Conquest of Iran During the first two centuries of the Muslim era (7th-8th centuries A.D.) the Sasanian…

BAHĀR-E KESRĀ “The spring of Ḵosrow” (Ṭabarī), Farš-e zamestānī “Winter carpet” (Baḷʿamī), or Bahārestān “Spring garden” (Ḥabīb al-sīar), a huge,…

ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN B. SAMORA, ABŪ SAʿĪD, Arab general who campaigned in Sīstān; d. 50/670. He was a Meccan of the clan…

ḴANDAQ, a Persian loanword in Arabic meaning a trench or a moat (lit. “dug” <kan “to dig”), possibly also a…

BĒṮ SELŌḴ, “house of Seleucos,” abbreviation of Karkā ḏe Bēṯ Selōḵ, “fortress of the house of Seleucos,” the capital city…

BĒṮ LAPAṬ, the Syriac name for Vēh Antiōk Šāpūr (Gondēšāpūr), founded in ca. 260 by Šāpūr I in Ḵūzestān with…

BĒṮ GARMĒ, a region and province in northeast­ern Iraq named after a people, possibly a Persian tribe, called Garamaioi by…

BĒṮ DARAYĒ (Arabic Bādarāyā), a district southeast of the lower Nahrawān canal in Gōḵē (Arż Jūḵā), Iraq, linked administratively with…

BĒṮ ĀRAMAYĒ, lit. “land of the Arameans,” the region and Sasanian province of Āsōristān in Iraq between the Jabal Ḥamrīn and…

BEH-QOBĀD (Mid. Pers. Vēh-Kavāt), an administrative district created by the Sasanian king Qobād I in the early sixth century along…

BEH-ARDAŠĪR (Mid. Pers. Vēh-Ardaxšēr, Ar. Bahorasīr), name of two cities founded by the first Sasanian king of kings, Ardašīr I…

IRAQ AND ITS RELATIONS WITH IRAN i. IN THE LATE SASANID AND EARLY ISLAMIC ERAS The late Sasanid era. The…

MADĀʾEN (lit. the cities; Ar. sing. Madina, cf. Aram. pl. Māḥozē or Medinātā), the Sasanian metropolitan area of several contiguous…