Dissertation Information for Touraj Daryaee NAME: - Touraj Daryaee
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1999)
ADVISORS: - Michael Morony
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Hanns-Peter Schmidt - Stanford Shaw - Claudia Rapp
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: The fall of the Sasanian Empire and the end of late Antiquity: Continuity and change in the province of Persis
Abstract: The process is discussed by which the Sasanian Empire (224-651 C.E.) fell to the Arab Muslims in the seventh century C.E., specifically the process of the conquest in the province of Fars/Pars/Persis and its effects. The study begins with the administrative and political developments at the end of the sixth century and clarifies the political history of the Sasanian empire after Xusro II's (590-628 C.E.) rule. This is followed by an examination of the period of chaos and disorder and the Arab Muslim conquest of the region. The study ends by looking at the reaction of the population of Fars to the conquest and the various factions that were involved in the province of Fars in the seventh and early eighth century C.E.
Coins and administrative seals are used to illuminate the history of this era. These sources are quite valuable, because they are the few primary sources that we possess for the period. These sources can clarify the ambiguities of the later literary sources for this period and shed light on some of the developments which are not mentioned anywhere else. By looking at the Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian coinage it is demonstrated that the situation at the end of the Sasanian period was much more complex than has been thought. The coins show that the Sasanian empire was fragmented after Kawad II's death in 630 C.E., and that no monarch or queen was able to unify the empire until the time of Yazdgerd III in 632 C.E. Further, while the empire was conquered by the Arab Muslims during the time of Yazdgerd III, this conquest took much longer than is attested in the literary sources. This was due to the fact that there was local resistance in many places in the province of Fars, while the Arab rivalries also exasperated the situation. It was only with the coming of the Marwanids to power in the late seventh century that we begin to see the end of resistance by the local inhabitants of Fars, resistance that was subsequently recorded in the Zoroastrian apocalyptic literature.
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MPACT Scores for Touraj Daryaee A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-09-29 11:39:41
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