Shapur I was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent until the death of the latter in 242. During his co-regency, he helped his father with the conquest and destruction of the city of Hatra, whose fall was facilitated, according to Islamic tradition, by the actions of his future wife al-Nadirah. Shapur also consolidated and expanded the empire of Ardashir I, waged war against the Roman Empire, and seized its cities of Nisibis and Carrhae while he was advancing as far as Roman Syria. Although he was defeated at the Battle of Resaena in 243 by Roman emperor Gordian III, he was the following year able to win the Battle of Misiche and force the new Roman emperor Philip the Arab to sign a favorable peace treaty that was regarded by the Romans as "a most shameful treaty".
Shapur II, also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. He took the title at birth and held it until his death at age 70, making him the longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history. He was the son of Hormizd II.
Atropatene, also known as Media Atropatene, was an ancient Iranian kingdom established in c. 323 BC by the Persian satrap Atropates. The kingdom, centered in present-day northern Iran, was ruled by Atropates' descendants until the early 1st-century AD, when the Parthian Arsacid dynasty supplanted them. It was conquered by the Sasanians in 226, and turned into a province governed by a marzban ("margrave"). Atropatene was the only Iranian region to remain under Zoroastrian authority from the Achaemenids to the Arab conquest without interruption, aside from being briefly ruled by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great.
The Lakhmid Kingdom, also referred to in Arabic as al-Manādhirah or Banu Lakhm was an Arab kingdom in Southern Iraq and Eastern Arabia, with al-Hirah as their capital, from the late 3rd century to 602 AD/CE. The state was ruled by the Lakhmid dynasty and were generally but intermittently the allies and clients of the Sasanian Empire, and participant in the Roman–Persian Wars. While the term "Lakhmids" has also been applied to the ruling dynasty, more recent scholarship prefers to refer to the latter as the Naṣrids.
Artabanus IV, also known as Ardavan IV (Parthian:𐭓𐭕𐭐𐭍), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus V, was the last ruler of the Parthian Empire from c. 213 to 224. He was the younger son of Vologases V, who died in 208.
Wahrez was a Sasanian general of Daylamite origin, first mentioned in the prelude to the Iberian War and then during the Aksumite–Persian wars.
Mazun was a Sasanian province in Late Antiquity, which corresponded to modern-day Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and the northern half of Oman. The province served as a Sasanian outpost and played an important role in the Sasanian efforts to gain control over the Indian Ocean trade, and to establish their dominance in the wealthy regions of Hadramaut and Yemen.
Azarmidokht was Sasanian queen (banbishn) of Iran from 630 to 631. She was the daughter of king (shah) Khosrow II. She was the second Sasanian queen; her sister Boran ruled before and after her. Azarmidokht came to power in Iran after her cousin Shapur-i Shahrvaraz was deposed by the Parsig faction, led by Piruz Khosrow, who helped Azarmidokht ascend the throne. Her rule was marked by an attempt of a nobleman and commander Farrukh Hormizd to marry her and come to power. After the queen's refusal, he declared himself an anti-king. Azarmidokht had him killed as a result of a successful plot. She was, however, killed herself shortly afterwards by Rostam Farrokhzad in retaliation for his father's death. She was succeeded by Boran.
Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr is a surviving Middle Persian text on geography, which was completed in the late eighth or early ninth centuries AD. The text gives a numbered list of the cities of Eranshahr and their history and importance for Persian history. The text itself has indication that it was also redacted at the time of Khosrow II in 7th century as it mentions several places in Africa and Persian Gulf conquered by the Sasanians.
The Shapur II's Arab campaign took place in 325, against numerous Arab tribes, due to the Arab incursions into the Sasanian Empire. Shapur II decisively defeated all the Arab tribes during his campaign, and became known as Dhū al-Aktāf to the Arabs, meaning “he who pierces shoulders”.
The Aksumite–Persian wars took place in the 6th century, when the Kingdom of Aksum and the Sasanian Empire fought for control over South Arabia. In the 520s, the Aksumite invasion of South Arabia had led to the annexation of the Himyarite Kingdom and the deposition of Dhu Nuwas, who was persecuting the Christian community of Najran. By 570, the subjugated Himyarite king Saif ibn Dhi Yazan sought to end Aksum's hegemony in the region and, after being rejected by the Byzantine Empire, turned to the Persians for military aid. The Persian king Khosrow I agreed upon the stipulation that Himyarite territory would be annexed by the Sasanian Empire in the event of an Aksumite defeat. Subsequently, the Persian army entered South Arabia and secured decisive victories in the Battle of Hadhramaut and then in the Siege of Sanaa, following which the Aksumites were largely expelled from the Arabian Peninsula, excluding Najran. With the establishment of Sasanian Yemen, Yazan was appointed to govern the region. However, four years into his reign, he was murdered by his Aksumite servants. Facing the return of Aksum to South Arabia, the Sasanian Empire mounted a second invasion and re-conquered Yemen by 578, indefinitely ending Aksumite rule outside of Ethiopia. The Persian army general Wahrez was appointed as Yemen's governor, ensuring the suppression of regional pro-Byzantine influence amidst the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591.
The Battle of Hadhramaut took place in 570 between the armies of the Sasanian Empire under the command of Spahbed Vahrez and Aksumite forces under King Masruq ibn Abraha. The Aksumite army was defeated by the Sasanians and Masruq was killed.
The Sasanian reconquest of Yemen took place in 575 or 578 after Aksumite men killed Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan after a reign of some four years and took control of Yemen. The rising took place when the protecting Persian garrison withdrew from Yemen. The Sasanians, this time with a force of 4,000 men, managed to reconquer Yemen and install Sayf’s son, Maʿdī Kareb as ruler.
Farrukh Hormizd or Farrokh Hormizd, also known as Hormizd V, was an Iranian prince, who was one of the leading figures in Sasanian Iran in the early 7th-century. He served as the military commander (spahbed) of northern Iran. He later came in conflict with the Iranian nobility, "dividing the resources of the country". He was later killed by Siyavakhsh in a palace plot on the orders of Azarmidokht after he proposed to her in an attempt to usurp the Sasanian throne. He had two children, Rostam Farrokhzad and Farrukhzad.
Pars was a Sasanian province in Late Antiquity, which almost corresponded to the present-day province of Fars. The province bordered Khuzestan in the west, Kirman in the east, Spahan in the north, and Mazun in the south.
Kirman was a Sasanian province in Late Antiquity, which almost corresponded to the present-day province of Kerman. The province bordered Pars in the west, Abarshahr and Sakastan in the northeast, Paradan in the east, Spahan in the north, and Mazun in the south. The capital of the province was Shiragan.
The defense lines of the Sasanians were part of their military strategy and tactics. They were networks of fortifications, walls, and/or ditches built opposite the territory of the enemies. These defense lines are known from tradition and archaeological evidence.
Al-Abnāʾ was a term that was used in South Arabia to refer to people whose lineage was paternally Iranian and maternally Arab. They represented a distinct community that had come into existence following the end of the Aksumite–Persian wars in the 6th century, when Iranian soldiers began intermarrying with Arab women in Sanaa and throughout Yemen. These couples' offspring and their descendants held an ethnic and cultural identity that was influenced by their mixed heritage from the Sasanian Empire and the Himyarite Kingdom, though they eventually assimilated into the society of the latter. Following the rise of Muhammad in the 7th century, most of the al-Abnāʾ community adopted Islam and took part in the early Muslim conquests, including the Muslim conquest of Iran.
Yemen was a province of the Sasanian Empire in Late Antiquity in southwestern Arabia.
Masrūq ibn Abraha was the last Abyssinian descended ruler of Yemen under the Axumite Empire, as recorded in both Arabic tradition and later Islamic literature. He succeeded his father, Abraha. In 570 or 571, he was killed in the Battle of Hadhramaut in the Yemeni campaign of Wahrez, reportedly by an arrow shot by Wahrez himself.
