Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran (International Library of Iranian Studies)

Just as today one delineates the history of the Sassanian Era to pre-Christensen and post-Christensen, for generations to come scholars of this era will talk about pre-Pourshariati and post-Pourshariati. This book convincingly turns 14 centuries of scholarship on its head. The question of the legitimacy of the standard narrative is put to rest: It did not happen. One may debate whether the story unfolded as the author insinuates, but one can’t argue with the proposition that a new narrative is needed. The book is very well-referenced and provides a great jumping off point for those who wish to dig deeper into the study of this subject. In short, this was an amazing intellectual roller coaster ride that challenged what I thought I knew to its core. A tour de force I have rarely encountered recently. I’m fortunate to have been introduced to the work.I truly hope that I.B. Taurus has hired competent editors. While this book’s editorial output was not criminal, like that of “Sasanian Persia” by Daryaee, it still suffers from glaring shortcomings. E.g., the index says “Circle of Justice” appears inter alia at p. 59. I could not confirm that. It is unclear to me why certain passages from, for instance the Shahnama or other sources, where described in the text, were transliterated, AND were printed in Farsi in the footnotes, whereas other passages didn’t receive the same treatment. The name of a king mentioned twice in a paragraph is followed by the years of his regency in parentheses but another king mentioned in the same paragraph is missing his years. The author is not expected to get into these details; that’s the editor’s job.

As stated in the Editorial Book Reviews, this book proposes to rewrite the details of the history of the Arab conquest of Iran. The author has taken a very detailed look at all the information available for the era, including recently published coin and seal data. Based on this she, identifies lineage, names and durations of the Kings/Queens, primary advisors and generals of the Sassanian empire immediately prior to and during the Arab conquest.From this she then correlates the timing and leadership with the Arab records of the conquest. This results in a significant change in the dates of the early battles, which has implications for early Islamic history (which the book does not address).The book is well written and very well referenced. It provides the first clear look at a previously very unclear time in Persian history.I am certain that people will argue about the logic and accuracy of the work as there is a large amount of new conclusions and understandings. To my reading the book makes sense and overall makes a fairly compelling case. I however am not a historian.

I have nothing specific to add that is not already said by other reviews but seriously this is a damn impressive piece of academia

Excellent detailed scholarly work. Most works of the Late Persians billed as scholarly works are mere overviews of the subject often badly footnoted. The author does not fall into that trap. The book is divided into to parts. The first part conducts a detailed study of the seven Parthian noble family's that made up the Sasanian Empire and how they interacted.The second part deals with the Arab conquest. This is the most contraversal part of the book. The author looks at the Arab timeline as it is imposed on the Western calendar and concludes the conquest took place a number of years before the traditional view point. I am still reading part two.Unlike previous books on the subject it is heavy scholarly reading. Since I read the footnotes as I read the text it took me a month to read the book. Footnotes are conveniently at the bottom on the page.The only negative aspect of the book are it lack of maps. Most of the books written on this subject are Persian and seem to assume the reader is Persian and knows terrain (roads,mountain passes etc) and the importance of the various city and region locations. The one map supporting this book shows the location of the cities mentioned in the text, but no terrain features.Bottom Line: Well written, researched with arguments will supported. A little on the pricey side but if you look around you can find it at half it's listed price. But compared to it competitors it is worth paying full price.

The puzzling fall of this mighty empire is convincingly explained as the result of the end of the collaboration between the powerful Parthian houses and the Sasanian dynasty, at the end of the last Roman-Pensian war and at the onset of the Arabic invasion.A precious study is done on the Persian-Parthian duality in the political structure of the Sasanian empire, mirrored by the Zoroastrian-Mithraic contrast of their religious culture.Despite a pretty long section of listing dynastic figures that might not suggest much to beginners, the conclusions are sound, innovative, and intriguing.

In this book Dr. Parvaneh Pourshariati goes beyond traditional belief which is mainly based on Arthur Christensen on the fall of Sassanid (Sasanian) Persia. She believes the main cause of Sassasnid's fall was internal conflict. She also argues despite some of scholars' idea from early 20th century, Iran's identity and culture continued in the new Islamic era and there were no discontinuity in Iran's culture.Dr. Pourshariati is such a brave researcher and I wait for her next books.

This is not a book for those seeking an introduction to the Sasanian Empire or the Arab conquest of Iran. Do not buy this book if you want to learn more about these subjects. This is a revisionist history, written with an alternative narrative (story) seeking to dispute the historical consensus. The central argument made is that rather than being a centralised state the Sasanian Empire was a de-centralised state comprising an alliance between an overly powerful feudal Parthian noblility and the Sasanian monarchs. This alliance broke down during the final war with Byzantium, allowing Byzantium to triumph and the Arabs to conquer Iran.While there are sections which enhance the reader’s knowledge, notably on Tabaristan, much of this book twists the sources to fit the author’s arguments. The most incredible claim made by the author is that the Islamic invasions of Iraq occurred four years earlier than historians believe, while Muhammad was still alive. The author is themselves confused why there are no source supporting her claim or explaining what Muhammad was doing during this time. Shockingly the obvious answer does not occur to the author - that her narrative and argument is wrong and that Muhammad had already died.The author rightly notes that Iranian names are often confused by the sources, however, then proceeds to identify individuals in these sources based on little or no evidence (although these identifications conveniently fit the author’s arguments). These simplistic identifications happen so often that you are left unable to trust much of what is written. Indeed, many of the claims by this book have rightly been disputed by historians since.The central claim of the book, that the Sasanian empire was de-centralised is argued by claiming that the various instances of conspiracy and civil war in the history of the empire indicate that the state was de-centralised. If this were the case, then no pre-modern state on earth could claim to be centralised. The Roman and Byzantine Empires has frequent rebellions, conspiracies and civil wars, yet was the foremost centralised state in antiquity. More recent scholarly work such as “Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia” has convincingly argues that the Sasanian’s construction of the 195km long Great Wall of Gorgon, great fortresses in the Caucasus, Shapur’s trench, and numerous new cities, along with their numerous offensive wars against Rome and Byzantium (including its conquest of most of the Middle East) all indicate that the Sasanian Empire was in fact a centralised state with a standing army.

Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire uses new and/or hitherto little used sources to rewrite the last 150 years of Sasanian history (early sixth to mid-seventh century). Parvaneh Pourshariati shows, based on recently unearthed sigillographic material, how certain old Parthian families - of which there are traditionally seven, but the seals show only three were definitely still active - monopolized the greater share of the four Persian regional military governorships or spahbeds. These aristocratic families, typically based in the northern and north-eastern highlands of Persia, retained significant landed and military power as well as being integrated into the Sasanian administration. They were also of Arsacid lineage, thus theoretically disposed to challenge the legitimacy of the Sasanian line.Pourshariati's argument is furthermore that the defeat of Persia at the hands of the Byzantines in 628 happened because the Sasanian-Parthian confederacy - by which these aristocratic families supported the Sasanian sovereigns - suddenly fell apart. Thus a multi-pronged Persian army rebellion would really have been responsible for the Byzantine emperor Heraclius' victories in 627-628. Pourshariati's evidence is principally drawn from al-Tabari's history and Ferdowsi's tenth-century poetic epic the Shahnama - debatable but not objectionable sources. Her version of events contrasts with that of established orthodoxy, and it is controversial. Where the argument becomes very hard to follow, however, is when the author also chooses to attribute the Persian collapse in the Muslim conquest to the same Parthian-Sasanian civil strife. This is a particularly stretched argument, especially as it here relies on no fresh evidence, only a re-reading of what already exists. It involves believing that the Arab conquest of Persia began in 628, while Persia remained at war with Byzantium and, even more strikingly, when the prophet was still alive. This in no way agrees with established narrative sources, whether Greek, Armenian, or Arab.Pourshariati makes interesting points and has a good chapter on Persian religion. But the argument is probably taken too far in the interest of controversy, and it will only appeal to readers already very well versed in the period. Finally, it is worth noting that Pourshariati's writing style is difficult to follow. It isn't just that Persian names all use a funny script that means nothing to the ordinary reader. The book is wordy, stylistically awkward, and in many places a struggle to read.

this is a massive work that is well documented and impressively detailed. the thing I appreciate the most is all the background information that is given. a very good history book, on one of the empires that for the most part has been unfortunately neglected. I couldn't find any other book with this magnitude on the Sassanian Empire. love it

A very well written and researched and balanced book, especially considering the dearth of data from those times. Sadly, only covers the final years, as the title itself suggests.

Ce livre répond bien aux attentes de ceux qui suhaitent disposer d'une vue synthétique des recherches récentes sur un sujet traité le plus souvent sous des points de vues très limités, dans des monographies parfois difficiles d'accès. Il témoigne d'une grande connaissance du sujet et d'un talent d'exposition indéniable de l'auteur.