A later illustration from the Shahnameh of the execution of the prophet Mazdak The Sassanians in decline In 500 AD, in the early Middle Ages, the Sassanian empire in Iraq and Iran was falling apart, just like the Roman Empire further west. King Kavadh had almost no power. Province after province was declaring independence. [...]
Khosrau becomes king A silver bowl showing the Sassanian king Khosrau I hunting deer; now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York When the Sassanian ruler Kavadh died in 531 AD, he left his son Khosrau in charge of Iraq and Iran. Khosrau was then in his early 30s. Challenged by his [...]
Yazdegerd Yazdegerd I, the Sassanian king When the Sassanian king Bahram IV was killed in 399 AD, his brother Yazdegerd took control of the Sassanian empire. Yazdegerd maintained peace with the Roman Empire under Empress Pulcheria, not attacking the Romans even though they had been weakened by Vandal, Visigothic and Ostrogothic invasions. He didn't attack [...]
Hormidz II Shapur II, a Sassanian ruler in the 300s AD Hormidz II was the second of Shapur the Great's grandsons to rule the Sassanian Empire in what is now Iran and Iraq. Hormidz took power in 302 AD and soon re-started the persecution of the Manichaeans, maybe out of annoyance that the Armenians had become [...]
Ardashir and Shapur Ardashir I was the first Sassanian ruler of the Parthian Empire. Here he gets the kingship from the chief Zoroastrian god, Ahura Mazda. Ardashir was the first king of the Sassanian dynasty. He defeated the older Arsacid dynasty in battle in 224 AD and took power as the ruler of the [...]
Vologases I, the king of the Parthian Empire Artabanus III and his son Vardanes The murder of Queen Musa and her son in 4 AD ended up with another civil war in the Parthian Empire, which only ended in 10 AD when a cousin, Artabanus III, became the Parthian king. Still the Romans [...]
Nalbinding hat from Urumchi in the Tocharian or Yuezhi kingdom (ca. 1000 BC) The Yamnaya become the Yuezhi Around 3000 BC, in the Bronze Age, some of the Yamnaya people of Central Asia (also known as the Indo-Europeans) left their home between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and moved east, into [...]
The first of the Parthian kings: Arsaces I Arsaces and Tiridates Arsaces I was the governor of Parthia (now northern Iran) in the Hellenistic Greek empire of Seleucia. About 250 BC, Arsaces revolted against Seleucus and started the Parthian Empire. Like the Persians before him, Arsaces followed the Zoroastrian faith. About four years [...]
Moretum was a common Roman recipe and it's easy to make at home. Making the cheese You can start by buying ricotta, but you can also make your own ricotta. Pour about half a gallon of milk into a saucepan. Heat until it's almost boiling, and while you're waiting mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with [...]
Cultures around the world 3000-1000 BC (the Bronze Age) Questions to answer: when did these people start farming? when did they start spinning and weaving clothing (and what did they make their clothes out of)? when did they start to use pottery? when did they start to use bronze? when did they start writing and [...]
