''Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr'' (literally ''"The Provincial Capitals of Iran"'') is a surviving
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle P ...
text on
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
, 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
Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩, Husrō), also known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling fr ...
(r. 590–628) in 7th century as it mentions several places in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...
conquered by the
Sasanians.
[
The book serves as a source for works on Middle Iranian languages, a source on Sasanian administrative geography and history, as well as a source of historical records concerning names of the Sasanian kings as the builder of the various cities. The text provide information on the Persian epic, the '' Xwadāy-nāmag'' (''lit.'' “Book of Kings”).
The book may be the same as "Ayādgār ī Šahrīhā" (''lit.'' “Memoir of Cities") named in the '']Bundahishn
''Bundahishn'' (Avestan: , "Primal Creation") is the name traditionally given to an encyclopedic collection of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology written in Book Pahlavi. The original name of the work is not known.
Although the ''Bundahishn'' ...
'' and said to have been written following an order of Kavad I
Kavad I ( pal, 𐭪𐭥𐭠𐭲 ; 473 – 13 September 531) was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption. A son of Peroz I (), he was crowned by the nobles to replace his deposed and unpopular un ...
.
Terms Eran and Eranshahr
The terms Eranshahr () and Eran were in use in Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. From early Sasanian era (Ardashir I
Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new ...
and Shapur I's elaborations), as a designation of their land they adopted Ērānšahr “Land of the Aryans” and this served as the official name of their country.[
Ardashir I, who was the first king of the Sasanian Empire, had used the older word ērān ( Parthian ''aryān'') as part of his titles and in accordance with its etymology. At ]Naqsh-e Rostam
Naqsh-e Rostam ( lit. mural of Rostam, fa, نقش رستم ) is an ancient archeological site and necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran. A collection of ancient Iranian rock reliefs are cut into ...
in Fars province and the issued coins of the same period, Ardashir I calls himself ''Ardašīr šāhānšāh ērān'' in the Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle P ...
version and ''šāhānšāh aryān'' in its Parthian version both meaning “king of kings of the Aryans.” His son Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardas ...
referred to himself as ''šāhānšāh ērān'' and ''anērān'' (''lit.'' "king of kings of the Aryans and the Non-Aryans") in Middle Persian and ''šāhānšāh aryān'' and ''anaryān'' in Parthian. Later kings used the same or similar phrases. and these titles became the standard designations of the Sasanian sovereigns.[ Rise of the Sasanian empire]
However the major trilingual (Middle Persian, Parthian, and Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
) inscription of Shapur I at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht in Fars, introduces another term ''ērānšahr'' in Middle Persian and ''aryānšahr'' in Parthian. Shapur's declaration reads ''an. . .ērānšahr xwadāy hēm..'' (''lit.'' “I am lord of the kingdom (Gk. nation) of the Aryans”). This follows his title “king of kings of the Aryans,” and thus makes it "very likely" that ērānšahr "properly denoted the empire".[ Next to Darius's inscription, this inscription of Shapur at walls of Ka'ba-ye Zartosht is among the most important inscriptional records. It records parts of Persian-Roman wars and gives "a clear picture of the extent of his empire" by naming of provinces, mentioning religious foundations and mentioning senior officials of the court of Papak, Ardashir and Shapur I. According to the inscription, after death of Shapur's father and his accession, the Roman emperor ]Gordianus III
Gordian III ( la, Marcus Antonius Gordianus; 20 January 225 – February 244) was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole emperor up to that point (until Valentinian II in 375). Gordian was the son of Anton ...
“marched on Assyria, against Ērānšahr and against us”.
Beside the royal title, the term "Eran" was also used as an abbreviation of "Eranshahr" and referred to the empire in the early Sasanian era. In this case the Roman west was correspondingly referred to as “anērān”. As references to empires, Eran and Aneran occur already in a calendrical text from Mānī (dating back probably to Ardashir I's era.) This shorter term "Eran" appears in the names of the towns build by Shapur I and his successors as well as in the titles of several high-ranking administrative officials and military commanders. For the former there are examples such as "Eran-xwarrah-Shapur" (The glory of Eran (of) Shapur), "Eran-ashan-kard-kavad" ( Kavad pacified Eran) and for the latter "Eran-amargar" (Accountant-General), ”Eran-dibīrbed" (Chief Secretary), ”Eran-drustbed“ (Chief Medical Officer), ”Eran-hambāragbed" (Commander of the Arsenal), and ”Eran-spāhbed
''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasani ...
“ (Commander-in-Chief).[
]
Kusts of Eranshahr
According to the book and as an ancient Iranian tradition, Ērānšahr is divided into four "mythologically and mentally"[..rather than "real"; per Gignoux, cf. ] defined regions or sides called ''kust''s. These parts/regions/sides of the state during and after Khosrow I
Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩; New Persian: []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ( [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from ...
, on the pattern of the four cardinal points, are (1) Xwarāsān “northeast”; (2) Xwarwarān “southwest”; (3) Nēmrōz “southeast”; and (4) Ādurbādagān “northwest”.[
The kusts were named diagonally beginning from northeast to southwest, and from southeast to northwest-a style likely following an Behistun inscription, Old Persian tradition in naming ]satraps
A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...
. The usual Middle Persian term " abāxtar" (loanword from MIr.s: ''abāxtar'', ''abarag'' < Av.: ''apāxtara'') used for northern direction in ancient Iranian tradition has been avoided in this designation and replaced by the name of their province ādurbādagān. This is believed to be because of "the Zoroastrian association of the north with the abode of evil"[ Excerpt: ''In the Zoroastrian cosmogonical division, the northern part (nēmag/kanārag “side”) is called abāxtar, which is under the superintendence of the star Haptōrang “Ursa Major”. The Zoroastrians also supposed hell to be located in the north, where Ahreman and the demons reside...''] which "would be evoked by use of abāxtar".[
]
Notes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahrestaniha I Eransahr
Middle Persian literature
Geography of the Sasanian Empire
Geography books
8th-century books
9th-century books