Sasanian Iran (224-651 CE): Portrait of a Late Antique Empire.

• Author: Cutright, John
• Position: Book review

Sasanian Iran (224-651 CE): Portrait of a Late Antique Empire. By TOURAJ DARYAEE. Costa Mesa, Calif.: MAZDA PUBLISHERS, 2008. Pp. xxiii + 140, maps, illus. $25 (paper).

Touraj Daryaee's work is a brief introduction to the Sasanian Empire, which has been seriously neglected in modern Westernoriented scholarship. Although fine works within their scope, books by Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (New York: Mentor Books, 1963), Maria Brosius, The Perskins: An Introduction (New York: Routledge, 2006), and Joseph WiesehOfer, Ancient Persia (New York: I. B. Taurus, 1996) are surveys of ancient Iranian history but are limited in depth. In his Prolegomena, Daryaee gives notice that he intends to supply an English-language text that provides a more detailed analysis of Sasanian history (pp. xv, xxi). Daryaee points out that the relative neglect of Sasanianspecific studies stems from two primary reasons. One is the "disparate and multilingual nature of the sources which exist for ancient Iranian history" (p. xv). Daryaee's assertion is dramatically supported by an inscription from the Sasanian ruler 8abhur I. After his victories over the Romans, Sabhur I wrote an account of the triumph in Greek, Parthian, and Middle Persian (p. 24). Another piece of evidence for this complexity appears in the extensive bibliography, which is divided into primary and secondary sources. The primary sources are separated according to the language of the source, which is significant since it clearly exhibits the multi-lingual nature of the study the Sasanian Empire.

Daryaee contends that the other reason for this neglect is the Eurocentric mindset of many Western scholars. Though it might seem trite to claim that Eurocentricism has hampered the study of ancient Iran, one need only look in either Western Europe or the United States for academic programs that focus on the study of any part of the Iranian civilization. Indeed, Daryaee holds the only chair in ancient Iranian history that resides in a history department in the United States (at University of California, Irvine).

While Daryaee's goal is not to denigrate the Greek or Roman civilizations (pp. xiv--xv), he does want to present ancient Iranian civilization on its own terms, using Iranian material along with the ubiquitous Greek and Roman sources. He provides not only the chronological details of the events but also their ideological foundations. Indeed, Daryaee emphasizes the ideology of both Sasanian and...