Gone Medieval How Islam came to Iran
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Mar 8, 2026 Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani, historian of late antiquity specializing in Central and West Asia, explains how 7th-century Iran transformed during the Arab-Muslim conquests. He outlines Sasanian society, key battles like Qadisiyya, the patchwork of religious communities, and how Persian language and culture evolved within the new Islamic world. Short takes on regional variation, resistance, and the long-term echoes in Iran today.
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How The Sasanians Claimed The Iranian World
- The Sasanian Empire deliberately branded itself as the ruler of Iran with uniform symbols like coinage and the title Eran Shah.
- Khodadad Rezakhani cites Tissaphernes/Ctesiphon coin imagery and the use of Mazdēsn and Shahanshah as core imperial identity markers.
Ctesiphon As A Cosmopolitan Imperial Capital
- Ctesiphon functioned as a multifaceted imperial capital comparable to Rome or Constantinople.
- Rezakhani notes it comprised several attached towns and hosted centers of Jewish and East Syriac Christian learning.
Sasanian Aristocracy Was Complex Not Caste
- The Sasanian elite was plural and varied rather than a single rigid caste system.
- Rezakhani argues for multiple aristocracies—genealogical, military, economic, religious—rather than a fixed seven-family model.