From Oxus to Euphrates: Approaching the History of Late Antique Iran

From Oxus to Euphrates: Approaching the History of Late Antique Iran

Lecture by Touraj Daryaee

Given at UCLA on April 21, 2011.

The history of Near East and Central Asia during the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE) has until recently received little attention. Those who have studied this period in history have come from different disciplines and most were not specialists of Sasanian history. How is it that this period is neglected in Near Eastern Studies? This talk will address the various approaches and views on this period of Iranian history, from the Soviet historians, to the historians of Islam to late Roman historians. The consequence of this type of approach on the development of the study of late antique Near East, specifically the Sasanian Empire will be discussed and critiqued.

Touraj Daryaee is Howard C. Baskerville Professor in the History of Iran and the Persianate World and the Associate Director of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Study & Culture at the University of California, Irvine.

Learn more about the Sassanids in the latest issue of Medieval Warfare magazine.