“Disintegration of Sasanian Hegemony over Northern Iran (AD 623-643)”, Iranica Antiqua, vol. 46, 2011, pp. 315-329. (original) (raw)
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From the early Sasanian period, Ērānšahr (the land of Iranians) was divided into a multitude of provinces governed by šahrabs. In the sixth century AD, the old divisions of the Empire underwent changes and a new organisation emerged. According to this reorganisation, the Empire was divided, on the pattern of the four cardinal points, into four quarters or sides and each one was subdivided into provinces. From this time, the province of Ādurbādagān along with provinces such as Gīlān and Albania formed one of the provinces of the northern quarter of the country. Since the North (abāxtar) was considered to be the region of demons in Zoroastrianism, the northern quarter was named Ādurbādagān, after its most important province. However, the wide application of other names to this quarter in Sasanian and Sasanian-based sources demonstrates that the use of the name of Ādurbādagān province to refer to abāxtar was prevalent for a short period and with the collapse of Sasanian quadripartite organisation, this nomenclature fell into oblivion. Following Sasanian traditions, post-Sasanian sources applied the name of Azerbaijan to the province situated between the Sipīd-rūd and Aras Rivers whose main centres were Ardabīl, Ganzag, and Shīz. Sealings found in Takht-i Sulaymān, belonging to Sasanian officials, attest the importance of the province for the Sasanians.
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Our knowledge of Sasanian imperial strategy continues to grow as a result of a range of projects investigating the frontiers of the Sasanian Empire. Understanding of the north-western fringe of the Empire in particular is being increased by the Mughan Steppe Archaeological Project. Surveys have shown that the fortified settlement of Ultan Qalasi is the largest of a series of fortified sites that lie adjacent to irrigation canals that stretch across the steppe, and excavations have provided relative and absolute dating evidence for the establishment of the settlement during the Sasanian period. This paper introduces the Mughan Steppe Archaeological Project and presents the stratigraphy of Ultan Qalasi, It also situates this site within the broader socio-political context of the southern Caucasus in the first millennium AD, and the wider world of the Sasanian Empire. https://doi.org/10.1080/05786967.2011.11834429