British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

After Alexander: Central Asia Before Islam

The reign of Abarwez Khusro: primary sources and historiography

Rika Gyselen

The reign of Khusro II (590-628) represents the last great epoch of Sasanian expansion characterized by a victorious war against Byzantium (conquest of Egypt and advance into Asia Minor to the walls of Constantinople), which is recorded in ancient histories in profusion. There is much less information about the events which took place in Eastern Iran, where Khusro fought the Hephthalites and the Turks, but succeeded, nevertheless, in briefly reconquering large territories. Just at present historians have few primary, Sasanian sources (coins, seals, ..) to shed light on military events. However, these offer some interesting lights, sometimes contradictory, on the traditional history.