169-569: Manichaeism ( / ˌ m æ n ɪ ˈ k iː ɪ z əm / ; in Persian : آئین مانی Āʾīn-ī Mānī ; Chinese : 摩尼教 ; pinyin : Móníjiào ) is a Gnostic former major world religion , founded in the 3rd century CE by the Parthian prophet Mani (216–274 CE), in the Sasanian Empire . Manichaeism teaches an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between
338-473: A dyke near Shushtar , called "Caesar's dyke". The victory over Valerian is presented in a mural at Naqsh-e Rustam , where Shapur is represented on horseback wearing royal armour and a crown. Before him kneels a man in Roman dress, asking for grace. The same scene is repeated in other rock-face inscriptions. Christian tradition has Shapur I humiliating Valerian, infamous for his persecution of Christians , by
507-578: A good , spiritual world of light , and an evil , material world of darkness . Through an ongoing process that takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light, whence it came. Mani's teaching was intended to "combine", succeed, and surpass the teachings of Platonism , Christianity , Zoroastrianism , Buddhism , Marcionism , Hellenistic and Rabbinic Judaism , Gnostic movements , Ancient Greek religion , Babylonian and other Mesopotamian religions , and mystery cults . It reveres Mani as
676-655: A Dari dialect. In the 19th century, under the Qajar dynasty , the dialect that is spoken in Tehran rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule, numerous Russian , French , and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology. The first official attentions to
845-573: A council amongst the magnates. The Eastern provinces of the fledgling Sasanian Empire bordered on the land of the Kushans and the land of the Sakas (roughly today's Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan). The military operations of Shapur's father Ardashir I had led to the local Kushan and Saka kings offering tribute, and satisfied by this show of submission, Ardashir seems to have refrained from occupying their territories. Al-Tabari alleges he rebuilt
1014-418: A dictionary called Words of Scientific Association ( لغت انجمن علمی ), which was completed in the future and renamed Katouzian Dictionary ( فرهنگ کاتوزیان ). The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name Academy of Iran . It was established by the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi , and mainly by Hekmat e Shirazi and Mohammad Ali Foroughi , all prominent names in
1183-505: A language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Farsi , which is the Persian word for the Persian language, has also been used widely in English in recent decades, more often to refer to Iran's standard Persian. However, the name Persian is still more widely used. The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has maintained that the endonym Farsi is to be avoided in foreign languages, and that Persian
1352-417: A literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time. This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian". There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from
1521-536: A period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed toward a fully accepted language of literature, and which was even able to lexically satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. In the Ottoman Empire, Persian was used at the royal court, for diplomacy, poetry, historiographical works, literary works, and
1690-489: A reform of Zarathrusta's ancient teachings. This was of great fascination to the king, for it perfectly fit Sabuhr's dream of creating a large empire that incorporated all people and their different creeds. Thus, Manichaeism became widespread and flourished throughout the Sasanian Empire for thirty years. An apologia for Manichaeism ascribed to ibn al-Muqaffa' defended its phantasmagorical cosmogony and attacked
1859-679: A region in the southwestern Iranian plateau , was the homeland of the southwestern branch of the Iranian peoples , the Persians. It was also the birthplace of the first Iranian Empire, the Achaemenids . The region served as the centre of the empire until its conquest by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great ( r. 336–323 BCE ). Since the end of the 3rd or the beginning of
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#17327661167992028-744: A religion. It was his "Twin" who brought Mani to self-realization . Mani claimed to be the Paraclete of the Truth promised by Jesus in the New Testament. Manichaeism's views on Jesus are described by historians: Jesus in Manichaeism possessed three separate identities: (1) Jesus the Luminous, (2) Jesus the Messiah and (3) Jesus patibilis (the suffering Jesus). (1) As Jesus
2197-501: A remote place, Bishapur in Khuzistan , where they were settled as a garrison and built a weir with bridge for Shapur. However, the Persian forces were later defeated by the Roman officer Balista and the lord of Palmyra Septimius Odaenathus , who captured the royal harem. Shapur plundered the eastern borders of Syria and returned to Ctesiphon, probably in late 260. In 264 Septimius Odaenathus reached Ctesiphon, but failed to take
2366-678: A report that the proclamation of Manichaeism as the state religion was met with enthusiasm in Ordu-Baliq. In an inscription in which the Kaghan speaks for himself, he promised the Manichaen high priests (the "Elect") that if they gave orders, he would promptly follow them and respond to their requests. An incomplete manuscript found in the Turfan Oasis gives Boku Tekin the title of zahag-i Mani ("Emanation of Mani" or "Descendant of Mani"),
2535-575: A revelation as a youth from a spirit, whom he would later call his "Twin" ( Imperial Aramaic : תאומא tɑʔwmɑ , from which is also derived the Greek name of Thomas the Apostle , Didymus; the "twin"), Syzygos ( Koinē Greek : σύζυγος "spouse, partner", in the Cologne Mani-Codex ), "Double," "Protective Angel," or "Divine Self." This spirit taught him wisdom that he then developed into
2704-807: A sacred forest in Otuken . The conversion to Manichaeism led to an explosion of manuscript production in the Tarim Basin and Gansu (the region between the Tibetan and the Huangtu plateaus), which lasted well into the early 11th century. In 840, the Uyghur Khaganate collapsed under the attacks of the Yenisei Kyrgyz , and the new Uyghur state of Qocho was established with a capital in the city of Qocho . Al-Jahiz (776–868 or 869) believed that
2873-545: A speaker of Persian. Persian is a member of the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages , which make up a branch of the Indo-European languages in their Indo-Iranian subdivision . The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which Kurdish and Balochi are
3042-691: A title of majestic prestige among the Manichaeans of Central Asia. Nonetheless, and despite the apparently willing conversion of the Uyghurs to Manichaeanism, traces and signs of the previous shamanistic practices persisted. For instance, in 765, only two years after the official conversion, during a military campaign in China, the Uyghur troops called forth magicians to perform a number of specific rituals. Manichaean Uyghurs continued to treat with great respect
3211-730: A town named Pushang in Khorasan . In all records Shapur calls himself mzdysn ("Mazda-worshipping"). His inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht recounts his wars and religious establishments to the same extent. He believed that he had a responsibility; "For the reason, therefore, that the gods have so made us their instrument (dstkrt), and that by the help of the gods we have sought out for ourselves, and hold, all these nations (štry) for that reason we have also founded, province by province, many Varahrān fires (ʾtwry wlhlʾn), and we have dealt piously with many Magi (mowmard), and we have made great worship of
3380-600: Is a continuation of Middle Persian , an official language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of Old Persian , which was used in the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). It originated in the region of Fars ( Persia ) in southwestern Iran. Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages. Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in West Asia , Central Asia , and South Asia . Old Persian
3549-628: Is a direct descendant of Middle and Old Persian. Gernot Windfuhr considers new Persian as an evolution of the Old Persian language and the Middle Persian language but also states that none of the known Middle Persian dialects is the direct predecessor of Modern Persian. Ludwig Paul states: "The language of the Shahnameh should be seen as one instance of continuous historical development from Middle to New Persian." The known history of
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#17327661167993718-513: Is also attested under Shapur, who made use of them to demolish the city of Hatra . He may also have used them against Valerian, as attested in the Shahnameh ( The Book of Kings ). Shapur I left other reliefs and rock inscriptions. A relief at Naqsh-e Rajab near Estakhr is accompanied by a Greek translation. Here Shapur I calls himself "the Mazdayasnan (worshipper of Ahuramazda ),
3887-570: Is also found in the story of the mythological Iranian king Kay Khosrow . According to the modern historian Bonner, the story of Shapur's birth and uprising "may conceal a marriage between Ardashir and an Arsacid princess or perhaps merely a noble lady connected with the Parthian aristocracy." On his inscriptions, Shapur identifies his mother as a certain Murrod . Shapur I was a son of Ardashir I and his wife Murrod or Denag . The background of
4056-796: Is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan , as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran . It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet , a derivative of the Arabic script , and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet , a derivative of the Cyrillic script . Modern Persian
4225-675: Is attested in Old Persian cuneiform on inscriptions from between the 6th and 4th century BC. Middle Persian is attested in Aramaic -derived scripts ( Pahlavi and Manichaean ) on inscriptions and in Zoroastrian and Manichaean scriptures from between the third to the tenth centuries (see Middle Persian literature ). New Persian literature was first recorded in the ninth century, after the Muslim conquest of Persia , since then adopting
4394-604: Is called a Manichaean , Manichean , or Manichee , the last especially in older sources. Mani was an Iranian born in 216 CE in or near Ctesiphon (now al-Mada'in , Iraq) in the Parthian Empire . According to the Cologne Mani-Codex , Mani's parents were members of the Jewish Christian Gnostic sect known as the Elcesaites . Mani composed seven works, six of which were written in
4563-425: Is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable. New Persian texts written in the Arabic script first appear in the 9th-century. The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious, and literary language of
4732-572: Is known about Manichaeism comes from later 10th- and 11th-century Muslim historians like al-Biruni and ibn al-Nadim in his al-Fihrist ; the latter "ascribed to Mani the claim to be the Seal of the Prophets." However, given the Islamic milieu of Arabia and Persia at the time, it stands to reason that Manichaens would regularly assert in their evangelism that Mani, not Muhammad , was the "Seal of
4901-460: Is not actually attested until 600 years later when it appears in the Sassanid era (224–651 AD) inscriptions, so any form of the language before this date cannot be described with any degree of certainty. Moreover, as a literary language, Middle Persian is not attested until much later, in the 6th or 7th century. From the 8th century onward, Middle Persian gradually began yielding to New Persian, with
5070-485: Is not known. From the ninth century, it is reported that Caliph al-Ma'mun tolerated a community of Manichaeans. Persian language Russia Persian ( / ˈ p ɜːr ʒ ən , - ʃ ən / PUR -zhən, -shən ), also known by its endonym Farsi ( فارسی , Fārsī [fɒːɾˈsiː] ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of
5239-410: Is one of Afghanistan's two official languages, together with Pashto . The term Dari , meaning "of the court", originally referred to the variety of Persian used in the court of the Sasanian Empire in capital Ctesiphon , which was spread to the northeast of the empire and gradually replaced the former Iranian dialects of Parthia ( Parthian ). Tajik Persian ( форси́и тоҷикӣ́ , forsi-i tojikī ),
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5408-585: Is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages. According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians in Southwestern Iran (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe called Parsuwash , who arrived in the Iranian Plateau early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-day Fārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became
5577-495: Is the appropriate designation of the language in English, as it has the longer tradition in western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity. Iranian historian and linguist Ehsan Yarshater , founder of the Encyclopædia Iranica and Columbia University 's Center for Iranian Studies, mentions the same concern in an academic journal on Iranology , rejecting
5746-555: Is transliterated in other languages as; Greek Sapur , Sabour and Sapuris ; Latin Sapores and Sapor ; Arabic Sābur and Šābur ; New Persian Šāpur , Šāhpur , Šahfur . According to the semi-legendary Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan , a Middle Persian biography of Ardashir I , the daughter of the Parthian king Artabanus IV , Zijanak, attempted to poison her husband Ardashir. Discovering her intentions, Ardashir ordered her to be executed. Finding out about her pregnancy,
5915-491: The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan, and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist. The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects: More distantly related branches of the Iranian language family include Kurdish and Balochi . The Glottolog database proposes
6084-506: The Kalila wa Dimna . The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which, among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional lingua franca , a task aided due to its relatively simple morphology, and this situation persisted until at least the 19th century. In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on
6253-589: The mobads (priests) were against it. Nevertheless, Ardashir still demanded her execution, which led the mobads to conceal her and her son Shapur for seven years, until the latter was identified by Ardashir, who chooses to adopt him based on his virtuous traits. This type of narrative is repeated in Iranian historiography. According to 5th-century BCE Greek historian Herodotus , the Median king Astyages wanted to have his grandson Cyrus killed because he believed that he would one day overthrow him. A similar narrative
6422-749: The Babylonian Amoraim , the Talmudic sages from among the important Jewish communities of Mesopotamia . Shapur's campaigns deprived the Roman Empire of resources while restoring and substantially enriching his own treasury, by deporting many Romans from conquered cities to Sasanian provinces like Khuzestan , Asuristan , and Pars . This influx of deported artisans and skilled workers revitalised Iran's domestic commerce. In Bishapur , Shapur died of an illness. His death came in May 270 and he
6591-550: The Babylonian Talmud ), Mandaean (the language of Mandaeism ), and Syriac, which was the language of Mani as well as the Syriac Christians . While Manichaeism was spreading, existing religions such as Zoroastrianism were still prevalent, and Christianity was gaining social and political influence. Although having fewer adherents, Manichaeism won the support of many high-ranking political figures. With
6760-559: The Bazrangid ruler of Persis, Gochihr , taking Istakhr for himself. Around 208 Vologases VI succeeded his father Vologases V as king of the Arsacid Empire. He ruled as the uncontested king from 208 to 213, but afterwards fell into a dynastic struggle with his brother Artabanus IV , who by 216 was in control of most of the empire, even being acknowledged as the supreme ruler by the Roman Empire. Artabanus IV soon clashed with
6929-690: The Book of Enoch literature), and by the Syriac dualist -Gnostic writer Bardaisan (who lived a generation before Mani). With the discovery of the Mani-Codex, it also became clear that he was raised in the Jewish Christian sect of the Elcasaites and possibly influenced by their writings. According to biographies preserved by ibn al-Nadim and the Persian polymath al-Biruni , Mani received
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7098-668: The British colonization , Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent . It took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts on the subcontinent and became the sole "official language" under the Mughal emperors . The Bengal Sultanate witnessed an influx of Persian scholars, lawyers, teachers, and clerics. Thousands of Persian books and manuscripts were published in Bengal. The period of
7267-628: The Greco-Roman world because of it. Mani taught how the soul of a righteous individual returns to Paradise upon dying, but "the soul of the person who persisted in things of the flesh – fornication, procreation, possessions, cultivation, harvesting, eating of meat, drinking of wine – is condemned to rebirth in a succession of bodies." Mani began preaching at an early age and was possibly influenced by contemporary Babylonian-Aramaic movements such as Mandaeism , Aramaic translations of Jewish apocalyptic works similar to those found at Qumran (e.g.,
7436-452: The Indo-European languages . Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties , respectively Iranian Persian (officially known as Persian ), Dari Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964), and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik since 1999). It
7605-400: The King of Kings using the Emperor as a footstool to mount his horse, and they claim he later died a miserable death in captivity at the hands of the enemy. However, just as with the above-mentioned Gilaks deported to the East by Shapur, the Persian treatment of prisoners of war was unpleasant but honourable, drafting the captured Romans and their Emperor into their army and deporting them to
7774-503: The Kings of Persis , most likely at the accession of the Arsacid monarch Phraates II ( r. 132–127 BCE ). Unlike the fratarakas , the Kings of Persis used the title of shah ("king"), and laid foundations to a new dynasty, which may be labelled the Darayanids. Under Vologases V ( r. 191–208 ), the Parthian Empire was in decline, due to wars with the Romans , civil wars and regional revolts. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus ( r. 193–211 ) had invaded
7943-444: The Manichaean alphabet that was used in all of the Manichaean works written within the Sasanian Empire , whether they were in Syriac or Middle Persian , as well as most of the works written within the Uyghur Khaganate . The primary language of Babylon (and the administrative and cultural language of the Empire) at that time was Eastern Middle Aramaic , which included three main dialects: Jewish Babylonian Aramaic (the language of
8112-455: The Sultanate of Rum , Turkmen beyliks of Anatolia , Delhi Sultanate , the Shirvanshahs , Safavids , Afsharids , Zands , Qajars , Khanate of Bukhara , Khanate of Kokand , Emirate of Bukhara , Khanate of Khiva , Ottomans , and also many Mughal successors such as the Nizam of Hyderabad . Persian was the only non-European language known and used by Marco Polo at the Court of Kublai Khan and in his journeys through China. A branch of
8281-439: The Turkic , Armenian , Georgian , & Indo-Aryan languages . It also exerted some influence on Arabic, while borrowing a lot of vocabulary from it in the Middle Ages. Some of the world's most famous pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, such as the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi , the works of Rumi , the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám , the Panj Ganj of Nizami Ganjavi , The Divān of Hafez , The Conference of
8450-456: The entire world , calling his teachings the "Religion of Light". Manichaean writings indicate that Mani received revelations when he was twelve years old and again when he was 24, and over this period, he grew dissatisfied with the Elcesaites , the Jewish Christian Gnostic sect he was born into. Some researchers also point to an important Jain influence on Mani as extreme degrees of asceticism and some specific features of Jain doctrine made
8619-423: The ezāfe construction, expressed through ī (modern e/ye ), to indicate some of the relations between words that have been lost with the simplification of the earlier grammatical system. Although the "middle period" of the Iranian languages formally begins with the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the transition from Old to Middle Persian had probably already begun before the 4th century BC. However, Middle Persian
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#17327661167998788-549: The fideism of Islam and other monotheistic religions. The Manichaeans had sufficient structure to have a head of their community. Tolerance toward Manichaeism decreased after the death of Sabuhr I. His son, Ohrmazd , who became king, still allowed for Manichaeism in the empire, but he also greatly trusted the Zoroastrian priest, Kirdir. After Ohrmazd's short reign, his oldest brother, Wahram I , became king. Wahram I held Kirdir in high esteem, and he also had many different religious ideals than Ohrmazd and his father, Sabuhr I. Due to
8957-418: The late-Aramaic Syriac language . The seventh, the Shabuhragan , was written by Mani in Middle Persian and presented by him to Sasanian emperor Shapur I . Although there is no proof Shapur I was a Manichaean, he tolerated the spread of Manichaeism and refrained from persecuting it within his empire's boundaries. According to one tradition, Mani invented the unique version of the Syriac script known as
9126-479: The " Persianized " Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian during this time served as lingua franca of Greater Persia and of much of the Indian subcontinent . It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, Buyids , Tahirids , Ziyarids , the Mughal Empire , Timurids , Ghaznavids , Karakhanids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians ,
9295-416: The 2nd century BCE, Pars was ruled by local dynasts subject to the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire . These dynasts held the ancient Persian title of frataraka ("leader, governor, forerunner"), which is also attested in the Achaemenid-era. Later under the frataraka Wadfradad II (fl. 138 BCE) was made a vassal of the Iranian Parthian (Arsacid) Empire . The frataraka were shortly afterwards replaced by
9464-572: The Birds by Attar of Nishapur , and the miscellanea of Gulistan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi , are written in Persian. Some of the prominent modern Persian poets were Nima Yooshij , Ahmad Shamlou , Simin Behbahani , Sohrab Sepehri , Rahi Mo'ayyeri , Mehdi Akhavan-Sales , and Forugh Farrokhzad . There are approximately 130 million Persian speakers worldwide, including Persians , Lurs , Tajiks , Hazaras , Iranian Azeris , Iranian Kurds , Balochs , Tats , Afghan Pashtuns , and Aimaqs . The term Persophone might also be used to refer to
9633-402: The Buddha of Infinite Light, does not appear in Chinese Manichaeism and seems to have been replaced by another deity. Manichaeism reached Rome through the apostle Psattiq in 280, who was also in Egypt in 244 and 251. It flourished in the Faiyum in 290. Manichaean monasteries existed in Rome in 312 during the time of Pope Miltiades . In 291, persecution arose in the Sasanian Empire with
9802-447: The Buddhist sangha . The Kushan monk Lokakṣema began translating Pure Land Buddhist texts into Chinese in the century prior to Mani arriving there. The Chinese texts of Manichaeism are full of uniquely Buddhist terms taken directly from these Chinese Pure Land scriptures, including the term " pure land " ( Chinese : 淨土 ; pinyin : jìngtǔ ) itself. However, the central object of veneration in Pure Land Buddhism, Amitābha ,
9971-588: The East in Ming China , there is a growing corpus of evidence that shows Manichaeism persists in some areas of China, especially in Fujian , where numerous Manichaean relics have been discovered over time. The currently known sects are notably secretive and protective of their belief system, in an effort to remain undetected. This stems from fears relating to persecution and suppression during various periods of Chinese history. While most of Manichaeism's original writings have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived. An adherent of Manichaeism
10140-401: The East and annexed most of the land of the Kushans, and appointing his son Narseh as Sakanshah—king of the Sakas—in Sistan . In 242 CE, Shapur conquered khwarezm . Shapur could now proudly proclaim that his empire stretched all the way to Peshawar, and his relief in Rag-i-Bibi in present-day Afghanistan confirms this claim. Shapur I claims in his Naqsh-e Rostam inscription possession of
10309-406: The Eastern territories with POW's from his previous campaign against the Medes of the Mountains. Agathias claims Bahram II (274–293 CE) later campaigned in the land of the Sakas and appointed his brother Hormizd as its king. When Hormizd revolted, the Panegyrici Latini list his forces as the Sacci (Sakas), the Rufii (Cusii/Kushans) and the Geli (Gelans / Gilaks , the inhabitants of Gilan ). Since
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#173276611679910478-413: The Gilaks are obviously out of place among these easterners, and as we know that Shapur I had to fight the Medes of the Mountains first before marching to the land of the Kushans, it is conceivable those Gilaks were the descendants of warriors captured during Shapur I's North-western campaign, forcibly drafted into the Sasanian army, and settled as a hereditary garrison in Merv , Nishapur , or Zrang after
10647-443: The Luminous ... his primary role was as supreme revealer and guide and it was he who woke Adam from his slumber and revealed to him the divine origins of his soul and its painful captivity by the body and mixture with matter. (2) Jesus the Messiah was an historical being who was the prophet of the Jews and the forerunner of Mani. However, the Manichaeans believed he was wholly divine, and that he never experienced human birth, as
10816-400: The Manichaean version of the same name (analyzed and published by Walter Bruno Henning in 1943) were discovered along with the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Judaean desert in the 20th century and the Manichaean writings of the Uyghur Manichaean kingdom in Turpan . Henning wrote in his analysis of them: It is noteworthy that Mani, who was brought up and spent most of his life in a province of
10985-473: The Manichaeans [...] have set up new and hitherto unheard-of sects in opposition to the older creeds so that they might cast out the doctrines vouchsafed to us in the past by the divine favour for the benefit of their own depraved doctrine. They have sprung forth very recently like new and unexpected monstrosities among the race of the Persians – a nation still hostile to us – and have made their way into our empire, where they are committing many outrages, disturbing
11154-500: The Middle Ages, and is because of the lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The standard Persian of Iran has been called, apart from Persian and Farsi , by names such as Iranian Persian and Western Persian , exclusively. Officially, the official language of Iran is designated simply as Persian ( فارسی , fārsi ). The standard Persian of Afghanistan has been officially named Dari ( دری , dari ) since 1958. Also referred to as Afghan Persian in English, it
11323-429: The Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as Sultan Selim I , despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of Shia Islam . It was a major literary language in the empire. Some of the noted earlier Persian works during the Ottoman rule are Idris Bidlisi 's Hasht Bihisht , which began in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the Salim-Namah , a glorification of Selim I. After
11492-468: The Parthian domains in 196, and two years later did the same, this time sacking the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. At the same time, revolts occurred in Media and Persis. The Iranologist Touraj Daryaee argues that the reign of Vologases V was "the turning point in Parthian history, in that the dynasty lost much of its prestige." The kings of Persis were now unable to depend on their weakened Parthian overlords. Indeed, in 205/6, Pabag rebelled and overthrew
11661-403: The Persian empire, and whose mother belonged to a famous Parthian family, did not make any use of the Iranian mythological tradition. There can no longer be any doubt that the Iranian names of Sām , Narīmān , etc., that appear in the Persian and Sogdian versions of the Book of the Giants, did not figure in the original edition, written by Mani in the Syriac language. By comparing the cosmology of
11830-459: The Persian language can be divided into the following three distinct periods: As a written language , Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from the Behistun Inscription , dating to the time of King Darius I (reigned 522–486 BC). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran , Romania ( Gherla ), Armenia , Bahrain , Iraq , Turkey, and Egypt . Old Persian
11999-425: The Persian language, a language historically called Dari, emerged in present-day Afghanistan. The first significant Persian poet was Rudaki . He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in
12168-401: The Persian model: Ottoman Turkish , Chagatai Turkic , Dobhashi Bengali , and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian. "Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of medieval Persia used in literature and poetry . This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and lingua franca under
12337-506: The Persians of 500,000 gold denarii. Philip immediately issued coins proclaiming that he had made peace with the Persians ( pax fundata cum Persis ). However, Philip later broke the treaty and seized lost territory. Shapur I commemorated this victory on several rock reliefs in Pars . Shapur I invaded Mesopotamia in 250 but again, serious trouble arose in Khorasan and Shapur I had to march over there and settle its affair. Having settled
12506-886: The Perso-Arabic script. Persian was the first language to break through the monopoly of Arabic on writing in the Muslim world , with Persian poetry becoming a tradition in many eastern courts. It was used officially as a language of bureaucracy even by non-native speakers, such as the Ottomans in Anatolia , the Mughals in South Asia, and the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. It influenced languages spoken in neighboring regions and beyond, including other Iranian languages,
12675-618: The Prophets". In reality, for Mani the metaphorical expression "Seal of Prophets" is not a reference to his finality in a long succession of prophets as it is used in Islam, but rather as final to his followers (who testify or attest to his message as a "seal"). Other sources of Mani's scripture were the Aramaic originals of the Book of Enoch , 2 Enoch , and an otherwise unknown section of the Book of Enoch entitled The Book of Giants . Mani quoted
12844-539: The Roman emperor Caracalla , whose forces he managed to contain at Nisibis in 217. Peace was made between the two empires the following year, with the Arsacids keeping most of Mesopotamia . However, Artabanus IV still had to deal with his brother Vologases VI, who continued to mint coins and challenge him. The Sasanian family had meanwhile quickly risen to prominence in Pars, and had now under Ardashir begun to conquer
13013-411: The Roman emperor, Valerian . He did not seem interested in permanently occupying the Roman provinces, choosing instead to resort to plundering and pillaging, gaining vast amounts of riches. The captives of Antioch, for example, were allocated to the newly reconstructed city of Gundeshapur , later famous as a center of scholarship. In the 260s, subordinates of Shapur suffered setbacks against Odaenathus ,
13182-484: The Sasanian Empire (224–651). However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as pārsīk , commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of Fars and used in Zoroastrian religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by the court of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon and the northeastern Iranian region of Khorasan , known as Dari. The region, which comprised
13351-643: The Sasanians with "a huge army and great quantity of gold," (according to a Sasanian rock relief) and wintered in Antioch , while Shapur was occupied with subduing Gilan , Khorasan , and Sistan . There the Roman general Timesitheus fought against the Sasanians and won repeated battles, and recaptured Carrhae and Nisibis, and at last routed a Sasanian army at Resaena, forcing the Persians to restore all occupied cities unharmed to their citizens. "We have penetrated as far as Nisibis, and shall even get to Ctesiphon ,"
13520-588: The Sassanids (who were Persians, i.e. from the southwest) from the preceding Arsacids (who were Parthians, i.e. from the northeast). While Ibn al-Muqaffa' (eighth century) still distinguished between Pahlavi (i.e. Parthian) and Persian (in Arabic text: al-Farisiyah) (i.e. Middle Persian), this distinction is not evident in Arab commentaries written after that date. "New Persian" (also referred to as Modern Persian)
13689-518: The Seljuks, the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art, and letters to Anatolia. They adopted the Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , who can roughly be seen as their eventual successors, inherited this tradition. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire. The educated and noble class of
13858-572: The Song dynasty, the Manichaeans were derogatorily referred by the Chinese as Chīcài shìmó ( Chinese : 吃菜事魔 , meaning that they "abstain from meat and worship demons"). An account in Fozu Tongji , an important historiography of Buddhism in China compiled by Buddhist scholars during 1258–1269, says that the Manichaeans worshipped the "White Buddha" and their leader wore a violet headgear, while
14027-510: The Uyghur Khaganate in 840. In the east it spread along trade routes as far as Chang'an , the capital of Tang China . After the Tang dynasty, some Manichaean groups participated in peasant movements . Many rebel leaders used religion to mobilize followers. In Song and Yuan China, remnants of Manichaeism continued to leave a legacy contributing to sects such as the Red Turbans . During
14196-572: The Uyghurs in Turfan may be detected in fragments of Uyghur Manichaean manuscripts. In fact, Manicheism continued to rival the influence of Buddhism among the Uyghurs until the 13th century. The Mongols gave the final blow to the Manichaeism among the Uyghurs. Manichaeism spread to Tibet during the Tibetan Empire . There was a serious attempt made to introduce the religion to the Tibetans as
14365-716: The Zoroastrians. Due to the appeal of its teachings, many Sasanians adopted the ideas of its theology and some even became dualists. Not only were the citizens of the Sasanian Empire intrigued by Manichaeism, but so was the ruler at the time of its introduction, Sabuhr l . As the Denkard reports, Sabuhr, the first King of Kings , was very well-known for gaining and seeking knowledge of any kind. Because of this, Mani knew that Sabuhr would lend an ear to his teachings and accept him. Mani had explicitly stated while introducing his teachings to Sabuhr, that his religion should be seen as
14534-529: The affair in Khorasan he resumed the invasion of Roman territories, and later annihilated a Roman force of 60,000 at the Battle of Barbalissos . He then burned and ravaged the Roman province of Syria and all its dependencies. Shapur I then reconquered Armenia , and incited Anak the Parthian to murder the king of Armenia, Khosrov II . Anak did as Shapur asked, and had Khosrov murdered in 258; yet Anak himself
14703-635: The ancient city of Zrang in Sakastan (the land of the Sakas , Sistan ), but the only early Sasanian period founding of a new settlement in the East which is certain is the building by Shapur I of Nishapur —"Beautiful (city built) by Shapur"—in Dihistan (former Parthia , apparently lost by the Parthians to the Kushans ). Soon after the death of his father in 241 CE, Shapur felt the need to cut short
14872-498: The area of Lake Urmia in the records of Shalmaneser III . The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from a linguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persian pārsa itself coming directly from the older word * pārćwa . Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language, Median , according to P. O. Skjærvø it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before
15041-526: The assistance of the Sasanian Empire, Mani began missionary expeditions. After failing to win the favour of the next generation of Persian royalty and incurring the disapproval of the Zoroastrian clergy, Mani is reported to have died in prison awaiting execution by the Persian emperor Bahram I . The date of his death is estimated at 276–277 CE. Mani believed that the teachings of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus were incomplete, and that his revelations were for
15210-575: The battle or murdered by the Romans after the defeat. The Romans then chose Philip the Arab as Emperor. Philip was not willing to repeat the mistakes of previous claimants, and was aware that he had to return to Rome to secure his position with the Senate. Philip concluded a peace with Shapur I in 244; he had agreed that Armenia lay within Persia's sphere of influence. He also had to pay an enormous indemnity to
15379-576: The beginning of his proselytizing career, Richard Foltz postulates Buddhist influences in Manichaeism: Buddhist influences were significant in the formation of Mani's religious thought. The transmigration of souls became a Manichaean belief, and the quadripartite structure of the Manichaean community, divided between male and female monks (the "elect") and lay followers (the "hearers") who supported them, appears to be based on that of
15548-466: The books of Enoch to the Book of Giants, as well as the description of the Manichaean myth, scholars have observed that the Manichaean cosmology can be described as being based, in part, on the description of the cosmology developed in detail within the Enochic literature. This literature describes the being that the prophets saw in their ascent to Heaven as a king who sits on a throne at the highest of
15717-655: The campaign they had started in Roman Syria, and reassert Sasanian authority in the East, perhaps because the Kushan and Saka kings were lax in abiding to their tributary status. However, he first had to fight "The Medes of the Mountains"—as we will see possibly in the mountain range of Gilan on the Caspian coast—and after subjugating them, he appointed his son Bahram (the later Bahram I ) as their king. He then marched to
15886-532: The captive soul is exquisitely expressed in one of the Coptic Manichaean psalms. Augustine of Hippo also noted that Mani declared himself to be an "apostle of Jesus Christ". Manichaean tradition is also noted to have claimed that Mani was the reincarnation of religious figures from previous eras such as the Buddha, Krishna , and Zoroaster in addition to Jesus himself. Academics note that much of what
16055-631: The city. The Colossal Statue of Shapur I , which stands in the Shapur Cave, is one of the most impressive sculptures of the Sasanian Empire . Shapur is mentioned many times in the Talmud , in which he is referred to in Jewish Aramaic as Shabur Malka (שבור מלכא), meaning "King Shapur". He had good relations with the Jewish community and was a friend of Shmuel , one of the most famous of
16224-457: The code fas for the dialects spoken across Iran and Afghanistan. This consists of the individual languages Dari ( prs ) and Iranian Persian ( pes ). It uses tgk for Tajik, separately. In general, the Iranian languages are known from three periods: namely Old, Middle, and New (Modern). These correspond to three historical eras of Iranian history ; Old era being sometime around the Achaemenid Empire (i.e., 400–300 BC), Middle era being
16393-512: The collapse of the Sassanid state, Parsik came to be applied exclusively to (either Middle or New) Persian that was written in the Arabic script . From about the 9th century onward, as Middle Persian was on the threshold of becoming New Persian, the older form of the language came to be erroneously called Pahlavi , which was actually but one of the writing systems used to render both Middle Persian as well as various other Middle Iranian languages. That writing system had previously been adopted by
16562-585: The competition to replace classical polytheism before the spread of Islam . Under the Roman Dominate , Manichaeism was persecuted by the Roman state and was eventually stamped out in the Roman Empire. Manichaeism survived longer in the east than it did in the west. Although it was thought to have finally faded away after the 14th century in South China , contemporary to the decline of the Church of
16731-522: The conclusion of Shapur's north-eastern campaign, the usual Sasanian practise with prisoners of war. Ardashir I had, towards the end of his reign, renewed the war against the Roman Empire , and Shapur I had conquered the Mesopotamian fortresses Nisibis and Carrhae and had advanced into Syria . In 242, the Romans under the father-in-law of their child-emperor Gordian III set out against
16900-477: The conquest and destruction of the city of Hatra , whose fall was facilitated, according to Islamic tradition, by the actions of his future wife al-Nadirah . Shapur also consolidated and expanded the empire of Ardashir I, waged war against the Roman Empire , and seized its cities of Nisibis and Carrhae while he was advancing as far as Roman Syria . Although he was defeated at the Battle of Resaena in 243 by Roman emperor Gordian III ( r. 238–244 ), he
17069-706: The divine Shapur, King of Kings of the Iranians , and non-Iranians, of divine descent, son of the Mazdayasnan, the divine Ardashir , King of Kings of the Aryans, grandson of the divine king Papak ". Another long inscription at Estakhr mentions the King's exploits in archery in the presence of his nobles. From his titles we learn that Shapur I claimed sovereignty over the whole earth, although in reality his domain extended little farther than that of Ardashir I. Shapur I built
17238-402: The emperor issued a series of edicts to suppress Manichaeism and punish its followers. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) converted to Christianity from Manichaeism in the year 387. This was shortly after the Roman emperor Theodosius I issued a decree of death for all Manichaean monks in 382 and shortly before he declared Christianity the only legitimate religion for the Roman Empire in 391. Due to
17407-463: The end of the Arsacid era and the start of 427 years of Sasanian rule. The chief secretary of the deceased Arsacid king, Dad-windad , was afterwards executed by Ardashir I. Ardashir celebrated his victory by having two rock reliefs sculptured at the Sasanian royal city of Ardashir-Khwarrah (present-day Firuzabad ) in Pars . The first relief portrays three scenes of personal fighting; starting from
17576-528: The end of the Parthian Empire. Yet, the military was essentially the same as that of the Parthians; the same Parthians nobles who served the Arsacid royal family, now served the Sasanians, forming the majority of the Sasanian army. However, the Sasanians seem to have employed more cataphracts who were equipped with lighter chain-mail armour resembling that of the Romans. Although Iranian society
17745-652: The extent of its influence on certain languages of the Indian subcontinent. Words borrowed from Persian are still quite commonly used in certain Indo-Aryan languages, especially Hindi - Urdu (also historically known as Hindustani ), Punjabi , Kashmiri , and Sindhi . There is also a small population of Zoroastrian Iranis in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious execution in Qajar Iran and speak
17914-606: The family is obscure; although based in Pars (also known as Persis ), they were not native to the area, and were seemingly originally from the east. The historian Marek Jan Olbrycht has suggested that the family was descended from the Indo-Parthians of Sakastan . Iranologist Khodadad Rezakhani also noted similarities between the early Sasanians and the Indo-Parthians, such as their coinage. Yet, he stated that "evidence might still be too inconclusive." Pars,
18083-435: The final prophet after Zoroaster , the Buddha and Jesus . Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through Aramaic -speaking regions. It thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world. Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as China and as far west as the Roman Empire . It was briefly the main rival to early Christianity in
18252-427: The flames. We direct their followers, if they continue recalcitrant, shall suffer capital punishment, and their goods be forfeited to the imperial treasury. And if those who have gone over to that hitherto unheard-of, scandalous and wholly infamous creed, or to that of the Persians, are persons who hold public office, or are of any rank or of superior social status, you will see to it that their estates are confiscated and
18421-487: The followers wore white costumes. Many Manichaeans took part in rebellions against the Song government and were eventually quelled. After that, all governments were suppressive against Manichaeism and its followers, and the religion was banned in Ming China in 1370. While it had long been thought that Manichaeism arrived in China only at the end of the seventh century, a recent archaeological discovery demonstrated that it
18590-454: The following phylogenetic classification: Shapur I Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I ; Middle Persian : 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 , romanized: Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran . The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent until the death of the latter in 242. During his co-regency, he helped his father with
18759-577: The formation of many modern languages in West Asia, Europe, Central Asia , and South Asia . Following the Turko-Persian Ghaznavid conquest of South Asia , Persian was firstly introduced in the region by Turkic Central Asians. The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties. For five centuries prior to
18928-476: The formation of the Achaemenid Empire and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE. Xenophon , a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BCE, which is when Old Persian was still spoken and extensively used. He relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like
19097-437: The gods." According to the Zoroastrian priest Kartir , Shapur treated the Zoroastrians generously, and permitted members of their clergy to follow him on his expeditions against the Romans. According to the historian Prods Oktor Skjærvø , Shapur was a "lukewarm Zoroastrian". During the reign of Shapur, Manichaeism , a new religion founded by the Iranian prophet Mani , flourished. Mani was treated well by Shapur, and in 242,
19266-557: The great town Gundishapur near the old Achaemenid capital Susa , and increased the fertility of the district with a dam and irrigation system—built by Roman prisoners—that redirected part of the Karun River . The barrier is still called Band-e Kaisar , "the mole of the Caesar". He is also responsible for building the city of Bishapur , with the labours of Roman soldiers captured after the defeat of Valerian in 260. Shapur also built
19435-630: The heavens. In the Manichaean description, this being, the "Great King of Honor", becomes a deity who guards the entrance to the World of Light placed at the seventh of ten heavens. In the Aramaic Book of Enoch, the Qumran writings, overall, and in the original Syriac section of Manichaean scriptures quoted by Theodore bar Konai , he is called malkā rabbā d-iqārā ("the Great King of Honor"). Mani
19604-492: The heavy persecution, the religion almost disappeared from Western Europe in the fifth century and from the eastern portion of the empire in the sixth century. According to his Confessions , after nine or ten years of adhering to the Manichaean faith as a member of the group of "hearers", Augustine of Hippo became a Christian and potent adversary of Manichaeism (which he expressed in writing against his Manichaean opponent Faustus of Mileve ), seeing their beliefs that knowledge
19773-523: The hostility to the flesh and sexual activity, and his dualistic theology. Some Sogdians in Central Asia believed in the religion. Uyghur khagan Boku Tekin (759–780) converted to the religion in 763 after a three-day discussion with its preachers, the Babylonian headquarters sent high-rank clerics to Uyghur, and Manichaeism remained the state religion for about a century before the collapse of
19942-513: The incorporation of new territory into the empire, however what was precisely seen as "non-Iran(ian)" ( aneran ) is not certain. Although this new title was used on his inscriptions, it was almost never used on his coinage . The title first became regularised under Hormizd I. Shapur appears in Harry Sidebottom 's historical fiction novel series as one of the enemies of the series protagonist Marcus Clodius Ballista, career soldier in
20111-450: The influence of Mahāvīra's religious community more plausible than even the Buddha. Fynes (1996) argues that various Jain influences, particularly ideas on the existence of plant souls, were transmitted from Western Kshatrapa territories to Mesopotamia and then integrated into Manichaean beliefs. Mani wore colorful clothing abnormal for the time that reminded some Romans of a stereotypical Persian magus or warlord , earning him ire from
20280-437: The influence of Kirdir, Zoroastrianism was strengthened throughout the empire, which in turn caused Manichaeism to be diminished. Wahram sentenced Mani to prison, and he died there. Under the eighth-century Abbasid Caliphate , Arabic zindīq and the adjectival term zandaqa could denote many different things, but it seems to have primarily—or at least initially—signified a follower of Manichaeism; however its true meaning
20449-457: The king of Palmyra . According to Shapur's inscription at Hajiabad, he still remained active at the court in his later years, participating in archery . He died of illness in Bishapur , most likely in May 270. Shapur was the first Iranian monarch to use the title of "King of Kings of Iranians and non-Iranians"; beforehand the royal titulary had been "King of Kings of Iranians". He had adopted
20618-410: The language of the Persians. Related to Old Persian, but from a different branch of the Iranian language family, was Avestan , the language of the Zoroastrian liturgical texts. The complex grammatical conjugation and declension of Old Persian yielded to the structure of Middle Persian in which the dual number disappeared, leaving only singular and plural, as did gender. Middle Persian developed
20787-522: The latter directly and expanded upon it, becoming one of the six original Syriac writings of the Manichaean Church. Besides short references by non-Manichaean authors through the centuries, no original sources of The Book of Giants (which is actually part six of the Book of Enoch) were available until the 20th century. Scattered fragments of both the original Aramaic Book of Giants (which were analyzed and published by Józef Milik in 1976) and
20956-572: The left, a Persian aristocrat seizing a Parthian soldier; Shapur impaling the Parthian minister Dad-windad with his lance; and Ardashir I ousting Artabanus IV. The second relief, conceivably intended to portray the aftermath of the battle, displays the triumphant Ardashir I being given the badge of kingship over a fire shrine from the Zoroastrian supreme god Ahura Mazda , while Shapur and two other princes are watching from behind. Ardashir considered Shapur "the gentlest, wisest, bravest and ablest of all his children", and nominated him as his successor in
21125-432: The middle-period form only continuing in the texts of Zoroastrianism . Middle Persian is considered to be a later form of the same dialect as Old Persian. The native name of Middle Persian was Parsig or Parsik , after the name of the ethnic group of the southwest, that is, "of Pars ", Old Persian Parsa , New Persian Fars . This is the origin of the name Farsi as it is today used to signify New Persian. Following
21294-536: The most widely spoken. The term Persian is an English derivation of Latin Persiānus , the adjectival form of Persia , itself deriving from Greek Persís ( Περσίς ), a Hellenized form of Old Persian Pārsa ( 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which means " Persia " (a region in southwestern Iran, corresponding to modern-day Fars ). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the term Persian as
21463-565: The murder of the apostle Sisin by Emperor Bahram II and the slaughter of many Manichaeans. Then, in 302, the first official reaction and legislation against Manichaeism from the Roman state was issued under Diocletian . In an official edict called the De Maleficiis et Manichaeis compiled in the Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum and addressed to the proconsul of Africa , Diocletian wrote: We have heard that
21632-466: The nationalist movement of the time. The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many Arabic , Russian , French , and Greek loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created
21801-499: The necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of Persian orthography , were under the reign of Naser ed Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1871. After Naser ed Din Shah, Mozaffar ed Din Shah ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903. This association officially declared that it used Persian and Arabic as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal
21970-434: The neighbouring regions and more far territories, such as Kirman . At first, Ardashir I's activities did not alarm Artabanus IV, until later, when the Arsacid king finally chose to confront him. Shapur, as portrayed in the Sasanian rock reliefs , took part in his father's war with the Arsacids, including the Battle of Hormozdgan . The battle was fought on 28 April 224, with Artabanus IV being defeated and killed, marking
22139-414: The next period most officially around the Sasanian Empire , and New era being the period afterward down to present day. According to available documents, the Persian language is "the only Iranian language" for which close philological relationships between all of its three stages are established and so that Old, Middle, and New Persian represent one and the same language of Persian; that is, New Persian
22308-444: The nobility included the powerful Parthian noble families (known as the wuzurgan ) that were centred on the Iranian plateau . They served as the backbone of the Sasanian feudal army and were largely autonomous. The Parthian nobility worked for the Sasanian shah for personal benefit, personal oath, and, conceivably, a common awareness of the "Aryan" (Iranian) kinship they shared with their Persian overlords. Use of war elephants
22477-732: The northern part of Greece). Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in the Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken. However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary. The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" ( Rumili Farsisi ). As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became
22646-502: The offenders sent to the (quarry) at Phaeno or the mines at Proconnesus . And in order that this plague of iniquity shall be completely extirpated from this our most happy age, let your devotion hasten to carry out our orders and commands. By 354, Hilary of Poitiers wrote that Manichaeism was a significant force in Roman Gaul . In 381, Christians requested Theodosius I to strip Manichaeans of their civil rights . Starting in 382,
22815-542: The official language of the Achaemenid kings. Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE, Parsuwash (along with Matai , presumably Medians) are first mentioned in
22984-444: The offspring of the officials who served Shapur's father. During the reign of Shapur, a certain Papak served as the commander of the royal guard ( hazarbed ), while Peroz served as the chief of the cavalry ( aspbed ); Vahunam and Shapur served as the director of the clergy; Kirdisro served as viceroy of the empire ( bidaxsh ); Vardbad served as the "chief of services"; Hormizd served as the chief scribe; Naduk served as "the chief of
23153-425: The other hand, was real and immanent. This was symbolized by the mystic placing of the Cross whereby the wounds of the passion of our souls are set forth. On this mystical Cross of Light was suspended the Suffering Jesus (Jesus patibilis) who was the life and salvation of Man. This mystica crucifixio was present in every tree, herb, fruit, vegetable and even stones and the soil. This constant and universal suffering of
23322-412: The peaceful lifestyle that Manicheism brought to the Uyghurs was responsible for their later lack of military skills and eventual decline. This, however, is contradicted by the political and military consequences of the conversion. After the migration of the Uyghurs to Turfan in the ninth century, the nobility maintained Manichaean beliefs for a while before converting to Buddhism. Traces of Manicheism among
23491-399: The physical realities surrounding the notions of his conception and his birth filled the Manichaeans with horror. However, the Christian doctrine of virgin birth was also regarded as obscene. Since Jesus the Messiah was the light of the world, where was this light, they reasoned, when Jesus was in the womb of the Virgin? Jesus the Messiah, they believed, was truly born only at his baptism, as it
23660-524: The present territories of northwestern Afghanistan as well as parts of Central Asia, played a leading role in the rise of New Persian. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted Parthian language , which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use. New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from eastern northern and northern Iranian languages such as Sogdian and especially Parthian. The transition to New Persian
23829-435: The prison"; Papak served as the "gate keeper"; Mihrkhwast served as the treasurer; Shapur served as the commander of the army; Arshtat Mihran served as the secretary; Zik served as the "master of ceremonies". Under Shapur, the Iranian military experienced a resurgence after a rather long decline in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, which gave the Romans the opportunity to undertake expeditions into the Near East and Mesopotamia during
23998-404: The prophet joined the Sasanian court, where he tried to convert Shapur by dedicating his only work written in Middle Persian , known as the Shabuhragan . Shapur, however, did not convert to Manichaeism and remained a Zoroastrian. While the titulage of Ardashir was "King of Kings of Iran(ians)", Shapur slightly changed it, adding the phrase "and non-Iran(ians)". The extended title demonstrates
24167-431: The province of Syria to Roman control. The speedy retreat of Shapur's troops caused Valerian to pursue the Persians to Edessa , but they were defeated , and Valerian, along with the Roman army that was left, was captured by Shapur Shapur then advanced into Asia Minor and managed to capture Caesarea , deporting hundred upon thousands of Roman citizens to the Sasanian empire. He used these captive Roman citizens to build
24336-477: The region during the following centuries. Persian continued to act as a courtly language for various empires in Punjab through the early 19th century serving finally as the official state language of the Sikh Empire , preceding British conquest and the decline of Persian in South Asia. Beginning in 1843, though, English and Hindustani gradually replaced Persian in importance on the subcontinent. Evidence of Persian's historical influence there can be seen in
24505-441: The reign of Sultan Ghiyathuddin Azam Shah is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature was illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence and collaboration with the Persian poet Hafez ; a poem which can be found in the Divan of Hafez today. A Bengali dialect emerged among the common Bengali Muslim folk, based on a Persian model and known as Dobhashi ; meaning mixed language . Dobhashi Bengali
24674-641: The religion during the first century of Islamic rule. During the early caliphates, Manichaeism attracted many followers. It had a significant appeal among Muslim society, especially among the elites. A part of Manichaeism that specifically appealed to the Sasanians was the Manichaean gods' names. The names Mani had assigned to the gods of his religion show identification with those of the Zoroastrian pantheon, even though some divine beings he incorporates are non-Iranian. For example, Jesus, Adam, and Eve were named Xradesahr, Gehmurd, and Murdiyanag. Because of these familiar names, Manichaeism did not feel completely foreign to
24843-554: The site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture. The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo , was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian". Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them Ahmed Sudi . The Persian language influenced
25012-452: The standard Persian of Tajikistan, has been officially designated as Tajik ( тоҷикӣ , tojikī ) since the time of the Soviet Union . It is the name given to the varieties of Persian spoken in Central Asia in general. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa for the Persian language, as its coding system is mostly based on the native-language designations. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses
25181-458: The standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility . Nevertheless,
25350-482: The territory of the Kushans (Kūšān šahr) as far as "Purushapura" ( Peshawar ), suggesting he controlled Bactria and areas as far as the Hindu-Kush or even south of it: I, the Mazda-worshipping lord, Shapur, king of kings of Iran and An-Iran… (I) am the Master of the Domain of Iran (Ērānšahr) and possess the territory of Persis, Parthian… Hindestan, the Domain of the Kushan up to the limits of Paškabur and up to Kash, Sughd, and Chachestan. He seems to have garrisoned
25519-399: The text Criteria of the Authentic Scriptures (a text attributed to the Tibetan Emperor Trisong Detsen ) makes a great effort to attack Manichaeism by stating that Mani was a heretic who engaged in religious syncretism into a deviating and inauthentic form. Manichaeans in Iran tried to assimilate their religion along with Islam in the Muslim caliphates . Relatively little is known about
25688-401: The title due to the influx of Roman citizens whom he had deported during his campaigns. However, it was first under his son and successor Hormizd I , that the title became regularised. Shapur had new Zoroastrian fire temples constructed, incorporated new elements into the faith from Greek and Indian sources, and conducted an extensive program of rebuilding and refounding of cities. "Shapur"
25857-488: The tranquility of our people and even inflicting grave damage to the civic communities. We have cause to fear that with the passage of time they will endeavour, as usually happens, to infect the modest and tranquil of an innocent nature with the damnable customs and perverse laws of the Persians as with the poison of a malignant (serpent) ... We order that the authors and leaders of these sects be subjected to severe punishment, and, together with their abominable writings, burnt in
26026-422: The use of Farsi in foreign languages. Etymologically, the Persian term Farsi derives from its earlier form Pārsi ( Pārsik in Middle Persian ), which in turn comes from the same root as the English term Persian . In the same process, the Middle Persian toponym Pārs ("Persia") evolved into the modern name Fars. The phonemic shift from /p/ to /f/ is due to the influence of Arabic in
26195-402: The young emperor Gordian III , who had joined his father-in-law Timesitheus, exultantly wrote to the Senate. The Romans later invaded eastern Mesopotamia but faced tough resistance from Shapur I who returned from the East. Timesitheus died under uncertain circumstances and was succeeded by Philip the Arab . The young emperor Gordian III went to the Battle of Misiche and was either killed in
26364-423: Was a popular name in Sasanian Iran , being used by three Sasanian monarchs and other notables of the Sasanian era and its later periods. Derived from Old Iranian *xšayaθiya.puθra ("son of a king"), it must initially have been a title, which became—at least in the late 2nd century CE—a personal name. It appears in the list of Arsacid kings in some Arabic-Persian sources; however, this is anachronistic . Shapur
26533-416: Was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the Tahirid dynasty (820–872), Saffarid dynasty (860–903), and Samanid Empire (874–999). Abbas of Merv is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the New Persian tongue and after him the poems of Hanzala Badghisi were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time. The first poems of
26702-500: Was already known there in the second half of the 6th century. The nomadic Uyghur Khaganate lasted for less than a century (744–840) in the southern Siberian steppe, with the fortified city of Ordu-Baliq on the Upper Orkhon River as its capital. Before the end of the year (763), Manichaeism was declared the official religion of the Uyghur state. Boku Tekin banned all the shamanistic rituals that had previously been in use. His subjects likely accepted his decision. That much results from
26871-410: Was also influenced by writings of the gnostic Bardaisan (154–222 CE), who, like Mani, wrote in Syriac and presented a dualistic interpretation of the world in terms of light and darkness in combination with elements from Christianity. Mani was heavily inspired by Iranian Zoroastrian theology. Noting Mani's travels to the Kushan Empire (several religious paintings in Bamyan are attributed to him) at
27040-489: Was greatly militarised and its elite designated themselves as a "warrior nobility" ( arteshtaran ), it still had a significantly smaller population, was more impoverished, and was a less centralised state compared to the Roman Empire. As a result, the Sasanian shahs had access to fewer full-time fighters, and depended on recruits from the nobility instead. Some exceptions were the royal cavalry bodyguard, garrison soldiers, and units recruited from places outside Iran. The bulk of
27209-402: Was on that occasion that the Father openly acknowledged his sonship. The suffering, death and resurrection of this Jesus were in appearance only as they had no salvific value but were an exemplum of the suffering and eventual deliverance of the human soul and a prefiguration of Mani's own martyrdom. (3) The pain suffered by the imprisoned Light-Particles in the whole of the visible universe, on
27378-484: Was patronised and given official status under the Sultans of Bengal , and was a popular literary form used by Bengalis during the pre-colonial period, irrespective of their religion. Following the defeat of the Hindu Shahi dynasty, classical Persian was established as a courtly language in the region during the late 10th century under Ghaznavid rule over the northwestern frontier of the subcontinent . Employed by Punjabis in literature, Persian achieved prominence in
27547-542: Was shortly thereafter murdered by Armenian nobles. Shapur then appointed his son Hormizd I as the "Great King of Armenia". With Armenia subjugated, Georgia submitted to the Sasanian Empire and fell under the supervision of a Sasanian official. With Georgia and Armenia under control, the Sasanians' borders on the north were thus secured. During Shapur's invasion of Syria he captured important Roman cities like Antioch . The Emperor Valerian (253–260) marched against him and by 257 Valerian had recovered Antioch and returned
27716-1127: Was succeeded by his son, Hormizd I . Two of his other sons, Bahram I and Narseh , would also become kings of the Sasanian Empire, while another son, Shapur Meshanshah , who died before Shapur, sired children who would hold exalted positions within the empire. Under Shapur, the Sasanian court, including its territories, were much larger than that of his father. Several governors and vassal-kings are mentioned in his inscriptions; Ardashir, governor of Qom ; Varzin, governor of Spahan ; Tiyanik, governor of Hamadan ; Ardashir, governor of Neriz; Narseh, governor of Rind; Friyek, governor of Gundishapur ; Rastak, governor of Veh-Ardashir ; Amazasp III , king of Iberia . Under Shapur several of his relatives and sons served as governor of Sasanian provinces; Bahram , governor of Gilan ; Narseh , governor of Sindh , Sakastan and Turan ; Ardashir, governor of Kirman ; Hormizd-Ardashir , governor of Armenia ; Shapur Meshanshah , governor of Meshan ; Ardashir, governor of Adiabene . Several names of Shapur's officials are carved on his inscription at Naqsh-e Rustam . Many of these were
27885-488: Was taught in state schools, and was also offered as an elective course or recommended for study in some madrasas . Persian learning was also widespread in the Ottoman-held Balkans ( Rumelia ), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mostar (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now Giannitsa , in
28054-402: Was that it was all my own self, and my own impiety had divided me against myself. My sin was all the more incurable because I did not think myself a sinner. Some modern scholars have suggested that Manichaean ways of thinking influenced the development of some of Augustine's ideas, such as the nature of good and evil, the idea of hell, the separation of groups into elect, hearers, and sinners, and
28223-478: Was the following year able to win the Battle of Misiche and force the new Roman emperor Philip the Arab ( r. 244–249 ) to sign a favorable peace treaty that was regarded by the Romans as "a most shameful treaty". Shapur later took advantage of the political turmoil within the Roman Empire by undertaking a second expedition against it in 252/3–256, sacking the cities of Antioch and Dura-Europos . In 260, during his third campaign, he defeated and captured
28392-399: Was the key to salvation as too passive and unable to affect any change in one's life. I still thought that it is not we who sin but some other nature that sins within us. It flattered my pride to think that I incurred no guilt and, when I did wrong, not to confess it ... I preferred to excuse myself and blame this unknown thing which was in me but was not part of me. The truth, of course,
28561-425: Was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as rāh-āhan ( راهآهن ) for "railway", were printed in Soltani Newspaper ; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention. A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in
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