Sasanian Egypt

Agiptus
Province of the Sasanian Empire

619–629
Capital Alexandria
Historical era Antiquity
  Sasanian conquest of Egypt 619
  Status quo ante bellum 629
Today part of  Egypt
 Libya

Sasanian Egypt (known in Middle Persian sources as Agiptus) refers to the brief rule of Roman Egypt and parts of Libya by the Sasanian Empire.

It lasted from 619 to 629, until the Sasanian king Shahrbaraz made an alliance with the Byzantine emperor Heraclius to have control over Greco-Roman Egypt returned to him.

History

Egypt was conquered in 619 by the prominent Sasanian military leader Shahrbaraz, who governed the province briefly until he appointed Shahralanyozan as the new governor. Sahralanyozan held the title of karframan-idar ("steward of the court") and was the most powerful Iranian in Egypt. Besides being governor of Egypt, he was also the tax-collector of the province, and most likely resided in Faiyum.[1] Although Egypt suffered much damage during its invasion by the Sasanians, after the conquest was complete, peace, toleration and rehabilitation followed. Furthermore, the Sasanians retained the same administrative structure as the Byzantine Empire.[1]

In 626, Shahrbaraz quarrelled with the Sasanian king Khosrow II (r. 590-628) and mutinied against him. It is not known whom Sahralanzoyan supported, since he is not mentioned in any source thereafter and Shahrbaraz is described as the ruler of the province.[2] Following the end of the Byzantine–Sasanian war in 628, by 630/1, Egypt had returned to Byzantine hands.[1][2]

See also

References

Sources

  • Altheim-Stiehl, Ruth (1998). "EGYPT iv. Relations in the Sasanian period". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 3. pp. 252–254.
  • Jalalipour, Saeid (2014). Persian Occupation of Egypt 619-629: Politics and Administration of Sasanians (PDF). Sasanika.
  • Howard-Johnston, James (2006). East Rome, Sasanian Persia And the End of Antiquity: Historiographical And Historical Studies. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0-86078-992-6.
  • Dodgeon, Michael H.; Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2002). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part I, 226–363 AD). Routledge. pp. 196–97. ISBN 0-415-00342-3.
  • Frye, R. N. (1993). "The Political History of Iran under the Sassanids". In Yarshater, Ehsan; Bailey, Harold. The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20092-9.
  • Daryaee, Touraj. Middle Persian Papyri from the Sasanian Occupation of Egypt in the Seventh Century CE (I) (PDF). Sasanika.
  • Weber, Dieter (2005). "PAHLAVI PAPYRI". Encyclopaedia Iranica. pp. 325–326.
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