The Effect of the Sasanian-Byzantine Wars (A.D. 603-628) on the Collapse of Sasanian Empire

Abstract

Sasanian Empire in the early 7th century AD, due to long years of wars with Byzantine Empire (603-626 AD) and its later defeat, lost its military and defensive strength, and went through a political crisis. Before this time, based on numismatic studies, it was revealed that following this defeat, only some provinces of the empire minted coins in the name of the Sasanian emperors, and it shows that other provinces were out of Sasanian’s control. Furthermore, literary sources have illustrated that Arab regions of the Sasanian Empire, after Sasanian’s defeat from Byzantine were out of Sasanian’s rule. The author, in this article has showed that according to archeological and numismatic evidence, Azerbaijan province which was the scene of Sasanian-Byzantine battlefield, received the most damages, and since about 623 AD was out of Sasanian’s control. The fall of the Sasanian hegemony in the provinces, was undoubtedly an important factor in weakening of Sasanian military and financial power and consequently contributed considerably to its defeat by Arab Muslims. This factor had also a significant role in Arabs’ penetration in the provinces which were out of Sasanian rule

Keywords

• Arab conquests
• Sasanian-Byzantine wars
• Sasanian Empire