Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph. D. Condidate in Archeology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

We are justlfied in our study of  Iran’s historical period by the invisible and clear vestiges of the mysterious Parthian empire, which has piqued the interest of a lot of historians and intellectuals. Parthian history has been disproved in numerous dimensions such as political dimensions, social dimensions, and cultural dimensions using contemporary research based on Greek, Roman, Armenian,Syriac, Middle Persian, and Islamic sources, as well as archeological evidence. On the basis of ancient historical writings, it is now possible to recreate a portion of the Parthian Empire’s history. Chronicles, written in Syriac, are among the most important historical sources for reconstructing ancient Near Eastern history. These sources are especially vital for refining pre-Islamic Iran’s history, as it would be pointless to write the history of Iran during the Sassanid era without utilizing Syriac resources. With these contexts in mind,the goal of this paper is to follow the Parthian rulers’ history through a variety of sources. When all of the available Syriac chronicles are taken into account, it becomes clear that these sources were mostly neglected by all of the Parthian rulers, and that no names or addresses can be located in them. At first glance, the absence of Parthian kings, history in Syriac sources suggests that there is no need to study these sources in relation to Parthian history; however, the opinion of this essay is that such a void to depict forgetting of the Parthian kings was not accidental in the Syriac sources, but rather was influenced by the tradition of Iranian historiography in the Sassanid (Sassanian)epoch,and since then the historical has been influenced by.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Al-Jadir, A. H.H, 2006, Numbers and Dating Formulae in the Old Syriac Inscriptions, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies6: 3-17.
Asmussen,J. P. 1983, Christians in Iran, Cambridge-History-of-Iran, Vol 3:II: 924-948.
Babelon, E. 1904, Numismatiqued'Edessa (Numismatics of Edessa). Paris.
Bachelot, L. &Fales, F.M. (ed.). 2005,TellShiukhFawqani. Padua.
Bae, C. 2004. Aramaic as a Lingua Franca During the Persian Empire (538-333 B.C.E.). Journal of Universal Language 5: 1-20.
Billerbeck, A. 1909, Die PalasttoreSalmanassars III von Balawat. BeitriigezurAssyriologie 6: 50-65.
Black, M. 1950,Rabulla and the Peshitt., BJRL 33: 203-210.
Bowman, A. 1970,AramaicRitual Texts from Persepolis, Chicago.
Brock, S. 1997,A Brief Outline Of Syriac Literature, Beirut.
Brock, S. 2009,EdesseneSyriac Inscriptions in Late Antique Syria, Cotton – Hoyland– Price – Wasserstein (eds.): 289–302.
Brock, S. 2003. Some Diachronic Features of Classical Syriac, Baasten – van Peursen (eds.): 95–111.
Chabot, J. B. 1899, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, Patriarche Jacobited' Antioche (1166-1199).Éditée pour la première foisettr aduiteen francais I-IV. Paris.
Chatonnet, F. B. & Desreumaux, A. 2011, Oldest Syriac Christian Inscription discovered in North-Syria, Hugoye 14/1: 45-59
Croke, B. 1982, The Originality of Eusebius' Chronicle, The American Journal of Philology, vol. 103, no. 2: pp. 195–200.
Dankwarth, G. & Müller, Ch. 1988, Zuraltaramischen “Altar”-Inschriftvom Tell Ḥalaf, AfO35: 73–78.
DeGrado, J. & Richey, M. 2017. An Aramaic-Inscribed Lamaštu Amulet from Zincirli, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 377: 107-133.
Dietrich, M., The Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib (saa 17), Helsinki.
Donalson, Malcolm Drew,  A Translation of Jerome's Chronicon With Historical Commentary, Mellen University Press (1996).
Drijvers, H.J.W. &Healey, J.F. 1999., The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene, (HdO I/42).Leiden.
Dudley, D. 2007.The History of the First Council of Nice: A Worlds Christian Convention. New York.
Ephrem-I.Y. 2002.Les Chroni Queurssy Riaques.Paris.
Fales, F.M, 2007. Between Archaeology and Linguistics: The Use of Aramaic Writing in Painted Characters on Clay Tablets, XIIIncontroItaliano di Linguistica Camito-semitica (Afroasiatica), Soveria Mannelli:139–160.
Fales, F.M. 1986.Aramaic Epigraphs on Clay Tablets of the Neo-Assyrian Period (StudiSemiticins 2), Rome.
Fales, M, 2011. Old Aramaic.HSK 36: 555-573.
Felix, W. 1998, ELĪJĀ BAR ŠĪNĀJĀ. EncyclopaediaIranica. Vol. VIII, Fasc. 4: 363-364.
Fiey, J. M. 1967, Auteur et date de la Chroniqued’Arbèles. OS 12: 265-302.
Folmer, M.L. 1995,The Aramaic Language in the Achaemenid Period: A Study in Linguistic Variation (ola 68).Leuven.
Graumann, T. 2009,‘Reading’ The First Council of Ephesus (431).Liverpool University Press.
Greenfield, J.C., 1982, The Dialects of Early Aramaic, JNES37: 93–99.
Greenfield, J. C. & Shaffer, A. 1982,Notes on the Akkadian-Aramaic Bilingual Statue from Tell Fekherye, Iraq Vol. 45, No. 1(Papers of the 29 Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale):109-116.
Greenspahn, F. E. 2007, AN INTRODUCTION TO ARAMAIC, Society of Biblical Literature. Atlanta.
Gzella, H. 2015, A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam (Handbook of Oriental Studies: Section 1; The Near and Middle East). Brill.
Hämeen-Anttila, J. 2018.Khwadāynāmag: The Middle PersianBook of Kings. Brill.
Harrak, A. 1992, The Ancient Name of Edessa, Journal of Near Eastern StudiesVol. 51, No. 3 (Jul., 1992): 209-214 .
Hetzron, R. 1997, The Semitic Languages, Routledge.
Hillers, D.R.& Cussini, E. 1996, Palmyrene Aramaic Texts.Baltimore.
Howard-Johnston, J. 2010, Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century. London.
Hoyland, R. 1997.Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam). The Darwin Press.
Huehnergard, J. 1995. What is Aramaic?, .ARAM 7: 261-282.
Knauf, E. 2007.The Semitic Languages, Brill New Paully (vol. 8): 116-117.
Lehto, A. 2010.The Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Persian SageSerie(Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies).Gorgias Press.
Lewy, J. 1954. The Problems inherent in Section 70 of the Bisutun Inscription, Hebrew Union College Annual, Vol. 25: 169-208
Lipiński, E. 1975, Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics I (ola 1).Leuven.
Lipiński, E. 1994, Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics II (ola 57), Leuven.
McVey, K. 1989, Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns, Paulist Press.
Mingana, A. 1907, MêEn1-Zk1, History of the Church of Adiabene.Sources Syriaques1. Leipzig.
Morgenstern, M. 2011,Studies in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Based upon Early Eastern Manuscripts(hss 62). Winona Lake, Ind.
Morgenstern, M. 1999,The History of the Aramaic Dialects in the Light of Discoveries from the Judaean Desert: The Case of Nabataean, Eretz Israel 24: 134–142.
Muller-Kessler 2002 / Die aramaische Beschworung und ihre Rezeption in den mandaisch-magischen Texten: am Beispiel ausgewahlter aramaischer Beschworungsformulare
Naveh, J. & Shaked, S. 2012,Aramaic Documents from Ancient Bactria (Studies in the Khalili Collection).London.
Peeters, P. 1915, Le “Passionnaired' Adiabène, Analecta Bollandiana, vol. 43: 261-304.
Ross, S.K. 200, Roman Edessa: Politics and Culture on the Eastern Fringes of the Roman Empire, 114–242 c.e. London.
Rubin, A. 2010, A Brief Introduction to the Semitic Languages, Gorgias Press.
Sokoloff, M. 2002, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period (Dictionaries of Talmud, Midrash and Targum II), Ramat-Gan – Baltimore – London.
Sperling, S. D. 1982, An Arslan Tash Incantation: Interpretations and Implications, Hebrew Union College Annual, Vol. 53: 1-10
Sprengling, M. 1917,The Aramaic Papyri of Elephantine in English, The American Journal of Theology (21): 411-452.
Sprengling, M. 1916, The Armenian Version of Eusebius' Chronicon.American Journal of Theology, Volume 20: 295-297.
Streck, M.P. 2011, Akkadian and Aramaic Language Contact, in: Weninger et al. (eds.): 416–424.
Tadmor, H. On the Role of Aramaic in the Asyrian Empire, Unpublished.
Takahashi, H. 2005, Barhebraeus: A Bio-Bibliography.NewJersay.
Thureau-Dangin, F. &Dunand, M. 1936.Til-Barsib.Paris.
Vööbus, A.1965, History of the School of Nisibis, Corpus Scriptorium Christianorum Orientalium, v. 266. , Louvain, Secrétariat du Corpus SCO.
Walker, J. T. 2006,The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq. The Transformation of the Classical Heritage 40. Berkeley.
Wallraff, M. 2010, Julius Africanus,Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle, (Brill, Leiden and Boston): 952.
Witakowski, W. 2000.The Chronicle of Eusebius: its type and continuation in Syriachistoriography.Aram 11–12: 419–37.
Wright, W. 1898,The Ecclesiastical History Of Eusebius In Syriac. Cambridge.
Wright, W. 1871, Catalogue of Syriac manuscripts in the British museum acquired since the year 1838. London.
Yildiz, E, The Aramaic Language and Its Classification. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies (200): 23-44.