Ādurbādagān During the Late Sasanian Period: A Study in Administrative Geography

From the early Sasanian period, Ērānšahr (the land of Iranians) was divided into a multitude of provinces governed by šahrabs. In the sixth century AD, the old divisions of the Empire underwent changes and a new organisation emerged. According to this reorganisation, the Empire was divided, on the p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Iran : journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 2010-01, Vol.48 (1), p.69-80
Main Author: Ghodrat-Dizaji, Mehrdad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administrative divisions
Administrative geography
Cities
Geography
Headwaters
Lakes
Literary epigraphs
Personal names
post-Sasanian
Sasanians
Terminology
University administration
Zoroastrianism
Ādurbādagān
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Summary:From the early Sasanian period, Ērānšahr (the land of Iranians) was divided into a multitude of provinces governed by šahrabs. In the sixth century AD, the old divisions of the Empire underwent changes and a new organisation emerged. According to this reorganisation, the Empire was divided, on the pattern of the four cardinal points, into four quarters or sides and each one was subdivided into provinces. From this time, the province of Ādurbādagān along with provinces such as Gīlān and Albania formed one of the provinces of the northern quarter of the country. Since the North (abāxtar) was considered to be the region of demons in Zoroastrianism, the northern quarter was named Ādurbādagān, after its most important province. However, the wide application of other names to this quarter in Sasanian and Sasanian-based sources demonstrates that the use of the name of Ādurbādagān province to refer to abāxtar was prevalent for a short period and with the collapse of Sasanian quadripartite organisation, this nomenclature fell into oblivion. Following Sasanian traditions, post-Sasanian sources applied the name of Azerbaijan to the province situated between the Sipīd-rūd and Aras Rivers whose main centres were Ardabīl, Ganzag, and Shīz. Sealings found in Takht-i Sulaymān, belonging to Sasanian officials, attest the importance of the province for the Sasanians.
ISSN:0578-6967
2396-9202
DOI:10.1080/05786967.2010.11864774