614
The Persians burn Ephesus and storm Jerusalem.
619
The Persians capture Alexandria.
622
The emigration, or
hijra
, of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.
626
The Persians and Avars lay siege to Constantinople.
627
Heraclius invades Mesopotamia.
628
The death of Khusrow II; Heraclius and Shahrbaraz sign peace treaty.
630
Heraclius returns the True Cross to Jerusalem.
632
The death of Muhammad.
634
The Arabs invade Palestine; the Battle of Gaza.
636
The Romans are defeated at the Yarmuk, and withdraw from Syria.
637
The Battle of Qadisiyya.
638
The Arabs capture Jerusalem.
639
The Arabs invade Egypt.
642
Alexandria falls to the Arabs.
644
The assassination of Umar.
650
The Arabs cross the River Oxus for the first time.
651
The murder of Yazdegird III.
656
The assassination of Uthman.
657
Ali and Mu’awiya fight an inconclusive battle on the banks of the Euphrates.
658
Ali defeats the Kharijites.
661
The assassination of Ali; Mu’awiya is hailed as “Commander of the Faithful” in Jerusalem.
674
The first Arab siege of Constantinople.
680
Yazid succeeds Mu’awiya; the Battle of Karbala; the rebellion of Ibn al-Zubayr.
683
The Umayyad sack of Medina; the burning of the
Ka’ba
; the death of Yazid.
684
Marwan is hailed as “Commander of the Faithful” in Syria.
685
Marwan is succeeded by Abd al-Malik; Mukhtar rebels against Ibn al-Zubayr.
686
The first mention of Muhammad on an Arab coin.
689
Work begins on the Dome of the Rock.
692
The defeat and death of Ibn al-Zubayr.
694
Al-Hajjaj appointed governor of Iraq.
702
Al-Hajjaj founds Wasit.
705
Abd al-Malik is succeeded by Walid; the final Arab conquest of Khorasan.
711
The Arabs invade Spain.
715
Walid inaugurates the great mosque of Damascus.
716–17
The second Arab siege of Constantinople.
732
The Franks defeat the Arabs outside Tours.
740
The Romans defeat the Arabs at Acroinum; Iraq is convulsed by an anti-Umayyad uprising.
747
Marwan II emerges from civil war as the new Umayyad Caliph; Abu Muslim declares open rebellion against Marwan in Khorasan.
750
The Abbasids defeat and overthrow Marwan.
755
The murder of Abu Muslim.
762
The founding of Baghdad.
Dramatis Personae
Iranshahr
Ardashir I (ruled AD 224–41)
Founder of the Sasanian Empire.
Shapur I (241–70)
The great warrior
Shahanshah
who captured the Roman emperor Valerian.
Peroz (459–84)
Hephthalite-fighter, Jew-persecutor, oath-breaker.
Raham
The head of the Mihrans, a Parthian aristocratic family; and the early power behind Peroz’s throne.
Kavad (488–96/498–531)
Son of Peroz, and a royal enthusiast for communism.
Sukhra
The head of the Karin, a Parthian aristocratic family, and a classic over-mighty subject.
Mazdak
A mysterious Persian prophet who appears to have preached communism and to have been sponsored by Kavad.
Zamasp (496–98)
Kavad’s brother and briefly installed on the throne as his replacement.
Aspebedes
A Parthian general, and brother-in-law of Kavad.
Kavus
Kavad’s eldest son, and a committed Mazdakite.
Khusrow I (531–79)
The son of Kavad and Aspebedes’s sister. Known to posterity as
Anushirvan—
“Immortal Soul.”
Hormizd IV (579–90)
The son of Khusrow I.
Bahram Chobin (590–1)
A Mihranid general, and the first Parthian dynast to usurp the Sasanian throne.
Khusrow II (590–628)
The son of Hormizd IV. Restored to the throne with Roman help, his reign witnessed the near destruction of the Roman Empire.
Shahrbaraz (630)
Mihranid general who conquered Syria and Palestine for Khusrow II.
Yazdegird III (633–51)
The last Sasanian
Shahanshah
.
Rome
Posidonius
Greek philosopher and enthusiast for globalisation.
Augustus (27 BC–AD 14)
First of the Roman emperors.
Virgil
Author of the
Aeneid
, the great epic of the Roman people.
Nero (54–68)
Psychotic Roman emperor whom rabbis claimed became a Jew.
Philip (244–9)
Nicknamed the “Arab.” Presided over Rome’s millennial celebrations.
Decius (249–51)
Killer of Philip, killed by Goths. A persecutor of Christians.
Valerian (253–60)
Captured by Shapur I.
New Rome
Constantine (306–37)
The founder of Constantinople, and the first Christian Caesar.
Helena
Constantine’s mother, and the discoverer of the True Cross.
Julian (361–3)
The last pagan Caesar.
Theodosius I (379–92)
The last Caesar to rule both halves of the Roman Empire.
Theodosius II (408–50)
The grandson of Theodosius I. Renowned for his piety, and for the walls around Constantinople that were built during his reign.
Anastasius (491–518)
A bureaucrat turned bean-counting emperor.
Justin (518–27)
A Balkan peasant who rose through the ranks to the imperial throne.
Justinian (527–65)
Justin’s nephew. A worthy rival to Khusrow I.
Theodora