Sura (Mesopotamian city), 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, bm1.1
synagogues, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1
Syria: Arab invasion and conquest, 1.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3; stories of Alexander in, 1.2, 6.4, 6.5; Persian Empire and, 2.1, 2.2; Monophysites in, 3.1, 3.2; ascetics of, 4.1, 5.1, 7.1, 7.2; Roman frontier policy and, 4.2, 4.3, 5.2; Mundhir rampages through (529), 4.4; prosperity of, 5.3; Khusrow’s invasion of (540), 5.4, 5.5; battle at Chalcis (554), 5.6; effects of plague on, 5.7; annexed by Khusrow II, 5.8, 6.6; Ghassanids foederati roam across, 6.7; Mu’awiya as governor of, 6.8, 6.9, 6.10, 7.3; Mu’awiya-Ali battle in, 6.11; support for Umayyad cause, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6; Islamic anti-Christian regulations, 7.7; lifestyles of Arab ruling classes, 7.8, 7.9; unrest during Hisham’s reign, 7.10, 7.11; see also Antioch
Syriac language, 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, 6.1
Ta’if (oasis town in Hijaz)
Tanakh (compendium of holiest Jewish scriptures), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 6.1; as Christian “Old Testament”, 3.4
Taprobane (now Sri Lanka)
Tertullian (Christian philosopher), 3.1, 3.2, 3.3*, 3.4
Thamud confederation, 4.1, 4.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3
Theoderic (Ostrogoth commander), 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 7.1; state-building and, 7.2
Theodora (consort of Justinian), 3.1, 5.1
Theodore
Theodoret (bishop from Antioch), 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 6.1
Theodosiopolis, 2.1, 2.2
Theodosius I (Roman emperor)
Theodosius II (Roman emperor), 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 7.1
Tiridates III (Parthian king), 3.1, 3.2
Torah (“Instruction”) (body of law), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2; secret Torah, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 7.1; Jewishness as obedience to, 3.2; Paul’s rejection of, 3.3, 3.4; Christian Church’s rejection of, 3.5; Christian obeying of, 3.6; received by Moses, 4.3, 7.2; Qur’an and, 6.1, 6.2; influence on Sunna, 7.3
Troy, 3.1, 3.2, 7.1
Turks, 2.1, 5.1, 5.2
ulama (scholarly legal experts), 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, bm1.1
Ulfilas (bishop of Gothic extraction)
Umar bin al-Khattab, Caliph, 1.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2; piety and asceticism of, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.3; historicity of as beyond dispute, 6.5; hailed as lover of Israel, 6.6, 6.7; proclaimed al-Faruq (“the Redeemer”), 6.8; murder of (644), 6.9
Umayyad dynasty, 1.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5; fall of (750), 1.2, 7.6; as “deputies of God”, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9; map(s) of Caliphate under, 7.10; Christianity in Iraq and, 7.11; ulama and, 7.12, 7.13; renewed gaze on Constantinople, 7.14; failures in 717–40 period, 7.15, 7.16; unrest during Hisham’s reign, 7.17; Abbasid threat to, 7.18, 7.19; factional blood-letting amongst, 7.20; Abbasid burning of exhumed corpses, bm1.1; see also individual Caliphs
Ur (Abramic city)
Uthman, Caliph, 1.1, 6.1, 7.1; “qur’an” and, 1.2, 6.2, 7.2
Valerian (Roman emperor), 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1
Vandals, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 6.1
Veh-Ardashir (Sasanian capital city), 2.1, 2.2
Virgil, Aeneid, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4.1, 6.1
Visigoths, 1.1, 5.1, 7.1, 7.2
Walid, Caliph, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4
Wasit (Islamic city in Iraq)
Yathrib (Medina) see Medina (Yathrib)
Yazdegird (King of Persia), 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1
Yazid (brother of Mu’awiya)
Yazid, Caliph, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
Yemen
Yusuf As’ar Yath’ar (Himyarite king), 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2
Zamasp (brother of Kavad), 2.1, 2.2
Zaranj (fortress)
Zayd (figure in Qur’an)
Zenobia (Queen of Palmyra)
Zera, Rabbi
Zeus
Zoilus (patriarch of Alexandria)
Zoroastrians: beliefs of, 1.1, 2.1; Fire of the Stallion, 2.2, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1; Mihr and, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 5.2, 6.2, 7.2; sacred fire temples, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 5.3, 6.3, 6.4, 7.3, 7.4; Asha (truth and order), 2.9, 2.10, 2.11; Zoroaster’s revelations from Ohrmazd, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14; royal power and, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18; mowbeds’ political power, 2.19, 2.20; mathra (word of God), 2.21; mowbeds put Zoroaster’s sayings into writing, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24, 6.5; birth and origins of Zoroaster, 2.25, 2.26*, 2.27, 6.6; mowbeds’ demotion of Mihr’s fire, 2.28; End Days and, 2.29, 5.4, 5.5; millennium prophet awaited, 2.30; mowbeds and Kavad’s abdication, 2.31; chronicling of the past, 2.32, 2.33; mowbeds and memories of Alexander, 2.34; mowbeds and downfall of Mazdak, 2.35; support for Khusrow candidacy, 2.36; Khusrow supports, 2.37; Jews as “spawn of Dahag”, 2.38; mowbeds’ hostility to Jews, 2.39; suspicion of Christianity, 3.2; Bahram Chobin’s rebellion and, 5.6; mowbeds and Bahram Chobin, 5.7; Islamic attitudes to, 6.7, 7.5; rejection of Manichaeism, 6.8; mowbeds and Fire of the Stallion, 7.6; obedience of women and, 7.7; mowbeds and collapse of Sasanian power, 7.8; collapse of Sasanian power and, 7.9; converts to Islam, 7.10; mowbeds converting to Islam, 7.11, 7.12; use of toothbrushes and, 7.13; see also Ohrmazd (Persian god)
Illustrations
The angel Gabriel speaks to Muhammad. According to Muslim tradition, the sum of the revelations granted to the Prophet were assembled after his death to form a single “recitation” – a “qur’an.” Where, when and how the Qur’an was actually compiled are all hotly contested questions in contemporary academic circles. (Bildarchiv Steffens/Bridgeman Art Library)
A receipt for 65 sheep, issued in AD 642 by an Arab war band to officials in a city on the Nile. It is written in Arabic as well as Greek, and contains a mention of “the year Twenty-Two”: the oldest surviving mention of what would end up enshrined as the Muslim calendar.
Peroz hunting. Martial prowess, flamboyant clothing and an aptitude for slaughtering animals: the ideal attributes of a Persian King of Kings. (akg-images/De Agostini Picture Library)
The site of the “Fire of the Stallion”, in the mountains of northern Iran. The temple that enclosed it was probably built in the reign of Peroz – although it took only a couple of generations for Zoroastrians to locate its origins back in the mists of time. (Paul Rudkin)
The throne room of the royal palace at Ctesiphon: all that remains of what was once the vast capital of Iranshahr. (The Print Collector/HIP/Topfoto.co.uk)
Iranshahr triumphant. One Caesar – Philip – bends the knee before a mounted Shapur I, while a second – Valerian – is taken captive by the wrist. Victory over Rome was always regarded by the Sasanians themselves as the supreme measure of their imperial prowess. (Tom Holland)
The Ark of the Law, from a sixth-century synagogue in the Roman province of Palestine. The most celebrated of the schools devoted to the study of the Jewish Law were located, not in the Promised Land itself, but in Mesopotamia. (Zev Radovan/Bridgeman Art Library)