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Heraclius (575-641) was son of Heraclius the Elder, exarch of Africa, who led a revolt against the usurper emperor Phocas, deposing him in 610. Heraclius became emperor and was immediately forced to deal with multiple threats on many frontiers.<br/><br/> One of the main frontiers was the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 against King Khosrau II and the Sassanid Empire. The Sassanids managed to fight all the way to the walls of Constantinople before failing to penetrate them, allowing Heraclius to counter-attack and drive them all the way back to the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon. Khosrau was executed by his son Kavadh II, and a peace treaty was agreed. The Sassanid Empire soon fell to the Muslim conquests, another threat Heraclius had to deal with.<br/><br/> Heraclius was credited for making Greek the Byzantine Empire's official language, as well as for his enlarging of the empire and his reorganisation of government and military. Though his attempts at religious harmony failed, he was successful in returning the True Cross to Jerusalem.
<i>The History of the True Cross</i> or <i>The Legend of the True Cross</i> is a sequence of frescoes painted by Piero della Francesca in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. It is his largest work, and generally considered one of his finest, and an early Renaissance masterpiece.<br/><br/> Its theme, derived from the popular 13th century book on the lives of saints by Jacopo da Voragine, the <i>Golden Legend</i>, is the triumph of the True Cross – the legend of the wood from the Garden of Eden becoming the Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. This work demonstrates Piero’s advanced knowledge of perspective and colour, his geometric orderliness and skill in pictorial construction.
<i>The History of the True Cross</i> or <i>The Legend of the True Cross</i> is a sequence of frescoes painted by Piero della Francesca in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. It is his largest work, and generally considered one of his finest, and an early Renaissance masterpiece.<br/><br/> Its theme, derived from the popular 13th century book on the lives of saints by Jacopo da Voragine, the <i>Golden Legend</i>, is the triumph of the True Cross – the legend of the wood from the Garden of Eden becoming the Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. This work demonstrates Piero’s advanced knowledge of perspective and colour, his geometric orderliness and skill in pictorial construction.
<i>The History of the True Cross</i> or <i>The Legend of the True Cross</i> is a sequence of frescoes painted by Piero della Francesca in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. It is his largest work, and generally considered one of his finest, and an early Renaissance masterpiece.<br/><br/> Its theme, derived from the popular 13th century book on the lives of saints by Jacopo da Voragine, the <i>Golden Legend</i>, is the triumph of the True Cross – the legend of the wood from the Garden of Eden becoming the Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. This work demonstrates Piero’s advanced knowledge of perspective and colour, his geometric orderliness and skill in pictorial construction.
Ctesiphon was the capital city of the Parthian and Sasanian Empires (247 BCE–224 CE and 224–651 CE respectively). It was one of the great cities of late ancient Mesopotamia. Its most conspicuous structure remaining today is the great archway of Ctesiphon.<br/><br/> It was situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris across from where the Greek city of Seleucia stood and northeast of ancient Babylon. Today, the remains of the city lie in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of the city of Baghdad.<br/><br/> Ctesiphon was the largest city in the world from 570 CE, until its fall in 637 CE, during the Muslim conquests.<br/><br/> The arched <i>iwan</i> hall at Taq Qasra, open on the facade side, was about 37 m high, 26 m across and 50 m long, the largest man-made, free standing vault constructed until modern times.
Ctesiphon was the capital city of the Parthian and Sasanian Empires (247 BCE–224 CE and 224–651 CE respectively). It was one of the great cities of late ancient Mesopotamia. Its most conspicuous structure remaining today is the great archway of Ctesiphon.<br/><br/> It was situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris across from where the Greek city of Seleucia stood and northeast of ancient Babylon. Today, the remains of the city lie in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of the city of Baghdad.<br/><br/> Ctesiphon was the largest city in the world from 570 CE, until its fall in 637 CE, during the Muslim conquests.<br/><br/> The arched <i>iwan</i> hall at Taq Qasra, open on the facade side, was about 37 m high, 26 m across and 50 m long, the largest man-made, free standing vault constructed until modern times.
Ctesiphon was the capital city of the Parthian and Sasanian Empires (247 BCE–224 CE and 224–651 CE respectively). It was one of the great cities of late ancient Mesopotamia. Its most conspicuous structure remaining today is the great archway of Ctesiphon.<br/><br/> It was situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris across from where the Greek city of Seleucia stood and northeast of ancient Babylon. Today, the remains of the city lie in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of the city of Baghdad.<br/><br/> Ctesiphon was the largest city in the world from 570 CE, until its fall in 637 CE, during the Muslim conquests.<br/><br/> The arched <i>iwan</i> hall at Taq Qasra, open on the facade side, was about 37 m high, 26 m across and 50 m long, the largest man-made, free standing vault constructed until modern times.
Heraclius (575-641) was son of Heraclius the Elder, exarch of Africa, who led a revolt against the usurper emperor Phocas, deposing him in 610. Heraclius became emperor and was immediately forced to deal with multiple threats on many frontiers.<br/><br/> One of the main frontiers was the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 against King Khosrau II and the Sassanid Empire. The Sassanids managed to fight all the way to the walls of Constantinople before failing to penetrate them, allowing Heraclius to counter-attack and drive them all the way back to the capital of Ctesiphon. Khosrau was executed by his son Kavadh II, and a peace treaty was agreed to. The Sassanid Empire soon fell to the Muslim conquests, another threat Heraclius had to deal with.<br/><br/> Heraclius was credited for making Greek the Byzantine Empire's official language, as well as for his enlarging of the empire and his reorganisation of government and military. Though his attempts at religious harmony failed, he was successful in returning the True Cross to Jerusalem.
'Khosrow and Shirin', also spelled Khosrau and Shirin, Chosroes and Shirin, Husraw and Shireen and Khosru and Shirin, is the title of a celebrated Persian tragic romance by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209) who also wrote 'Layla and Majnun'.<br/><br/> It tells an elaborate fictional version of the story of the love of the Sasanian king Khosrow II for the Armenian princess Shirin, who becomes his queen. The narrative is a love story of Persian origin which is also well-known from the great historical poem the Shahnameh.
Ctesiphon was the capital city of the Parthian and Sasanian Empires (247 BCE–224 CE and 224–651 CE respectively). It was one of the great cities of late ancient Mesopotamia. Its most conspicuous structure remaining today is the great archway of Ctesiphon.<br/><br/> It was situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris across from where the Greek city of Seleucia stood and northeast of ancient Babylon. Today, the remains of the city lie in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of the city of Baghdad.<br/><br/> Ctesiphon was the largest city in the world from 570 CE, until its fall in 637 CE, during the Muslim conquests.<br/><br/> The arched <i>iwan</i> hall at Taq Qasra, open on the facade side, was about 37 m high, 26 m across and 50 m long, the largest man-made, free standing vault constructed until modern times.
The motif on this fragment of textile, which may be from Iran or Uzbekistan, featuring two bulls in a beaded medallion, is clearly indebted to Sasanian and Sogdian design traditions of the early Silk Road. The bulls stand on a winged palmette, now almost worn away, with a stylized plant between them. The group to which this woven textile belongs has been ascribed on the basis of an inscription on a similar textile to the Central Asian city of Bukhara in present day Uzbekistan. The city was incorporated into the Umayyad caliphate at the beginning of the 8th century.
The Sassanid Empire (also spelled Sasanid Empire, Sassanian Empire, or Sasanian Empire), known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran, was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651. The Sassanid Empire, which succeeded the Parthian Empire, was recognized as one of the two main powers in Western Asia and Europe, alongside the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, for a period of more than 400 years.<br/><br/> The Sassanid Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Arsacid Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus IV. It lasted until Yazdegerd III lost control of his empire in a series of invasions from the Arab Caliphate. During its existence, the Sassanid Empire encompassed all of today's Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Dagestan), southwestern Central Asia, part of Turkey, certain coastal parts of the Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulf area, and areas of southwestern Pakistan, even stretching into India.<br/><br/> The Sassanid capital was at Ctessiphon, and the main religion was Zoroastrianism.