Sasanian Egypt

Agiptus
Province of the Sasanian Empire
← 619–629 →
Capital		Alexandria
Historical era		Antiquity
•	Sasanian conquest of Egypt	619
•	Status quo ante bellum	629
Today part of		Egypt  Libya

Part of a series on the
History of Egypt
Prehistoric Egypt pre–3100 BC
Ancient Egypt Early Dynastic Period 3100–2686 BC Old Kingdom 2686–2181 BC 1st Intermediate Period 2181–2055 BC Middle Kingdom 2055–1650 BC 2nd Intermediate Period 1650–1550 BC New Kingdom 1550–1069 BC 3rd Intermediate Period 1069–664 BC Late Period 664–332 BC
Classical antiquity Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt 332–30 BC Roman and Byzantine Egypt 30 BC–641 AD Sasanian Egypt 619–629
Middle Ages Islamic Egypt 641–969 Fatimid Egypt 969–1171 Ayyubid Egypt 1171–1250 Mamluk Egypt 1250–1517
Early modern Ottoman Egypt 1517–1867 French occupation 1798–1801 Egypt under Muhammad Ali 1805–1882 Khedivate of Egypt 1867–1914
Modern Egypt British occupation 1882–1922 Sultanate of Egypt 1914–1922 Kingdom of Egypt 1922–1953 Republic 1953–present
Egypt portal

Sasanian Egypt (known in Middle Persian sources as Agiptus) refers to the brief rule of Roman Egypt and parts of Libya by the Sasanian Empire.

It lasted from 619 to 629, until the Sasanian king Shahrbaraz made an alliance with the Byzantine emperor Heraclius to have control over Greco-Roman Egypt returned to him.

History

Egypt was conquered in 619 by the prominent Sasanian military leader Shahrbaraz, who governed the province briefly until he appointed Sahralanyozan as the new governor. Sahralanyozan held the title of karframan-idar ("steward of the court") and was the most powerful Iranian in Egypt. Besides being governor of Egypt, he was also the tax-collector of the province, and most likely resided in Faiyum.^[1] Although Egypt suffered much damage during its invasion by the Sasanians, after the conquest was complete, peace, toleration and rehabilitation followed. Furthermore, the Sasanians retained the same administrative structure as the Byzantine Empire.^[1]

In 626, Shahrbaraz quarrelled with the Sasanian king Khosrow II (r. 590-628) and mutinied against him. It is not known whom Sahralanzoyan supported, since he is not mentioned in any source thereafter and Shahrbaraz is described as the ruler of the province.^[2] Following the end of the Byzantine–Sasanian war in 628, by 630/1, Egypt had returned to Byzantine hands.^[1][2]

See also

• History of Achaemenid Egypt

References

Sources

• Altheim-Stiehl, Ruth (1998). "EGYPT iv. Relations in the Sasanian period". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 3. pp. 252–254. 
• Jalalipour, Saeid (2014). Persian Occupation of Egypt 619-629: Politics and Administration of Sasanians (PDF). Sasanika. 
• Howard-Johnston, James (2006). East Rome, Sasanian Persia And the End of Antiquity: Historiographical And Historical Studies. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0-86078-992-6. 
• Dodgeon, Michael H.; Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2002). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part I, 226–363 AD). Routledge. pp. 196–97. ISBN 0-415-00342-3. 
• Frye, R. N. (1993). "The Political History of Iran under the Sassanids". In Yarshater, Ehsan; Bailey, Harold. The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20092-9. 
• Daryaee, Touraj. Middle Persian Papyri from the Sasanian Occupation of Egypt in the Seventh Century CE (I) (PDF). Sasanika. 
• Weber, Dieter (2005). "PAHLAVI PAPYRI". Encyclopaedia Iranica. pp. 325–326.