(The following is a post by Hirad Dinavari, Reference Specialist, African and Middle Eastern Division.)
Each year, the Library of Congress’ African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) holds an all-day symposium focusing on an ancient Near East city or civilization. For the 2017 symposium, AMED’s Near East Section organized a one day seminar on the legacy of the Sasanian Persian dynasty. The Sasanians ruled a large empire in Central and Western Asia, stretching from the Oxus River to the Euphrates and from the Hindukush (present day, Afghan-Pakistan border region) to Eastern Arabia, for over 400 years (224-651 AD). Known as Iranshahr (the Domain of Iran), it was a powerful empire that engendered much of what came to be known as the Iranian culture in the medieval and modern periods.

In the last decade I have been following the scholarly research on the Sasanian imprint not only in Iran but also on the history and heritage of the greater Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Horn of Africa and the eastern Mediterranean region. Researchers have pointed out that some t