Conversation about the book “The Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire”

According to Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), “The Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire; The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran” by Parvaneh Pourshariati is one of the most important and controversial studies in recent years regarding the end of the Sasanian Empire. It is a study that challenges classic narratives and demonstrates how internal crises, unstable power structures, the collapse of aristocratic networks, and local rivalries played a more prominent role in the fall of the Sassanians than what is usually recounted in official historical narratives.

This book, with an analytical approach and reliance on historical data, invites the reader to reconsider what we call “the end of an empire.”

In this session, alongside the translator and researchers of Iranian history, the less seen layers and new readings of this work will be examined with speeches by Parvaneh Pourshariati, Professor of Iranian World History at New York City College of Technology (live video presence), Zagros Zand, researcher of ancient Iranian history, Meisam Labaf Khaniki, archaeologist and associate professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Tehran, and Ava Vahedi Navaei, translator of the book. Mohammad Ali Niazi will host this discussion.

Dr. Parvaneh Pourshariati’s video presence is exclusively for attendees present in the hall, and the discussion will not be broadcast online.

This session will be held on Friday, December 19, 2025, at 3:00 PM at Fereshteh Street, Fayazi Street (after Chenaran), number 50.