The Climatic Resilience of the Sasanian Empire
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2058413 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew J Jacobson (0000-0002-0583-777X, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, corresponding author), Alison L Gascoigne (0000-0003-2742-9483, University of Southampton), Dominik Fleitmann (0000-0001-5977-8835, University of Basel) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1127-1143 |
| Publication date | 2024-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Human Ecology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0300-7839 • E-ISSN: 1572-9915 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10745-024-00554-w |
| PMID | 40061292 |
| OpenAlex | W4406303942 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 125 |
The Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE) has been given relatively little attention in research on climate-society interactions when compared to the neighboring Byzantine Empire, despite evidence of changing conditions and an agricultural economy that is theoretically vulnerable to droughts due to low annual precipitation. We review the available historical, archaeological, paleo-environmental, and paleo-climatic evidence to assess whether climatic conditions factored into periods of Sasanian growth and decline. We find evidence for drier conditions across Sasanian territories at the turn of the sixth century, a pattern that extends to the Aegean, Anatolia, and Central Asia. These same conditions contributed to a significant decline for the nearby Kingdom of Himyar but occurred alongside a period of expansion and intensification for the Sasanian Empire. We suggest that a combination of careful management of water infrastructure, including qanats, which can conserve water resources during dry periods, and land-use strategies that are both diverse and flexible, may have mitigated the worst impacts of this dry period. However, we note several weaknesses in the available data that still hinder confident interpretations of the potential impacts of climate change in the Sasanian Empire. Notably, there are gaps in the coverage of paleo-hydrological records and a complete lack of terrestrial paleo-temperature records in the region, as well as low resolution and high chronological uncertainties in the archaeological and paleo-environmental evidence
Ancient history · Empire · Geography · Resilience (materials science · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Byzantine Studies and History · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |