Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

276 Appendix 3
imperium maius
This is the power status of a military command that superseded the authority
of other officials in their sphere of command.
Incense route
This is the name of one of the most famous caravan routes in antiquity.
It commenced in southern Arabia and ran along the western coast of the
Arabian peninsula to the commercial centres in north-west Arabia (Petra,
Bostra). Via this trade route Arabia’s luxury goods were transported to the
Roman East, among other things the much desired frankincense.
Istakhr
The town was a religious centre of the Sasanians in the Persis. During
the Sasanian period it was as significant as Persepolis had been during the
Achaemenid period. After the Islamic conquest of the Sasanian Empire
Istachr was destroyed.
ius Italicum
By being granted the ius Italicum communities outside Italy gained a privileged
legal status. This entailed autonomous administration and independence
from the provincial governors, but most importantly fiscal privileges
and a special legal treatment of landed property in the area, which probably
enjoyed tax exemption as a rule. However, we do not know the precise
content and details of this privilege.
Kūˇsān
This was the name of a dynasty of central Asia that flourished particularly
during the first centuries bc and ad, when it united parts of central Asia,
Iran, Afghanistan and India to form an important empire. During the
Arsacid period these so-called ‘Indoscythians’ were powerful opponents of
the Parthians. At the time of the rise of the Sasanian dynasty the power of
the Kūˇsān, who were a possible threat at the north-eastern borders of the
Sasanian Empire, was already waning.
Lazi
This culture of Scythian origin inhabited Colchis, a region situated along
the south-eastern shore of the Black Sea, bordering Armenia and the Caucasus.
The Lazi gained historical significance only in late antiquity, when
they took over power from the ancient Colchians. They were a vassal state
of Rome and subject to Sasanian influence only between 470 and 522.