Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

278 Appendix 3
period the Manichaeans were persecuted in the Sasanian Empire and many
of them sought refuge in both the West and the East.
Medes
Originally the Medes were an Iranian people of horsemen who migrated to
the Iranian mountain regions at the beginning of the first millennium bc
and who from the eighth century bc onwards became very significant. In
alliance with the Babylonians the Medes overthrew the powerful Assyrian
Empire and extended their rule into Asia Minor to the river Halys (590–
585). Around 550 bc the Persian Cyrus revolted against the Median king
Astyages. The Persians became the successors of Median rule and were often
incorrectly called ‘Medes’ by the Greeks.
Monophysitism
see Christological controversies
Nabataeans
The Nabataeans were a people in northern Arabia who became significant
from the fourth century bc onwards. Their confrontations with the rivalling
successors of Alexander the Great brought them in contact with the Greek
world. Petra, the capital of the Nabataean Empire, was a major centre of the
flourishing caravan trade along the Incense Route. The Nabataean Empire
reached its greatest extension around 100 bc. From the middle of the first
century bc it became dependent on Rome. Upon the instigation of the
emperor Trajan in ad 106 it was integrated into the Roman Empire and
became the province of Arabia, of which the new capital was Bostra.
Nestorians
see Christological controversies
Persis
This was the region in south-eastern Iran that became the political centre
of the Achaemenid Empire and a centre of Iranism. After the conquest of
Alexander the Great the impact of ‘Hellenism’ did not affect this area much
so that the ‘Iranian spirit’ could develop further. Important places in the
Persis were Persepolis, Pasargadai, Istachr and Naqˇs-i Rustam.
phylarchos
The Greek title was used for holders of both magisterial and military offices.
In late antiquity the chiefs of Arabian tribes were often called phylarchs.
Already Cicero used the term with this specific meaning.