Was there geographical science in Sasanian Iran?

Shapira, Dan (2001) Was there geographical science in Sasanian Iran? Acta Orientalia, 54 (2-3). pp. 319-338. ISSN 0001-6446

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Abstract

The study examines the extant Sasanian material relating to geographical knowledge, trying to answer the question whether Iranians of the Late Sasanian period possessed the notion of “geographical science” comparable to that of their Byzantine neighbours or their Islamic heirs. Geographical traditions found in several texts, both in Avestan and Pahlavi, are studied and compared, in order to reach the conclusions, whether the actual geographical knowledge was systematised. It appears that there was much diversity in geographical views in various periods of Sasanian history; the views on geography were generally geopolitically motivated; there was a gap between the learned traditions and real geographical knowledge; Sasanian geographical attitudes were characterised by Iranocentrism and little interest in real geography; Sasanian Iranians did not develop a geographical science, and much of what we are left with is rather geographical mythology.

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