History Department , Faculty of Literature and Humanities ,Tehran University, Tehran ,Iran
Abstract
Irfan Aref Shahîd was professor emeritus at Georgetown University until his death in 2016. In 1946, he went to St John’s College, Oxford, to study classical works and Greco-Roman history under the supervision of the renowned historian, Sherwin White. He then received his doctorate from Princeton University. Shahîd’s research primarily focused on the following areas: the Greco-Roman world, especially the Byzantine Empire and its intersection with the Arab and Islamic world during the late antique and medieval periods, and Islamic studies, particularly the Quran and Arabic literature. In 1970, a symposium titled “Byzantium and Sasanian Iran” was held at Dumbarton Oaks, where luminaries such as Richard Frye, Andrew Alföldi, Pigulevskaya, Bivar, and Irfan Shahîd delivered speeches. The following article is the text of Shahid’s closing speech at this conference, in which the author examines the precise Iranian elements and their influences on the structure of Byzantine history. In this context, the official selection of the title Basileus by Heraclius and its process are scrutinized, and the Sassanians are mentioned as external drivers.
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