From the sunset of Ctesiphon to the sunrise of Tehran: Socio-political consequences of arid climate events in Iran

Throughout history, climate and environmental changes have always been a powerful stimulus for many social movements to adapt and survive. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between major socio-political tensions and arid climate events during the Islamic era. To reconstruct the climate of the last 1500 years, the results of a number of high-resolution paleoclimate studies in the Near East and Central Asia are presented. The main question is about the possible connection between important historical events and climatic changes. According to paleoclimate research, from AD1500 to AD1870 two long periods of depletion of solar energy occurred: (1) the Early Medieval Cooling, and (2) the Little Ice Age. Between these two events, the Medieval Warming occurred. These climate changes, with the increase in the frequency and severity of droughts, have affected the socio-political balance and order of societies and have led to consequences such as famine, migration, epidemics, and increasing violence. This study shows that one of the most important historical challenges of Iran has been the frequent invasion of pastoral-nomad tribes of Central Asia in cold and dry periods. It seems that during the tense periods of climate change, the Iranian states lost their ability to manage and control the situation.