Explanation and Analysis of the Communication Network of Sasanian Cities and its Role in the Arab Conquests

The expanded territories of the ancient Iranian empires raise a question for the audience, at first glance, despite a display of authority and domination of the kings, that how the central governments extended their domination over these regions and defended it against foreign threats. In the wide Sasanian Empire, one policy of the emperors of the dynasty was to establish new cities and renew old ones to expand their dominance over the country. As a result of these efforts in which required the founding and reconstruction of intercity pathways for moving goods and troops, a vast network of cities and routes were gradually formed. In this network, cities had the role of nodes for controlling and providing the essential resources and supplies for the central government. Thus, it can assume that the network of cities, moreover expanding the dominance of the Sasanian government, also had affected their fall. This study aimed to find appropriate answers for this question, using library resources through a descriptive-analytical methodology that what role the communication network of Sasanian cities has played in the Arabs conquests. The result findings indicate that the vast communication network of the Sasanian cities has not only facilitated the Arabs troops’ movement and campaign, but they were also able to weaken the defensive power of cities through Blocking support routes. Moreover, The Arabs had been able to consolidate their occupancy and dominance by capturing the cities as network’s connection points.