Iranshahr
Ardashir I (ruled AD 224–41) Founder of the Sasanian Empire.
Shapur I (241–70) The great warrior Shahanshah who captured the Roman emperor Valerian.
Peroz (459–84) Hephthalite-fighter, Jew-persecutor, oath-breaker.
Raham The head of the Mihrans, a Parthian aristocratic family; and the early power behind Peroz’s throne.
Kavad (488–96/498–531) Son of Peroz, and a royal enthusiast for communism.
Sukhra The head of the Karin, a Parthian aristocratic family, and a classic over-mighty subject.
Mazdak A mysterious Persian prophet who appears to have preached communism and to have been sponsored by Kavad.
Zamasp (496–98) Kavad’s brother and briefly installed on the throne as his replacement.
Aspebedes A Parthian general, and brother-in-law of Kavad.
Kavus Kavad’s eldest son, and a committed Mazdakite.
Khusrow I (531–79) The son of Kavad and Aspebedes’s sister. Known to posterity as Anushirvan—“Immortal Soul.”
Hormizd IV (579–90) The son of Khusrow I.
Bahram Chobin (590–1) A Mihranid general, and the first Parthian dynast to usurp the Sasanian throne.
Khusrow II (590–628) The son of Hormizd IV. Restored to the throne with Roman help, his reign witnessed the near destruction of the Roman Empire.
Shahrbaraz (630) Mihranid general who conquered Syria and Palestine for Khusrow II.
Yazdegird III (633–51) The last Sasanian Shahanshah.
Rome
Posidonius Greek philosopher and enthusiast for globalisation.
Augustus (27 BC–AD 14) First of the Roman emperors.
Virgil Author of the Aeneid, the great epic of the Roman people.
Nero (54–68) Psychotic Roman emperor whom rabbis claimed became a Jew.
Philip (244–9) Nicknamed the “Arab.” Presided over Rome’s millennial celebrations.
Decius (249–51) Killer of Philip, killed by Goths. A persecutor of Christians.
Valerian (253–60) Captured by Shapur I.
New Rome
Constantine (306–37) The founder of Constantinople, and the first Christian Caesar.
Helena Constantine’s mother, and the discoverer of the True Cross.
Julian (361–3) The last pagan Caesar.
Theodosius I (379–92) The last Caesar to rule both halves of the Roman Empire.
Theodosius II (408–50) The grandson of Theodosius I. Renowned for his piety, and for the walls around Constantinople that were built during his reign.
Anastasius (491–518) A bureaucrat turned bean-counting emperor.
Justin (518–27) A Balkan peasant who rose through the ranks to the imperial throne.
Justinian (527–65) Justin’s nephew. A worthy rival to Khusrow I.
Theodora A one-time actress, whore and comedian who became Justinian’s wife.
Belisarius Justinian’s best general.
Maurice (582–602) Sponsor of Khusrow II. Deposed by Phocas.
Phocas (602–10) Deposed and killed by Heraclius.
Heraclius (610–41) A proto-crusader whose reign witnessed extraordinary highs and lows.
Sergius Defeated and killed by the Arabs outside Gaza.
The Christian Church
Peter Chief of Christ’s disciples.
Paul Early Christian apostle who argued that Gentiles, if they converted to Christ, were not obliged to follow the Jewish Law.
Ignatius Supposedly appointed Bishop of Antioch by Peter himself, he was the first Christian to deploy the word Christianismos—“Christianity.”
Basilides The second-century author of a heretical gospel that claimed Christ had not died on the cross.
Marcion Another second-century heretic. He viewed the deity of the Old Testament as inferior to the True God, the Father of Christ, and dismissed the entire Old Testament itself as worthless.
Tertullian Born in Carthage in the mid-second century, he was the first Christian to define the Trinity. He died around 220.
Arius A priest from Alexandria who argued that God the Father had existed before God the Son. His teachings were condemned as heretical at the Council of Nicaea in 325.
Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria who took a leading role against Arius at the Council of Nicaea, and was the first to prescribe the contents of what is still the Christian New Testament.
Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century.
Epiphanius A bishop from Cyprus who compiled an exhaustive encyclopedia of heresies in the fourth century.
Jerome A translator of the Bible into Latin who settled permanently in Bethlehem in 388.
Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople who was condemned as a heretic in 431 for arguing that the relationship between the human and the divine in Christ had been one of coexistence rather than union.
Dioscorus Thuggish Bishop of Alexandria who helped to provoke the summoning of the Council of Chalcedon.
Theodoret A Syrian bishop in the first half of the fifth century who took a keen interest in the Arabs.
Sozomen A historian from Gaza who in around 440 published a history of the Church that repeatedly touched on Arab affairs.
Simeon the Elder The first and most famous of the pillar-topping saints known as stylites.
Simeon the Younger The most celebrated stylite of the sixth century.
Paul An Egyptian monk appointed by Justinian to be Bishop of Alexandria.
Zoilus A Syrian sent by Justinian to replace Paul as Bishop of Alexandria.
Barbarians, Mercenaries and Rebels
Zenobia Queen of Palmyra and—briefly, following Shapur I’s capture of Valerian—much of the Roman East.
Mavia Fourth-century Arab queen who briefly emulated Zenobia’s conquests.
Mundhir Persian attack-dog and King of the Lakhmids.
Arethas Roman attack-dog and King of the Ghassanids.
Julian Leader of the Samaritan revolt against Justinian.
Yusuf As’ar Yath’ar Jewish king of Himyar.
Theoderic Mustachioed Ostrogothic king of Italy.
Nehemiah Jewish leader who attempted, after the capture of Jerusalem by the Persians, to rebuild the Temple.
Arculf A Frankish pilgrim to Jerusalem in the reign of Mu’awiya.
The Arab Empire
Muhammad The Prophet of Islam.
Abu Bakr (632–4) According to Muslim tradition, the first of the Rashidun—the “rightly guided” Caliphs.
Umar I (634–44) Warrior leader and mighty ascetic.
Uthman (644–56) Heir to Umar as leader of the Arab Empire, and the man responsible, according to Islamic tradition, for the compilation of Muhammad’s revelations into a single book. An Umayyad.
Ali (656–61) Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law.
Yazid Umayyad general who took a leading role in the conquest of Syria.
Mu’awiya (661–80) Brother of Yazid, governor of Syria, and rival of Ali for control of the Arab Empire.
Yazid I (680–3) The son and heir of Mu’awiya. Alternately idolised as a man of the people and loathed as a drunken playboy.
Husayn Muhammad’s youngest and favourite grandson.
Marwan I (684–5) Uthman’s half-brother: a smooth operator.
Abd al-Malik (685–705) Marwan’s son: the Arab Empire’s equivalent of Constantine.
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr Venerable Companion of Muhammad, and Abd al-Malik’s principal rival in the second civil war for control of the Arab Empire.
Mus’ab Brother of Ibn al-Zubayr, who entrusted him with the pacification of Iraq.
Mukhtar Nicknamed the “Deceiver” by his enemies, he led a revolutionary movement in Iraq against the regime of Ibn al-Zubayr. He owned a holy chair.
Al-Hajjaj Nicknamed “Little Dog.” Abd al-Malik’s principal and most brilliant lieutenant.
Walid I (705–15) Son and heir of Abd al-Malik who built the great mosque of Damascus.
Suleiman (715–17) Son of Abd al-Malik and heir of Walid who sponsored the second siege of Constantinople.
Maslama Son of Abd al-Malik and commander in charge of the expedition against Constantinople.
Ali ibn Bakkar Warrior-scholar.
Abu Ishaq Warrior-scholar.
Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak Warrior-scholar.
Umar II (717–20) Nephew of Abd al-Malik and sufficiently pious to be recognised by subsequent Islamic tradition as an authentic Caliph—the only Umayyad to be granted that honour.
Hisham (724–43) Last of Abd al-Malik’s sons to become Caliph.
Walid II (743–4) Abd al-Malik’s great-nephew, and a renowned playboy, whose murder precipitated a third bout of civil war.
Marwan II (744–50) Last of the Umayyad Caliphs.
Abu Muslim An enigmatic Abbasid-sponsored rebel who led a revolt in the far east of the Caliphate that culminated in the overthrow of the Umayyads.