Istakhr and its territory. A glance over Middle Persian sources and Sasanian epigraphic evidence

The city of Istakhr played a pivotal role in the rise of the Sasanian dynasty as it was the place where the foremost members of this family based their political authority. The presence of earlySasanian rocky reliefs and inscriptions bear witness to the importance of the sacral sites surrounding this city in propelling the new dynastic ideology. Though written sources on this period are extremely scarce, the name of the city does appear in different types of Middle Persian evidence, essentially epigraphic, from the early Sasanian period up to the fall of the dynasty, and literary sources, redacted by Zoroastrian priests in the early Islamic period. By adopting a perspective that includes all these sources the paper aims to highlight specific aspects concerning Sasanian Istakhr.