The Concept of Architecture in the Transitional Era from the Late Sassanid to the Early Islamic Period, An Introduction to the Conceptual History of Iranian Architecture

The common division in Iranian architectural history to two separate periods - pre-Islamic and Islamic - which was once efficient, has gradually lost its motivating power. Such a cliché had consequences including disregarding the architecture of the very transitional era from the late Sassanid to the early Islamic period. Understanding the real changes, evolutions, breaks, and continuity in the two sides of the supposed historical border requires more inquiry and research; a research that should begin with eliminating the border. Human beings think about architecture before, during, and after practicing it. They speak about it; and their words are evidences of their understanding of architecture. The concept of “architecture” is not constant and timeless. It changes during history; and its changes reveal themselves in the language. In this article, after introducing “conceptual history” and its benefits for Iranian architectural studies, we study the conceptual history of the architecture of the transitional era. We take lexical and etimological methods in defining semantic fields and categories of architecture in the era as a way toward understanding the cultural changes and evolutions of architecture. Our primary sources are in three languages: Pahlavi (Middle Persian), Persian (New Persian/ Dari), and Arabic. By the conceptual history of architecture of the transitional era from the late Sassanid to the early Islamic period, we will show that the concept of architecture in the era revealed in the term ābādāni, did not bear any radical changes. Of course the concept of architecture as ābādāni is far from the modern concept of architecture, despite including it.