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Sasanian

“ Fuck her and let me watch, Wolf. ” She laughs and sits down on the edge of the bed. My eyes land on Wolf who is watching me and I realise in this moment, that he is going to do everything she asks of him. Even if it involves fucking me in front of her. ***** Forget what was told to you about the werewolves in fairytales. They are not what everyone imagined them to be. They are cruel and wild. Complete animals — The monsters. And now I am slaved by one of the most feared monster in the world. Wolf. Fire dances in his eyes and secrets lie in every truth around him. I know I am doomed when I choose him to be my master, still I can’t help but feel that I have a connection with him that cannot be denied or accepted either.

9.7

138 Chapters

Dangerous Desires

'I have waited for this moment. This very moment when you finally see me. Tonight I claim what is truly mine. Your heart, love, and body, Tia, just as it should be. Me and you." Luke Moon."I see you, Tia, I always have. I thought we had time, but I guess I was wrong. They took you away from me, but I will not give you up, Tia. I will fight for your love as I should have. Even though you are married to my brother, I will take you back," Caleb Moon.Tia Lockwood has had a crush on her friend, Caleb Moon, for most of her teen years. When Caleb's older brother, Luke, lost favour with their father because of his bad behaviour, Caleb had to train to take over from his father as the future Alpha of their pack. Tia sees this as an opportunity to remain close to her friend. She dumps her studies as a medical doctor to join the academy as a warrior hoping to finish as the strongest wolf and become Caleb's Beta when he assumes the Alpha position. Tia tried hard and finished second place, which qualified her for the Gamma position. It was close enough for her, and she hoped Caleb would eventually see her. Unfortunately for them, things take a turn when Tia is married to Caleb's older brother, Luke, and forced to bury her feelings for Caleb.Living in the same house with her husband and long time crush, would Tia eventually understand the difference between true love and infatuation?

9.8

346 Chapters

THROUGH THE EYES OF MY ALPHA

Life has never been good to me. And just when I thought life couldn't get any worse, the Goddess mocked me one more time and gave me a stubborn and difficult Alpha as my fated mate - someone who wanted nothing to do with me. But what did I have to lose? To begin with, I had nothing. So leaving and forgetting all about him should be easy. Well it was, until it wasn't. ¤¤¤¤¤ The book is the second in the Black Shadow Pack Series Spin-off Novels. While the story stands alone, I recommend that you read the series and the spin-off novel Book 1, to gain a better understanding of the characters. BLACK SHADOW PACK SERIES: Book 1 - HE'S MY ALPHA (Completed) Book 2 - THE BETA IS MINE (Completed) Book 3 - LOVING THE GAMMA (Completed) Spin-off Novel Book 1 - IN THE ARMS OF MY ALPHA (Completed) Spin-off Novel Book 2 - THROUGH THE EYES OF MY ALPHA (Completed)

118 Chapters

The Dragon King's Seduction

In a world where the werewolf kingdom is on the brink of war, the Alpha King is forced to offer one of his daughters hands in marriage in exchange for peace. When Princess Xendaya finds out that her younger sister has agreed to wed the Dragon King - a beast who is known for his callous, ruthless and deadly nature - she decides to take her place, making the ultimate sacrifice and signing away her freedom. Far from home and her people, will the head-strong werewolf princess survive in the kingdom of beasts? A place that is far worse than she thought. Her new husband is not only dangerous but has the sexual appetite of a hundred men. How will Xendaya cope knowing that her king has a harem and has no shortage of women? Agnarr, the Ruthless, is a merciless leader who has his eyes on a throne that he feels is his birthright, thrusting his people into the claws of full-out war and carnage. Will he continue to bottle his pain, rage, and hatred within him or allow his new queen to help guide him? How will Xendaya cope when her so-called husband turns his gaze upon her, his newest possession? How will Agnarr react when he realises he wants a taste of his new wife? And how will she remain strong and not succumb to her Dragon King's seduction? In a clash of wills, passion and desire, will the threat that hangs above them allow them to give in? Or will it simply drive them apart? ~~~ The sequel to The Alpha King's Possession Follow me on IG Author.Muse and FB Author Muse for updates, aesthetics and more!

9.8

96 Chapters

Begin Again

Eden McBride spent her whole life colouring within the lines. But when her fiancé dumps her one month before their wedding, Eden is done following the rules. A hot rebound is just what the doctor recommends for her broken heart. No, not really. But it's what Eden needs. Liam Anderson, the heir to the biggest logistics company in Rock Union, is the perfect rebound guy. Dubbed the Three Months Prince by the tabloids because he's never with the same girl longer than three months, Liam's had his fair share of one night stands and doesn't expect Eden to be anything more than a hookup. When he wakes up and finds her gone along with his favourite denim shirt, Liam is irritated, but oddly intrigued. No woman has ever left his bed willingly or stole from him. Eden has done both. He needs to find her and make her account. But in a city with more than five million people, finding one person is as impossible as winning the lottery, until fate brings them together again two years later. Eden is no longer the naive girl she was when she jumped into Liam's bed; she now has a secret to protect at all costs. Liam is determined to get everything Eden stole from him, and it's not just his shirt. © 2020-2021 Val Sims. All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author and publishers.

9.8

196 Chapters

THE LOVE DOCTOR: HIS SUBMISSIVE

"PLEASE FUCK ME DOCTOR". ANN BEGGED AS SHE CRAVED FOR HIS TOUCH IN-BETWEEN HER SPLAYED LEGS. //DARK ROMANCE// WARNING! THIS BOOK CONTAINS STEAMY SCENE IN EVERY CHAPTER, IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 AND YOU FEEL INSUCRE ABOUT READING EROTIC BOOK, PLEASE DON'T READ. IT CONTAINS HIGH SEXUAL CONTENT!!!...THOSE WHO WISH TO CONTINUE, PLEASE DO BECAUSE YOU WIL REALLY ENJOY IT, IT'S WORTH IT! … I am Ann hamburger. A sex maniac. I mean, I love having sex. And I am a fan of one night stands. My parents and ex boyfriend thinks I am cursed but my body is just highly sensitive. It was all fun to me but I got to thinking that they might be right. So my best friend introduced someone to me—A sex doctor . Marcus Morris. She says he is my last hope. My question is, am I really cursed? Can a sex doctor help me stop being a sex maniac? Well flip through this pages and read the story of my life. The shades of Ann...

7.1

138 Chapters

When Did Sasanian Empire Reach Its Territorial Peak?

4 Answers2025-08-29 05:30:36

One of the moments in late antiquity that still gives me chills is how big the Sasanian realm got in the early 7th century. I like to picture it while flipping through a battered atlas on a rainy afternoon — the empire, under Khosrow II, stretched farther than it ever had before, roughly around 620–627 CE. After a string of spectacular victories over the Byzantines the Sasanians controlled Syria, Palestine, and even Egypt for a time, while keeping their long-held domains in Mesopotamia, Persia, and parts of the eastern provinces.

That high-water mark didn’t last long. The Byzantine counteroffensive under Emperor Heraclius in 627–628 pushed the Sasanians back, and within a few decades the whole region was transformed again by the Arab conquests. Still, when I trace those borders on a map I get this vivid sense of a moment when Persia was the unrivaled power of the Near East — rich, militarized, and connected to long-distance trade routes — and that fleeting dominance makes for great late-night history rabbit holes for me.

Where Did Sasanian Rock Reliefs Get Carved And Why?

4 Answers2025-08-29 14:23:24

Wandering through photos of Iranian sites makes it click for me: Sasanian rock reliefs were carved right into visible cliffs, canyon walls, mountain faces and roadside outcrops — places people actually passed by. I’ve stood under pictures of the great panels at 'Taq-e Bostan' and 'Naqsh-e Rustam' and felt how these carvings weren’t tucked away in a palace but slapped onto the landscape itself.

They picked spots that were durable and public: limestone or sandstone bluffs with wide, flat faces and good sightlines. That practical choice also served political and religious goals. By putting an investiture scene or victory tableau above a road, near a river crossing, or at a sacred mountain, the king broadcast power, divine sanction, and control over territory to travelers, soldiers, and local communities. There’s also a continuity with older Persian practices — rock surfaces were already sacred or symbolically charged, so carving there tied a new dynasty to ancestral legitimacy.

On top of all that, stone lasts. The Sasanians wanted their scenes to survive weather and time, so the cliff face served as both monument and message for anyone who walked the routes connecting cities like Bishapur, Firuzabad, or the caravan roads toward the Roman frontier.

How Did Sasanian Religion Interact With Zoroastrian Rituals?

5 Answers2025-08-29 15:51:01

Wandering through museum halls full of Sasanian silver and rock reliefs once sparked a whole afternoon of daydreaming for me about how religion actually smelled and sounded back then. The Sasanian state didn't just passively inherit Zoroastrian rites — it leaned on them, organized them, and made them part of public life. Rituals like the Yasna, where priests recited Avestan liturgy and prepared the haoma, were performed in fire temples and royal chapels; I can almost hear the cadence of those recitations as I trace a rubbing of a relief showing a king before a sacred fire.

What surprised me was how ritual and politics braided together. Kings endorsed a priestly hierarchy — the chief priest or ‘mowbedan mowbed’ gained prestige and land — and state ceremonies reinforced royal legitimacy, invoking concepts like khvarenah (divine glory). Yet popular practice remained messy: local cults of Mithra, Anahita, and community festivals like Nowruz and Mehregan kept older customs alive. Texts such as the 'Avesta', and later compilations like the 'Bundahishn' and 'Denkard', preserved liturgical material, but archaeology shows a tapestry of practice, adaptation, and coexistence with rival faiths like Christianity and Manichaeism. I love thinking of how those layered rituals shaped daily life, law, and even tax privileges — it feels like walking through a city where every street corner had its own little rite and story.

Which Sasanian Kings Reformed The Persian Bureaucracy?

4 Answers2025-08-29 07:06:15

I get excited talking about this era—it's one of those stretches of history where rulers really reshaped how a state worked from the ground up. If I had to pick the headline names who reformed Persian bureaucracy, I'd start with Ardashir I and Shapur I, but the superstar for administrative overhaul is Khosrow I (Anushirvan).

Ardashir I (r. 224–241) founded the Sasanian state and deliberately replaced many Parthian, semi-feudal practices with a more centralized royal administration. That meant reorganizing provinces, strengthening royal fiscal control over land and revenue, and building offices that served the shah directly rather than relying exclusively on aristocratic intermediaries. Shapur I (r. 240–270) expanded on that by consolidating tax systems and employing written records and inscriptions to assert royal authority—he wasn’t just fighting Rome, he was also building paperwork.

Kavadh I (early 6th century) gets mentioned because his flirtation with Mazdakite social reforms forced the state to rethink land, taxation, and social obligations; that upheaval paved the way for more systematic reforms. Then Khosrow I (r. 531–579) carried out the most famous, concrete set of reforms: he reorganized the bureaucracy and provinces (often described as dividing the empire into administrative quarters), reformed taxation and the judiciary, created more professional military commands by dividing responsibilities among regional 'spahbeds', and institutionalized the role of the chief minister (the 'wuzurg framadār')—think of him as both prime minister and chief reformer. I often cross-check these with works like 'The Cambridge History of Iran' and enjoy reading echoes of these changes in 'Shahnameh' when it dramatizes royal power. If you like digging deeper, tracing how each ruler built on the previous one's structures is really satisfying—it's like watching a city grow street by street rather than sprout overnight.

Why Did Sasanian Military Tactics Beat Roman Forces?

4 Answers2025-08-29 22:39:26

There’s something almost cinematic about how the Sasanians handled battles, and I can’t help grinning when I think about it. Reading fragments in the margins of a history book and flipping through passages in 'Shahnameh' gave me this picture: a fighting force built around mobile, heavily armoured cavalry that could hit like a battering ram and fade away like a shadow. The Savaran (or cataphracts) smashed Roman formations with weight and momentum, while horse-archers picked apart flanks and supply columns from a distance.

What really fascinates me is the combo of tech and tactics. The Sasanians weren’t just brute force — they were masters of combined arms. Their cavalry, horse-archers, engineers and siege teams were coordinated to exploit Roman weaknesses: long supply lines, political infighting, and the slower heavy infantry traditions. They also used terrain and timing brilliantly, drawing Romans into marshes and deserts where cavalry mobility mattered less for Rome and more for Persia.

I love picturing a Sasanian commander watching the horizon, delaying engagement until the moment the Roman flank was overextended, then sending in cataphracts to shatter the line while archers harassed and siege crews threatened cities. It’s a blend of patience, brutality, and adaptability — and it helps explain why Rome sometimes lost in the East.

What Symbols Did Sasanian Crowns Use To Show Legitimacy?

4 Answers2025-08-29 20:10:11

Walking through the coin cases at a museum always gets my brain buzzing — Sasanian crowns are like a catalog of royal propaganda, each element shouting legitimacy in its own visual language.

The most obvious recurring features are the diadem (a jeweled forehead band) and the so-called 'korymbos', a beaded or jeweled globe or plume that sits atop the crown. Those signifiers function like a personal crest: they mark the wearer as ruler and often get personalized so subjects could instantly recognize which king was in charge. Astral motifs — crescents, stars, sun-discs — frequently appear, tapping into cosmic authority and perhaps Zoroastrian associations with celestial order. Pearls, pendants, lappets (ribbons hanging down the neck) and multi-tiered turrets or crenellations add to the effect, visually amplifying rank.

Beyond the crowns themselves, legitimacy was reinforced by imagery on coins and rock reliefs: Pahlavi inscriptions proclaiming titles like 'Shahanshah', investiture scenes showing a god or divine figure handing over the diadem, and fire-altars that emphasize the dynasty’s religious legitimacy. Seeing a Sasanian coin and an investiture relief together is like reading a mini-constitution in metal and stone — and I can’t help but grin when the little details line up.

How Did Sasanian Art Influence Early Islamic Architecture?

4 Answers2025-08-29 11:54:41

Standing beneath photographs of Taq Kasra in a museum, I felt an instant click between past and present — that giant Sasanian arch hums through the bones of early Islamic buildings. The Sasanians perfected large-scale vaults and domes, and when the early caliphs inherited Persian cities and craftsmen, those structural ideas rode along. You can trace the lineage from the barrel vault of Ctesiphon to the vaulted chambers and monumental arches of Umayyad and Abbasid palaces.

Beyond structure, decoration moved too. Sasanian stucco, mosaic and metalwork loved repeating vegetal vines, palmettes and interlace; early Islamic artists kept those rhythms but shifted them toward non-figural geometry and arabesque sensibilities. Craftsmen who once carved royal hunting scenes pivoted to abstracted arabesques, so the visual language survived while fitting new religious norms.

I like thinking of it as cultural plumbing: techniques, motifs, and skilled hands flowed into the new courtly culture. The result wasn’t a simple copy — it was a creative remix that gave Islamic architecture its monumental arches, vaulted halls, and lush, repeating ornamentation that still delights me on late-night museum dives.

What Made Sasanian Coinage Valuable To Ancient Traders?

4 Answers2025-08-29 16:48:05

I still get a little giddy thinking about holding one of those old Sasanian drachms — heavy, cold, and perfectly round, with the king’s portrait staring back at you and a little fire altar on the reverse. The first thing traders loved was the metal itself: these coins were made of relatively pure silver and kept a consistent weight (roughly in the 3.5–4 gram range for a drachm), so you could trust their intrinsic value even when you were hundreds of miles from the mint.

Beyond metal and weight, there was the reliability of the system. The Sasanian state ran organized mints and maintained recognizable types and inscriptions, which meant strangers could accept the coins with confidence. That trust mattered on caravan routes from Mesopotamia to Central Asia and down to the Indian Ocean. I’ve read about merchants in old bazaars treating these coins like portable bullion — you could melt, reweight, or re-stamp them if needed, or simply use them to settle debts.

Last little bit: the iconography helped, too. The king’s bust and the fire altar weren’t just decorative; they signaled official backing and religious legitimacy. That gave the coins a symbolic stamp of trust that circulated with them, from seaside ports to mountain passes. It’s why I’ve always thought of Sasanian coinage as both practical money and a traveling badge of the empire.

How Did Sasanian Textiles Shape Medieval Fashion Trends?

4 Answers2025-08-29 03:05:00

Walking into a museum gallery full of early medieval silks always does something to me. A Sasanian brocade, with its stylized winged horses and hunting scenes, looks like the original influencer — luxurious, unmistakable, and copied everywhere. I like to imagine courtiers in Constantinople or Damascus spotting those medallion roundels on a caravan bundle and saying, ‘We need this in our wardrobe.’ The Sasanian love of bold, repeating animals and palmettes became shorthand for prestige: wearing those motifs meant you were part of a transregional elite.

Technically, those textiles taught other workshops how to push silk weaving further. The heavy samite-like weaves, compound weft techniques and gold-wrapped threads the Sasanians used showed Byzantine and later Islamic weavers what was possible. Over time you see hybrids — Sasanian medallions working into Byzantine imperial cloaks, then into Coptic tunics in Egypt, and finally as trims in Viking burials. That lineage explains why medieval fashion across such different cultures shared certain silhouettes and decorative priorities: it was less about copying whole garments and more about borrowing symbolic motifs, materials, and weaving know-how.

When I look at a medieval vestment or a reconstructed tunic, I can almost trace a pattern back to Sasanian designs. Those patterns didn’t just decorate clothes; they carried identity and status across continents, shaping what medieval people thought of as ‘luxury’. It’s a kind of cultural echo I keep spotting in museums and flea markets alike.

Which Archaeological Sites Reveal Sasanian Palace Designs?

5 Answers2025-08-29 04:49:23

Whenever I wander through books or ruins, the Sasanian palace vocabulary always fascinates me — massive barrel vaults, imposing iwans, and those intimate chahar-taq halls. The most famous site that shows this off is Ctesiphon: the Taq Kasra (the giantarched hall) is the textbook example of Sasanian monumental vaulting and palace façade composition. Close by, archaeological layers at the broader Seleucia–Ctesiphon complex reveal palace precincts and royal urban planning.

Further south in Fars, Firuzabad (the Palace of Ardashir and the nearby Ghal'eh Dokhtar) preserves the early Sasanian experiments with domed halls, squinches, and palace courtyards. Bishapur gives a different flavor — it's part planned city, part royal complex with rock reliefs, mosaic pavements, and traces of residence wings that let you imagine court life. Sarvestan is smaller but incredibly instructive about the central-dome hall type that influenced later Islamic architecture.

Other spots worth mentioning: Takht-e Soleyman for its fortress-fire-temple-palace ensemble, Naqsh-e Rajab and Naqsh-e Rustam for royal rock reliefs that complement palace iconography, and several lesser known provincial sites where foundation plans, brickwork patterns, stucco fragments and buried columns reveal room layouts and decorative schemes. If you love architecture, visiting these places and then seeing Sasanian objects in Tehran’s museums ties the picture together — the scale, materials, and even garden layouts become surprisingly vivid.