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The relationship between Rome and Parthia is one of the most important issues in ancient history. Still, only some scholars, such as archaeologists, historians, and linguists, have written books and articles about this subject. Rome, Parthia, and the Politics of Peace, The Origins of War in the Ancient Middle East, by Jason M. Schlude, is a new book in this field.

Tappeh Bazgir is one of the most important archaeological sites of the Late Bronze Age in northeastern Iran. At this site, a hoard of 759 Bronze Age copper-alloy objects with an approximate weight of more than two tons was excavated. This find is unique in terms of volume and the extraordinary finds it contained. This archaeological hoard was discovered by chance in 2001, and in 2010 a rescue excavation was carried out at the findspot. This hoard had been buried in the virgin soil and deliberately concealed under a residential floor in the Late Bronze Age. The objects recovered served different purposes; they include agricultural and household implements, tools, ceremonial objects and a variety of weapons. The artifacts were all located next to each other in a pit and had been arranged in a regular manner. There were also three shields among these objects. They had been placed next to each other under basins with gutter-shaped pipes and on top of daggers, hatchets, axes, two-pronged forks, and stone rods. These weapons had evidently been positioned at close to the domestic objects. The shields are of strikingly similar shapes, but they differ slightly in the number of openings and bars. Up to now, no similar shields have been found at any other archaeological site. These shields seem to be the oldest shields excavated in Iran. XRD and XRF analyses revealed that one of the shields and other objects of the hoard were made of cast copper-alloy, and they were subjected to cold forging/hammering later.

In the east of Pahanvar Ray plain, we come to a fertile area (Pishwa/Varamin plain) which has provided suitable conditions for human habitation since the formation of human settlements until today. Due to the location of this plain in the north of the central desert and the border between the two cultural domains of the northeast and the center, the environmental condition and suitable altitude, which are the main factors for the formation of permanent settlements, and the possible existence of extra-regional connections of this area with the neighboring areas, a wide survey was conducted in this area of ​​the plain. It was concluded that during this archaeological investigation, 61 ancient sites from the Sassanid era were found in the east of Varamin and south of Peshwa. It is most likely that Varamin is considered a part of Ray State and based on the available evidence, it is possible that it is the main center of Ray State as well. According to historical texts and archeological data, the state of Ray was one of the important areas of human settlement during the Sassanid period in Iran. Historical texts mention Ray in the Sassanid period, and the number of sites attributed to the Sassanid period in the geographical area of ​​Varamin has not been found until today. Despite this, based on the prominent geographical location of the Varamin region and the references of the historical texts to the Ray state, this region was probably one of the important regions of the historical period in Iran. In the present article, an attempt has been made to describe the historical geography of Ray State in the Sassanid period, while using the archaeological data of the Sassanid period of Varamin, to draw a part of the archeology and historical geography of Varamin in the Sassanid period.