Iranian and Turanian relations in the Sasanian period

Due to its location, the Iranian Plateau was historically open to nomadic invasions both from the Caucasus and from the southeast of the Caspian Sea. The continuity of this phenomenon resulted in the Iranians engaging in a conflict with a culture/tribe they called Tur (an) since the Avesta era. Since the Avesta era, the members of this culture, regardless of their ethnic group, have constituted an opposition to Iran, the representative of the settled culture. This opposition can be traced especially in Iranian sources. Representatives of Turanian culture began to penetrate Sasanian Iran intensively around 350 AD and had very close contact with the Sassanids. However, although it may seem ambiguous in Iranian sources when a holistic analysis is conducted, it is possible to argue that these migrations started much earlier than the 4th century AD. Such contacts were partly documented through political relations. As a result of intensified contact, "interaction" manifested itself in every field. Beyond political relations, Iran and Turan, as the representatives of two different cultures, also interacted in terms of elements of political culture. The political-cultural heritage transferred from the Near East to Iran was also reflected in the Sasanian conception of rulership. Deriving most of the elements of political culture from their predecessors, such as the representation of the ruler, his titles, and the means of gaining legitimacy, the Sasanians sometimes borrowed elements of the Avesta era against the Turanians. They came into contact with the Turanians during their period and fell under the influence of a "hybrid" cultural circle. Similarly, Turanian tribes both maintained Turanian elements and hybridized and incorporated elements of Iranian political culture into their bodies following their contacts with Iran. Keywords: Iran and Turan, Sasanids, Iran, Turan, White Huns, Hephthalites