ABSTRACT
Two “superpowers” On the eve of Islam much of the land north and east of Arabia was divided between two large empires, the Sasanians and the Byzantines, two regional “superpowers”, we might say. e Sasanians were Iranian in language and culture and the Byzantines were Greek, but both ruled over other ethnic groups also. ese included Aramaicspeaking people in Iraq ruled by the Sasanians and Aramaic speakers in Syria (then including what is now Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and Jordan) and Coptic speakers in Egypt, ruled by the Byzantines. A third but lesser center of power was in Ethiopia.
