Biographie

Khodadad Rezakhani is a global historian, focusing on the first millennium Iranian world, stretching from Central Asia to Iran, Iraq, the Caucasus and the rest of West Asia. Thematically, he has worked on the concept of the Silk Road and its usefulness, or lack thereof, for the study of ancient and late antique Eurasian history, a theme he looks forward to developing as part of the EurAsia Excellent Cluster. His other research interests include the period of transition from the late Sasanian empire to the early Islamic period (particularly in its economic and social institutions), as well as Byzantine-Sasanian economic relations, Arabs and Arabia before the rise of Islam, and the position of Armenians and Syrians within the Sasanian empire.

Khodadad’s previous experiences has included being the Principle Investigator (PI) of A City of Many Cities: Ctesiphon and Baghdad (funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung). He was previously a Research Fellow at the Leiden Institute of Area Studies. From 2016-2020, Khodadad was a Senior Research Scholar at Princeton University where he was part of its Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, as well as a lecturer at the Department of History teaching BA and MA classes. From 2014-2016, Khodadad held a Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung at the Free University of Berlin, and prior to that, was a post-Doctoral Researcher at the London School of Economics (2010-2013), as well as Teaching Fellow at the LSE and at SOAS, University of London. From 2013 to 2014, Khodadad taught at University of Nevada, Reno.

Khodadad has published a wide range of books and articles, in both English and Persian, which includes his monograph, ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity (Edinburgh UP, 2017) and the Persian translation and historical commentary on the Anonymous Syriac Chronicle known as the Chronicle of Khuzistan (Hekmat, 2016). His co-edited (with John Hyland) volume, Brills’s Companion to War in the Ancient Iranian Empires, was released in 2024. His forthcoming book, Persians, Greeks, and Arabs: War and Conquest in late Antique West Asia, will be published in 2026. Another monograph, Conjuring the Silk Road: Travel, Trade, and Eurocentrism in the Steppe Land, is forthcoming.