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Khark is one the very important islands in the Persian Gulf and considered to be a vital link for commercial ships passing through this strategic waterway since the ancient time. Some researches dealing with archaeological and historical significance of the island have already been carried out but more efforts are needed to unearth hidden truth, including archeological finds from there. The current paper aims to review a book entitled The Persian Gulf Khark: The Island’s Untold Story by Willem Floor & D. T. Potts.

The Scythian Empire is a controversial book with a charming title that can attract the attention of any scholar. Christopher I. Beckwith presents claims in this book that accepting each one of them leads us to rethink many previous customary historical beliefs. Some of his theories are novel but most of them are rehabilitation of older obsolete ideas. The book wraps a wide range of specialized topics in the fields of history, archeology, and linguistics; but deals with most of them on a superficial level. Since the Scythians were an Iranian ethnic group, this work is especially recommended for scholars of Iranian history, as unfortunately, the significance of the Scythians in shaping Iranian history has not been recognized as other ancient Iranians such as the Persians. In a broader sense, this work can be also useful for scholars interested in the Iranian world and its relations with neighboring civilizations, Eurasia, Central Asia, and China.   

The city of Mashhad gradually took shape and expanded after the martyrdom of Imam Reza, around his mausoleum. Throughout history, defensive walls with towers were built in three different periods to ensure the security of citizens and pilgrims around this city. Historical reports and dedicatory Qurans testify to the existence of the existence of defensive walls around the city of Mashhad from the fourth century, which is considered the first defensive wall constructed for the city of Mashhad. the second defensive wall for this city was constructed by Faramarz ibn Ali in 515 AH. The last defensive wall for the city was built by Shah Tahmaseb Safavi to ensure that the city remained safe from Uzbek attacks forever. This defensive wall remained around the city of Mashhad until the first Pahlavi dynasty. During the first Pahlavi dynasty, the improvement of urban security in Mashhad reduced the effectiveness of the city's towers and defensive walls, leading to the expansion of the city beyond the defensive walls. The lack of maintenance for the defensive wall, along with leveling and destroying it to create new roads and expand the city, destroyed the defensive wall of Mashhad.

In the 5th AH / 11th AD century, the Seljuk government was formed in Iran, and over time, they were able to defeat the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad and the Eastern Roman empire in Anatolia. Before the 5th AH / 11th AD, the Anatolian region was under the domination of the Christian Romans and the churches were considered the religious architecture in this region. The purpose of this research is to investigate the evolution of Seljuks of Rum and Ottoman mosque architecture and the influencing factors in the formation of mosque architecture in the Anatolian region, which was carried out by field, library and descriptive, adaptive and analytical approaches. The results show that the architecture of early Islamic mosques , Roman architecture and Seljuks of Iran played a significant role in the formation of Seljuk architecture in Anatolia , and local architecture played an important role in the formation and evolution of Anatolian mosque architecture

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.