The Sasanian Empire ruled from 224 to 651 AD, founded by Ardashir I after he defeated the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, at the Battle of Hormozdgan. Its capital was first at Istakhr and, from 226, at Ctesiphon on the Tigris. At its peak the empire covered roughly 3.5 million square kilometers spanning modern-day Iran and Iraq, parts of the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucasus, the Levant, sections of Central Asia and portions of the Indian subcontinent, and it stands as the second-longest-lasting Iranian dynasty, governed through a complex centralized bureaucracy and marked by a revival of Zoroastrianism as state religion. Its cultural influence reached as far as western Europe, East Africa, China and India, and it maintained a long-running military rivalry with the Roman and later Byzantine Empire, climaxing in the devastating Byzantine-Sasanian War of 602 to 628. Weakened by that conflict, the empire fell to the early Muslim conquests carried forward under the Rashidun Caliphate, though several regional Iranian dynasties, including the Dabuyids and Bavandids, continued in its former territory.
Facts
Government Type Government type (class) Classification
Status (Extant or Former) FAQs
How did the Sasanians govern differently from the Parthians before them?
The Sasanians centralized power that the Parthians had shared among small kingdoms, and made Zoroastrianism a state religion.
The Sasanians aimed at a more centralized state. The founder Ardashir I gave special importance to centralization of power, to installing Zoroastrianism as a state religion, and to the Persian rivalry with Rome. Centralization was an especially enormous task because the Parthians had kept a federative alliance of small kingdoms. Zoroastrianism was linked to the organization of the empire, since the legitimacy of the Sasanian system was based on their divine lineage.
Connections
Associated With
The period is the era of the Sasanian Empire.
In Era
Source Wikipedia: Sasanian Empire
Source Wikipedia: Sasanian Empire
Succeeded By
Source Wikipedia: Sasanian Empire
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Nationals Include
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Source Adurbad-i Mahraspand (Wikipedia)LeadQuote, Lead
Adurbad-i Mahraspand ("Ādurbād, son of Mahraspand") was an influential Zoroastrian high priest (mowbedan mowbed) during the reign of the Sasanian king (shah) Shapur II (r. 309–379).
Also in Divinity Atlas: a national of this subject.
Also in Divinity Atlas: a national of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Sasanian Empire
WikipediaIntroduction
was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651 AD
Infobox
Government: Feudal monarchy
Sasanian Empire: Status
Weakened by that conflict, the empire fell to the early Muslim conquests carried forward under the Rashidun Caliphate, though several regional Iranian dynasties, including the Dabuyids and Bavandids, continued in its former territory.
- Succeeded By: Rashidun Caliphate
In Era: Classical Antiquity, lead paragraph and infobox, existence dates
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭𐭱𐭲𐭥𐭩, romanized: Ērānšahr, lit. 'Empire of the Iranians'), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651 AD (the era of late antiquity).
In Era: The Post-Classical and Medieval Period, lead paragraph and infobox, existence dates
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭𐭱𐭲𐭥𐭩, romanized: Ērānšahr, lit. 'Empire of the Iranians'), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651 AD (the era of late antiquity).
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