In brief. The Sasanian dynasty replaced the Parthians and ruled Iran and Mesopotamia until the Arab conquests in the 7th century. It promoted Zoroastrianism, built a strong central state and traded across Eurasia.
The Sasanians took their name from an ancestor of Ardashir I, who defeated the last Parthian king in 224 CE and founded a new dynasty in Fars. They called their state Ērānšahr, the “realm of the Iranians”, and claimed to restore an older Persian greatness.
Kings and gods in rock
The Sasanians used rock reliefs to speak to their subjects and to the world. At Naqsh-e Rustam, near Persepolis, they carved scenes below the old Achaemenid royal tombs. Kings are shown on horseback receiving the ring of kingship from the god Ahura Mazda, or trampling Roman rivals. The most famous relief commemorates Shapur I’s victories over the Romans in the middle of the 3rd century CE, including the capture of the emperor Valerian.
Shapur I, with a long inscription and reliefs, records his campaigns against Rome and the capture of the Roman emperor Valerian.
At Taq-e Bostan, near Kermanshah, a large vaulted niche is carved into the mountain and has scenes of royal investiture and hunting. It shows how much the court cared about display and ceremony.
A strong state
The Sasanians built an administration with a strong role for the king, the priesthood and a warrior nobility. Cities were founded and irrigation works expanded. Under Khosrow I in the 6th century the state reformed taxation and the army. Silver coins and silverware, produced in royal workshops, travelled far along the trade routes.
Religion
The dynasty was closely tied to Zoroastrianism and its priests, but the empire was diverse: Christians, Jews, Manichaeans and others lived under Sasanian rule, sometimes with periods of persecution and sometimes with room to flourish.
The relationship between crown and priesthood changed over time. How far the state enforced one religion, and when, is argued by historians, and our best sources were written later.
The end
The Sasanians fought long wars against the Byzantine empire, which drained both. In the 630s and 640s, Arab armies defeated Sasanian forces, and the last king, Yazdegerd III, died in 651. Sasanian culture did not disappear. Administration, court ritual, literature and art shaped the early Islamic world.
Notes and sources
- Touraj Daryaee, Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (I.B. Tauris, 2009).
- Josef Wiesehöfer, Ancient Persia from 550 BC to 650 AD (I.B. Tauris, 1996).
- Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3 (Cambridge University Press, 1983).
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