Sassanid Empire facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sasanian Empire
Ērānshahr
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224–651 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent c. 620, under Khosrow II
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Common languages |
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Religion |
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Government | Feudal monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shahanshah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 224–241
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Ardashir I (first) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 632–651
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Yazdegerd III (last) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Historical era | Late Antiquity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
28 April 224 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• The Iberian War
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526–532 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Climactic Roman–Persian War of 602–628
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602–628 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Civil war
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628–632 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
633–651 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
651 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
550 | 3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name used for the Persian dynasty which lasted from 224 to 651 AD.
The Sassanid Empire, which succeeded the Parthian Empire, was recognized as one of the two main powers in Western Asia, alongside the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire, for more than 400 years.
King of kings
The Sassanid dynasty was founded by Ardashir I when he had defeated the last Parthian (Arsacid) king, Artabanus IV, and ended when the last Sassanid Shahanshah (King of Kings), Yazdegerd III (632–651), lost a 14-year struggle to drive out the early Arab Caliphate, the first of the Islamic empires.
The Sassanid Empire's traditional territory included all of today's Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Afghanistan, eastern parts of Turkey, and parts of Syria, Pakistan, Caucasia, Central Asia and Arabia.
The Sassanid era is considered to be one of the most important and influential historical periods in Iran. In many ways the Sassanid period saw the highest achievement of Persian civilization, and constituted the last great Iranian Empire before the Muslim conquest and adoption of Islam.
Persia influenced Roman civilization considerably during the Sassanids' times,p109 and the Romans reserved for the Sassanid Persians alone the status of equals. The Roman Emperor wrote letters to the Persian Shahanshah, which were addressed to "my brother". Their cultural influence extended far beyond the empire's territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India, and played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asiatic medieval art.
This influence carried forward to the early Islamic world. The dynasty's unique, aristocratic culture transformed the Islamic conquest of Iran into a Persian renaissance. Much of what later became known as Islamic culture, architecture, writing and other skills were borrowed mainly from the Sassanid Persians and propagated throughout the broader Muslim world.
Decline
In the spring of 632, a grandson of Khosrau I, Yazdegerd III who had lived in hiding, ascended the throne. In that same year, the first raiders from the Arab tribes made their raids into Persian territory. They were united by Islam. Years of warfare had exhausted both the Byzantines and the Persians. The Sassanids were further weakened by economic decline, heavy taxation, religious unrest, rigid social stratification, the increasing power of the provincial landholders, and a rapid turnover of rulers. These factors made the Islamic conquest of Persia easier than it would have been in earlier times.
The Sassanids never mounted a truly effective resistance to the pressure applied by the early Arab armies.
Sassanid Empire chronology
226–241: Reign of Ardashir I:
- 224–226: Overthrow of Parthian Empire.
- 229–232: War with Rome
- Zoroastrianism is revived as official religion.
- The collection of texts known as the Zend Avesta is assembled.
241–271: Reign of Shapur I:
- 241–244: War with Rome.
- 252–261: War with Rome. Capture of Roman emperor Valerian.
- 215–271: Mani, founder of Manichaeism.
271–301: A period of dynastic struggles.
283: War with Rome. Romans sack Ctesiphon
296-8: War with Rome. Persia cedes five provinces east of the Tigris to Rome.
309–379: Reign of Shapur II "the Great":
- 337–350: First war with Rome with relatively little success.
- 359–363: Second war with Rome. Rome returns trans-Tigris provinces and cedes Nisibis and Singara to Persia.
387: Armenia partitioned into Roman and Persian zones.
399–420: Reign of Yazdegerd I "the Sinner":
- 409: Christians are permitted to publicly worship and to build churches.
- 416–420: Persecution of Christians as Yazdegerd revokes his earlier order.
420–438: Reign of Bahram V:
- 420–422: War with Rome.
- 424: Council of Dad-Ishu declares the Eastern Church independent of Constantinople.
- 428: Persian zone of Armenia annexed to Sassanid Empire.
438–457: Reign of Yazdegerd II:
- 441: War with Rome.
- 449-451: Armenian revolt.
482-3: Armenian and Iberian revolt.
483: Edict of Toleration granted to Christians.
484: Peroz I defeated and killed by Hephthalites.
491: Armenian revolt. Armenian Church repudiates the Council of Chalcedon:
- Nestorian Christianity becomes dominant Christian sect in Sassanid Empire.
502-506: War with Constantinople.
526-532: War with Constantinople.
531–579: Reign of Khosrau I, "with the immortal soul" (Anushirvan)
540–562: War with Constantinople.
572-591: War with Constantinople. Persia cedes much of Armenia and Iberia to Constantinople.
590–628: Reign of Khosrau II
603–628: War with Byzantium. Persia occupies Byzantine Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the Transcaucasus, before being driven to withdraw to pre-war frontiers by Byzantine counter-offensive.
610: Arabs defeat a Sassanid army at Dhu-Qar.
626: Unsuccessful siege of Constantinople by Avars and Persians.
627: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius invades Assyria and Mesopotamia. Decisive defeat of Persian forces at the battle of Nineveh.
628–632: Chaotic period of multiple rulers.
632–642: Reign of Yazdegerd III.
636: Decisive Sassanid defeat at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah during the Islamic conquest of Iran.
642: Final victory of Arabs when Persian army destroyed at Nahavand (Nehavand).
651: Last Sassanid ruler Yazdegerd III murdered at Merv, present-day Turkmenistan, ending the dynasty. His son Pirooz and many others went into exile in China.
Images for kids
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Initial coinage of founder Ardashir I, as King of Persis Artaxerxes (Ardaxsir) V. c. 205/6–223/4 CE. Obv: Bearded facing head, wearing diadem and Parthian-style tiara, legend "The divine Ardaxir, king" in Pahlavi. Rev: Bearded head of Papak, wearing diadem and Parthian-style tiara, legend "son of the divinity Papak, king" in Pahlavi.
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1840 illustration of a Sasanian relief at Firuzabad, showing Ardashir I's victory over Artabanus IV and his forces.
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Rock relief of Ardashir I receiving the ring of kingship by the Zoroastrian supreme god Ahura Mazda.
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Rock-face relief at Naqsh-e Rostam of Persian emperor Shapur I (on horseback) capturing Roman emperor Valerian (standing) and Philip the Arab (kneeling), suing for peace, following the victory at Edessa.
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The Humiliation of Valerian by Shapur (Hans Holbein the Younger, 1521, pen and black ink on a chalk sketch, Kunstmuseum Basel)
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The spread of Manichaeism (300–500)
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Bust of Shapur II (r. 309 – 379)
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16px]] and "Alchono" (αλχοννο) in Bactrian script on the obverse. Dated 400–440.
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Bahram V is a great favourite in Persian literature and poetry. "Bahram and the Indian princess in the black pavilion." Depiction of a Khamsa (Quintet) by the great Persian poet Nizami, mid-16th-century Safavid era.
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Plate of Peroz I hunting argali
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Plate of a Sasanian king hunting rams, perhaps Kavad I (r. 488 – 496).
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Plate depicting Khosrow I.
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15th-century Shahnameh illustration of Hormizd IV seated on his throne.
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Coin of Khosrow II.
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The Siege of Constantinople in 626 by the combined Sassanid, Avar, and Slavic forces depicted on the murals of the Moldovița Monastery, Romania
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Queen Boran, daughter of Khosrau II, the first woman and one of the last rulers on the throne of the Sasanian Empire, she reigned from 17 June 629 to 16 June 630
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Umayyad Caliphate coin imitating Khosrau II. Coin of the time of Mu'awiya I ibn Abi Sufyan. BCRA (Basra) mint; "Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, governor". Dated AH 56 = 675/6. Sasanian style bust imitating Khosrau II right; bismillah and three pellets in margin; c/m: winged creature right / Fire altar with ribbons and attendants; star and crescent flanking flames; date to left, mint name to right.
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A fine cameo showing an equestrian combat of Shapur I and Roman emperor Valerian in which the Roman emperor is seized following the Battle of Edessa, according to Shapur's own statement, "with our own hand", in 260
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Foreign dignitary drinking wine, on ceiling of Cave 1, at Ajanta Caves, possibly depicting the Sasanian embassy to Indian king Pulakesin II (610–642), photograph and drawing.
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Taq-i Kisra, the facade of the Sasanian palace in the capital Ctesiphon. The city developed into a rich commercial metropolis. It may have been the most populous city of the world in 570–622.
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Plate of a Sasanian king, located in the Azerbaijan Museum in Iran.
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A bowl with Khosrau I's image at the center
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Sasanian sea trade routes
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The Sasanians developed an accurate, phonetic alphabet to write down the sacred Avesta
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Sasanian-era cornelian gem, depicting Abraham advancing towards Isaac with a knife in his hands. A ram is depicted to the right of Abraham. Middle Persian (Pahlavi) inscription ZNH mwdly l’styny. Created 4th-5th century AD
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"Parsees of Bombay" a wood engraving, c. 1873
See also
In Spanish: Imperio sasánida para niños