Sassanid Empire facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sasanian Empire Ērānshahr
224–651
Derafsh Kaviani (State flag) Simurgh (imperial emblem)
The Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent c. 620, under Khosrow II      Normal domains      Greatest temporary extent during Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628
Capital	Istakhr (224–226) Ctesiphon (226–637)
Common languages	Middle Persian (official) Middle Aramaic (lingua franca) Parthian (administration, until the late 3rd-century) Greek (administration, until the late 3rd-century, and regional) Other languages
Religion	Zoroastrianism (majority) Babylonian religion Christianity Judaism Manichaeism Mazdakism Mandaeism Paganism Mithraism Hinduism Buddhism
Government	Feudal monarchy
Shahanshah
• 224–241	Ardashir I (first)
• 632–651	Yazdegerd III (last)
Historical era	Late Antiquity
• Battle of Hormozdgan	28 April 224
• The Iberian War	526–532
• Climactic Roman–Persian War of 602–628	602–628
• Civil war	628–632
• Muslim conquest	633–651
• Empire collapses	651
Area
550	3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Parthian Empire Indo-Scythians Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity) Kushan Empire Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity) Lakhmids Aksumite Empire Kingdom of Oman Arsacid dynasty of Caucasian Albania Margiana Kingdom of Araba Machelonia Adiabene Indo-Parthian Kingdom Paratarajas Qarinvand dynasty Zarmihrids Rashidun Caliphate Dabuyid dynasty Masmughans of Damavand Bavand dynasty

The Sassanid Empire at its greatest extent, under Khosrau II

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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  Rome and satellite kingdom of Armenia around 300, after Narseh's defeat

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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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  A coin of Yazdegerd II

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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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  Extent of the Sasanian Empire in 632 with modern borders superimposed

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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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  Sassanian fortress in Derbent, Dagestan. Now inscribed on Russia's UNESCO world heritage list since 2003.

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  Egyptian woven pattern woolen curtain or trousers, which was a copy of a Sassanid silk import, which was in turn based on a fresco of King Khosrau II fighting Axum Ethiopian forces in Yemen, 5–6th century

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  Persian ambassador at the Chinese court of Emperor Yuan of Liang in his capital Jingzhou in 526-539 CE, with explanatory text. Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, 11th century Song copy.

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  Coin of the Kushanshah Peroz II Kushanshah (r. 303 – 330)

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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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  Horse head, gilded silver, 4th century, Sasanian art

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  A Sasanian silver plate featuring a simurgh. The mythical bird was used as the royal emblem in the Sasanian period.

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  A Sasanian silver plate depicting a royal lion hunt

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  The remains of the Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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  Sasanian silk twill textile of a simurgh in a beaded surround, 6th–7th century. Used in the reliquary of Saint Len, Paris

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  Sasanian sea trade routes

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  Seal of a Sassanian nobleman holding a flower, ca. 3rd–early 4th century AD.

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  Ruins of Adur Gushnasp, one of three main Zoroastrian temples in the Sassanian Empire

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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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  A Sasanian fortress in Derbent, Russia (the Caspian Gates)

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  "Parsees of Bombay" a wood engraving, c. 1873

See also

In Spanish: Imperio sasánida para niños