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The Sassanid Empire or Sasanian Empire, known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr, was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651. The Sassanid Empire was recognized as one of the two main powers in Western Asia and Europe alongside the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire for a period of more than 400 years.

The Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Arsacids and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus IV. The Empire lasted till Yazdegerd III lost control of his empire in a series of invasions from the Arab Caliphate. During its existence, the Sassanid Empire encompassed all of today's Iranmarker, Afghanistanmarker, Iraqmarker, Syriamarker, the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Dagestan), southwestern Central Asia, most of Turkeymarker, certain coastal parts of the Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulfmarker area, and areas of southwestern Pakistanmarker.

The Sassanid era, during Late Antiquity, is considered to have been one of Iran's most important and influential historical periods. In many ways the Sassanid period witnessed the highest achievement of ancient Persian civilization, and constituted the last great Iranian empire before the Muslim conquest and the adoption of Islam. Persia influenced Roman civilization considerably during the Sassanids' times, and the empires regarded one another as equals, as exemplified in the letters written by the rulers of the two states addressing each other as "brother". The Sassanids' cultural influence extended far beyond the empire's territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China, and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asiatic medieval art.

This influence, and especially the dynasty's unique, aristocratic culture, carried forward to the early Islamic world after the Muslim conquest of Iran. An Iranian scholar, Zarinkoob, found that much of what later came to be known as Islamic culture, architecture, writing and other skills, were borrowed mainly from the Sassanids, then propagated throughout the broader Muslim world.


Origins and early history (205–310)

Conflicting accounts shroud the details of the fall of the Parthian Empire and subsequent rise of the Sassanid Empire in mystery. The Sassanid Empire was established in Istakhrmarker by Ardashir I, a descendant of a line of the priests of the goddess Anahita. In the beginning of the third century, Ardashir became governor of Persismarker (modern Persian Farsmarker). Little is known about his relationship between Sassan. Sources are not consistent concerning the relationships between the early Sassanids (Sassan, Babak, Ardashir and Shapur).

Babak was originally the ruler of a region called Kheir. However, by the year 200, he managed to overthrow Gocihr, and appoint himself as the new ruler of the Bazrangids. His mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of the provincial governor of Persis. Babak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power over all of Persis. The subsequent events are unclear, due to the sketchy nature of the sources. It is however certain that following the death of Babak, Ardashir who at the time was the governor of Darabgird, got involved in a power struggle of his own with his elder brother Shapur. The sources tell us that Shapur, leaving for a meeting with his brother, was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him; by 208 over the protests of his other brothers, who were put to death, Ardashir declared himself ruler of Persis.

Once Ardashir was appointed Shahenshah, he moved his capital further to the south of Persis and founded Ardashir-Khwarrah (formerly Gur, modern day Firouzabadmarker). The city, well supported by high mountains and easily defendable through narrow passes, became the center of Ardashir's efforts to gain more power. The city was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgird, and on the north-side included a large palace, remains of which still survive. After establishing his rule over Persis, Ardashir I rapidly extended his territory, demanding fealty from the local princes of Fars, and gaining control over the neighboring provinces of Kermanmarker, Isfahanmarker, Susianamarker, and Mesene. This expansion quickly came to the attention of Artabanus IV, the Parthian king, who initially ordered the governor of Khuzestan to wage war against Ardashir in 224, but the battles were victories for Ardashir. In a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus himself met Ardashir in battle, at Hormozgan, where Artabanus met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir I went on to invade the western provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire.

Factors that aided the rise to supremacy of the Sassanids were the Artabanus-Vologases dynastic struggle for the Parthian throne, which probably allowed Ardashir to consolidate his authority in the south with little or no interference from the Parthians, and the geography of the Fars province, which separated it from the rest of Iran. Crowned in 224 at Ctesiphonmarker as the sole ruler of Persia, Ardashir took the title Shahanshah, or "King of Kings" (the inscriptions mention Adhur-Anahid as his "Queen of Queens", but her relationship with Ardashir is not established), bringing the 400-year-old Parthian Empire to an end and beginning four centuries of Sassanid rule.

In the next few years, local rebellions would form around the empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorganmarker, Khorasan, Margianamarker (in modern Turkmenistanmarker), Balkhmarker, and Chorasmia. He also added Bahrainmarker and Mosulmarker to Sassanid possessions. Later Sassanid inscriptions also claim the submission of the Kings of Kushan, Turan, and Mekran to Ardashir, although based on numismatic evidence, it is more likely that these actually submitted to Ardashir's son, the future Shapur I. In the west, assaults against Hatramarker, Armenia, and Adiabene met with less success. In 230 he raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome.

Ardashir I's son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria and the western portion of the Kushan Empire, while leading several campaigns against Rome. Invading Roman Mesopotamia, Shapur I captured Carrhaemarker and Nisibismarker, but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated the Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories. The emperor Gordian III's (238–244) subsequent advance down the Euphrates was defeated at Meshike (244), leading to Gordian's murder by his own troops and enabling Shapur to conclude a highly advantageous peace treaty with the new emperor Philip the Arab, by which he secured the immediate payment of 500,000 denari and further annual payments.

Shapur soon resumed the war, defeated the Romans at Barbalissos (252), and then probably took and plundered Antiochmarker. Roman counter-attacks under the emperor Valerian ended in disaster when the Roman army was defeated and besieged at Edessa and Valerian was captured by Shapur, remaining his prisoner for the rest of his life. Shapur celebrated his victory by carving the impressive rock reliefs in Naqsh-e Rostammarker and Bishapurmarker, as well as a monumental inscription in Persian and Greek in the vicinity of Persepolismarker. He exploited his success by advancing into Anatolia (260), but withdrew in disarray after defeats at the hands of the Romans and their Palmyrenemarker ally Odaenathus, suffering the capture of his harem and the loss of all the Roman territories he had occupied.

Shapur had intensive development plans; he founded many cities, some settled in part by emigrants from the Roman territories, including Christians who could exercise their faith freely under Sassanid rule. Two cities, Bishapurmarker and Nishapurmarker, are named after him. He particularly favored Manichaeism, protected Mani (who dedicated one of his books, the Shabuhragan, to him) and sent many Manichaean missionaries abroad. He also befriended a Babylonian rabbi called Shmuel.

This friendship was advantageous for the Jewish community and gave them a respite from the oppressive laws enacted against them. Later kings reversed Shapur's policy of religious tolerance. Under pressure from Zoroastrian Magi and influenced by the high-priest Kartir, Bahram I killed Mani and persecuted his followers. Bahram II was, like his father, amenable to the wishes of the Zoroastrian priesthood. During his reign the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon was sacked by the Romans under emperor Carus, and most of Armenia, after half a century of Persian rule, was ceded to Diocletian.

Succeeding Bahram III (who ruled briefly in 293), Narseh embarked on another war with the Romans. After an early success against the Emperor Galerius near Callinicummarker on the Euphrates in 296, Narseh was decisively defeated in an ambush while he was with his harem in Armenia in 298. In the treaty that concluded this war, the Sassanids ceded five provinces east of the Tigris and agreed not to interfere in the affairs of Armenia and Georgia. In the aftermath of this crushing defeat, Narseh gave up the throne and died of grief a year later, leaving the Sassanid throne to his son, Hormizd II. Unrest spread throughout the land, and while Hormizd II suppressed revolts in Sistan and Kushan, he was unable to control the nobles and was subsequently killed by Bedouins in a hunting trip in 309.

First Golden Era (309–379)

Shapur II first led his small but disciplined army south against the Arabs, whom he defeated, securing the southern areas of the empire. He then started his first campaign against the Romans in the west, where Persian forces won a series of battles but were unable to make territorial gains due to the failure of repeated sieges of the key frontier city of Nisibismarker and Roman success in retaking the cities of Singara and Amidamarker after they fell to the Persians.


Cultural expansion followed this victory, and Sassanid art penetrated Turkestan, reaching as far as China. Shapur, along with the nomad King Grumbates, started his second campaign against the Romans in 359, and soon succeeded in taking Singara and Amida again. In response to this, the Roman emperor Julian struck deep into Persian territory and defeated Shapur's forces at Ctesiphonmarker, but having failed to take the capital, he was killed while trying to retreat back to Roman territory. His successor Jovian, trapped on the east bank of the Tigris, had to agree to hand over all the provinces which the Persians had ceded to Rome in 298 as well as Nisibis and Singara, in order to secure safe conduct for his army out of Persia.


Intermediate Era (379–498)

From Shapur II's death until Kavadh I's first coronation followed a largely peaceful period with the Romans (by this time the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire), interrupted only by two brief wars, the first in 421–422 and the second in 440. Throughout this era Sassanid religious policy differed dramatically from king to king. Despite a series of weak leaders, the administrative system established during Shapur II's reign remained strong, and the empire continued to function effectively.


The Palace of Serbistan, c.380 A.D.

Yazdegerd I's successor was his son Bahram V (421–438), one of the most well-known Sassanid kings and the hero of many myths. These myths persisted even after the destruction of the Sassanid empire by the Arabs. Bahram V, better known as Bahram-e Gur, gained the crown after Yazdgerd I's sudden death (or assassination) against the opposition of the grandees with the help of al-Mundhir, the Arabic dynast of al-Hirahmarker. Bahram V's mother was Soshandukht, the daughter of the Jewish Exilarch. In 427 he crushed an invasion in the east by the nomadic Hephthalites, extending his influence into Central Asia, where his portrait survived for centuries on the coinage of Bukharamarker (in modern Uzbekistanmarker). Bahram V deposed the vassal King of the Persian part of Armeniamarker and made it a province.


A coin of Yazdegerd II.


At the beginning of his reign, Yazdegerd II gathered a mixed army of various nations, including his Indian allies, and attacked the Eastern Roman Empire in 441, but peace was soon restored after small-scale fighting. He then gathered his forces in Neishaburmarker in 443 and launched a prolonged campaign against the Kidarites. Finally after a number of battles, he crushed the Kidarites and drove them out beyond Oxus rivermarker in 450.

During his eastern campaign, Yazdegerd II grew suspicious of the Christians in the army and expelled them all from the governing body and army. He then persecuted the Christians and, to a much lesser extent, the Jews. In order to reestablish Zoroastrianism in Armenia, he crushed an uprising of Armenian Christians at the Battle of Vartanantzmarker in 451. The Armenians, however, remained primarily Christian. In his later years, he was engaged yet again with Kidarites until his death in 457. Hormizd III (457–459), younger son of Yazdegerd II, ascended to the throne. During his short rule, he continually fought with his elder brother Peroz, who had the support of nobility, and with the Hephthalites in Bactria. He was killed by his brother Peroz in 459.





Second Golden Era (498–622)

The second golden era began after the second reign of Kavadh I. With the support of the Hephtalites, Kavadh I launched a campaign against the Romans. In 502, he took Theodosiopolismarker (Erzurum) in Modern Turkey, but lost it soon afterwards. In 503 he took Amidamarker (Diyarbakır) on the Tigris. In 504, an invasion of Armenia by the western Huns from the Caucasus led to an armistice, the return of Amida to Roman control and a peace treaty in 506. In 521/2 Kavadh lost control of Lazica, whose rulers switched their allegiance to the Romans; an attempt by the Iberians in 524/5 to do likewise triggered a war between Rome and Persia.

In 527 a Roman offensive against Nisibismarker was repulsed and Roman efforts to fortify positions near the frontier were thwarted. In 530, Kavadh sent an army under Firouz the Mirranes to attack the important Roman frontier city of Daramarker. The army was met by the Roman general Belisarius, and though superior in numbers, was defeated at the Battle of Dara. In the same year, a second Persian army under Mihr-Mihroe was defeated at Satala by Roman forces under Sittas and Dorotheus, but in 531 a Persian army accompanied by a Lakhmid contingent under al-Mundhir IV defeated Belisarius at the Battle of Callinicum, and in 532 an "eternal" peace was concluded. Although he could not free himself from the yoke of the Ephthalites, Kavadh succeeded in restoring order in the interior and fought with general success against the Eastern Romans, founded several cities, some of which were named after him, and began to regulate the taxation and internal administration.


Although the Emperor Justinian I (527–565) had paid him a bribe of 440,000 pieces of gold to keep the peace, in 540 Khosrau I broke the "eternal peace" of 532 and invaded Syria, where he sacked the city of Antioch and extorted large sums of money from a number of other cities. Further successes followed: in 541 Lazica defected to the Persian side, and in 542 a major Byzantine offensive in Armeniamarker was defeated at Anglon. A five-year truce agreed in 545 was interrupted in 547 when Lazica again switched sides and eventually expelled its Persian garrison with Byzantine help; the war resumed, but remained confined to Lazica, which was retained by the Byzantines when peace was concluded in 562.


The Armenians were welcomed as allies, and an army was sent into Sassanid territory which besieged Nisibismarker in 573. However, dissension among the Byzantine generals not only led to an abandonment of the siege, but they in turn were besieged in the city of Daramarker, which was taken by the Persians who then ravaged Syria, causing Justin II to agree to make annual payments in exchange for a five-year truce on the Mesopotamian front, although the war continued elsewhere. In 576 Khosrau I led his last campaign, an offensive into Anatoliamarker which sacked Sebasteiamarker and Melitenemarker, but ended in disaster: defeated outside Melitene, the Persians suffered heavy losses as they fled across the Euphrates under Byzantine attack. Taking advantage of Persian disarray, the Byzantines raided deep into Khosrau's territory, even mounting amphibious attacks across the Caspian Seamarker. Khosrau sued for peace, but he decided to continue the war after a victory by his general Tamkhosrau in Armenia in 577 and fighting resumed in Mesopotamia. The Armenian revolt came to an end with a general amnesty, which brought Armenia back into the Sassanid Empire.



After Khosrau I, Hormizd IV (579–590) took the throne. The war with the Byzantines continued to rage intensely but inconclusively until the general Bahram Chobin, dismissed and humiliated by Hormizd, rose in revolt in 589. The following year Hormizd was overthrown by a palace coup and his son Khosrau II (590–628) placed on the throne, but this change of ruler failed to placate Bahram, who defeated Khosrau, forcing him to flee to Byzantine territory, and seized the throne for himself as Bahram VI. With the aid of troops provided by the Byzantine emperor Maurice (582–602), Khosrau II raised a new rebellion against Bahram, and the combined armies of Khosrau and the Byzantine generals Narses and John Mystacon won a decisive victory over Bahram at Ganzakmarker (591), restoring Khosrau to power. In return for Maurice's help, Khosrau was obliged to return all Byzantine territory occupied during the war and to hand over control of the western parts of Armeniamarker and Iberia.

When Maurice was overthrown and killed by Phocas (602–610) in 602, Khosrau II used the murder of his benefactor as a pretext to begin a new invasion, which benefited from continuing civil war in the Byzantine Empire and met little effective resistance. Khosrau's generals systematically subdued the heavily fortified frontier cities of Byzantine Mesopotamia and Armenia, laying the foundations for unprecedented expansion. The Persians overran Syriamarker and captured Antiochmarker in 611.

In 613, outside Antioch, the Persian generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin decisively defeated a major counter-attack led in person by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. Thereafter the Persian advance continued unchecked. Jerusalemmarker fell in 614, Alexandriamarker in 619 and the rest of Egyptmarker by 621. The Sassanid dream of restoring the Achaemenid boundaries was close to completion. This remarkable peak of expansion was paralleled by a blossoming of Persian art, music, and architecture. The Byzantine Empire was on the verge of collapse and the borders of the Achaemenid Empire came close to being restored on all fronts.

Decline and fall (622–651)

Genealogical tree of the Sassanid dynasty.
While originally seeming successful at a first glance, the campaign of Khosrau II had actually exhausted the Persian army and Persian treasuries. In an effort to rebuild the national treasuries, Khosrau overtaxed the population. Thus, seeing the opportunity, Heraclius (610–641) drew on all his diminished and devastated empire's remaining resources, reorganized his armies and mounted a remarkable counter-offensive. Between 622 and 627 he campaigned against the Persians in Anatoliamarker and the Caucasus, winning a string of victories against Persian forces under Khosrau, Shahrbaraz, Shahin and Shahraplakan, sacking the great Zoroastrian temple at Ganzakmarker and securing assistance from the Khazars and Western Turkic Khaganate.

In 626, Constantinoplemarker was besieged by Slavic and Avar forces which were supported by a Persian army under Shahrbaraz on the far side of the Bosphorusmarker, but attempts to ferry the Persians across were blocked by the Byzantine fleet and the siege ended in failure. In 627-8 Heraclius mounted a winter invasion of Mesopotamia and, despite the departure of his Khazar allies, defeated a Persian army commanded by Rhahzadh in the Battle of Nineveh. He then marched down the Tigrismarker, devastating the country and sacking Khosrau's palace of Dastagerd. He was prevented from attacking Ctesiphonmarker by the destruction of the bridges on the Nahrawan Canal and conducted further raids before withdrawing up the Diyala into north-western Iran.


In the spring of 632, a grandson of Khosrau I who had lived in hiding, Yazdegerd III, ascended the throne. The same year, the first raiders from the Arab tribes, newly united by Islam, arrived in Persian territory. 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 facilitated the Islamic conquest of Persia.

The Sassanids never mounted a truly effective resistance to the pressure applied by the initial Arab armies. Yazdegerd was a boy at the mercy of his advisers and incapable of uniting a vast country crumbling into small feudal kingdoms, despite the fact that the Byzantines, under similar pressure from the newly expansive Arabs, no longer threatened. Caliph Abu Bakr's brilliant commander Khalid ibn Walid moved to capture Iraqmarker in series of lightning battles. Redeployed to the Syrian front against the Byzantines in June 634, Khalid's successor in Iraq failed him and Muslims were defeated in the Battle of the Bridge in 634 which resulted in a Sassanid victory, however the Arab threat did not stop there and reappeared shortly from the disciplined armies of Khalid ibn Walid, once one of Muhammad's chosen companions-in-arms and leader of the Arab army.

Under the Caliph `Umar ibn al-Khattāb, a Muslim army defeated a larger Persian force lead by general Rostam Farrokhzad at the plains of al-Qādisiyyahmarker in 637 and besieged Ctesiphonmarker. Ctesiphon fell after a prolonged siege. Yazdgerd fled eastward from Ctesiphon, leaving behind him most of the Empire's vast treasury. The Arabs captured Ctesiphon shortly afterward, leaving the Sassanid government strapped for funds and acquiring a powerful financial resource for their own use. A number of Sassanid governors attempted to combine their forces to throw back the invaders, but the effort was crippled by the lack of a strong central authority, and the governors were defeated at the Battle of Nihawānd; the empire, with its military command structure non-existent, its non-noble troop levies decimated, its financial resources effectively destroyed, and the Asawaran knightly caste destroyed piecemeal, was now utterly helpless in the face of the invaders.

Upon hearing the defeat in Nihawānd, Yazdgerd along with most of Persian nobilities fled further inland to the eastern province of Khorasan. He was assassinated by a miller in Mervmarker in late 651 while the rest of the nobles settled in central Asia where they contributed greatly in spreading Persian culture and language in those regions and the establishment of the first native Iranian Islamic dynasty, the Samanid dynasty, which sought to revive and resuscitate Sassanid traditions and culture after the invasion of Islam.

The abrupt fall of Sassanid Empire was completed in a period of five years, and most of its territory was absorbed into the Islamic caliphate; however, many Iranian cities resisted and fought against the invaders several times. Cities such as Rayymarker, Isfahanmarker and Hamadanmarker were exterminated thrice by Islamic caliphates in order to suppress revolts. The local population, initially under little pressure to convert to Islam, remained as dhimmi subjects of the Muslim state and paid a poll tax (jizya),. Conversion of the Persian population to Islam would take place gradually, particularly as Persian-speaking elites attempted to gain positions of prestige under the Abbasid Caliphate.

Invaders destroyed the Academy of Gundishapurmarker and its library, burning piles of books. Most Sassanid records and literary works were destroyed. A few that escaped this fate were later translated into Arabic and later to Modern Persian. During the Islamic invasion many Iranian cities were destroyed or deserted, palaces and bridges were ruined and many magnificent imperial Persian gardens were burned to the ground.Persian poets such as Ferdowsi lamented the downfall of the Sassanids in their work:




The Sassanids established an empire roughly within the frontiers achieved by the Achaemenids, with the capital at Ctesiphonmarker in the Khvarvaran province. In administering this empire, Sassanid rulers, took the title of Shāhanshāh (King of Kings), became the central overlords and also assumed guardianship of the sacred fire, the symbol of the national religion. This symbol is explicit on Sassanid coins where the reigning monarch, with his crown and regalia of office, appears on the obverse, backed by the sacred fire, the symbol of the national religion, on the coin's reverse. Sassanid queens had the title of Banebshenan banebshen (the Queen of Queens).

On smaller scale the territory might also be ruled by a number of petty rulers from Sassanid royal family, known as Shahrdar overseen directly by Shahanshah. Sassanid rule was characterized by considerable centralization, ambitious urban planning, agricultural development, and technological improvements. Below the king a powerful bureaucracy carried out much of the affairs of government; The head of the bureaucracy and Vice-Chancellor, was the "Vuzorg (Bozorg) Farmadar". Within this bureaucracy the Zoroastrian priesthood was immensely powerful. The head of the Magi priestly class, the Mobadan, along with the commander in chief, the Iran Spahbod, the head of traders and merchants syndicate "Ho Tokhshan Bod" and minister of agriculture "Vastrioshansalar" who was also head of farmers, were below the emperor the most powerful men of the Sassanid state.






Sassanid army

The army of the Sassanid Empire origins from Ardashir I, the first Shahanshah of the Empire. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the military organizations of the Achaemenid Empire , the Parthian Knight, and the birth of new siege weapons.




Unlike the Parthians, the Sassanids developed advanced siege engines. The development of siege weapons was a useful weapon during conflicts with Rome, in which success hinged upon the ability to seize cities and other fortified points; conversely, the Sassanids also developed a number of techniques for defending their own cities from attack. The Sassanid army was famous for its heavy cavalry, which was much like the preceding Parthian army, albeit only some of the Sassanid heavy cavalry were equipped with lances. The Greek historian Ammianus Marcellinus's description of Shapur II's clibanarii cavalry manifestly shows how heavily equipped it was, and how only a portion were spear equipped:


The amount of money involved in maintaining a warrior of the Asawaran knightly caste required a small estate, and the Asawaran knightly caste received that from the throne, and in return, were the throne's most notable defenders in time of war.



The Sassanids, like the Parthians, were in constant hostilities with the Roman Empire. Following the division of the Roman Empire in 395, the Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinoplemarker, replaced the Roman Empire as Persia's principal western enemy. Hostilities between the two empires became more frequent.The Sassanids, similar to the Roman Empire, were in a constant state of conflict with neighboring kingdoms and nomadic hordes. Although the threat of nomadic incursions could never be fully resolved, the Sassanids generally dealt much more successfully with these matters than did the Romans, due to their policy of making coordinated campaigns against threatening nomads.

In the west, Sassanid territory abutted that of the large and stable Roman state, but to the east its nearest neighbors were the Kushan Empire and nomadic tribes such as the White Huns. The construction of fortifications such as Tus citadel or the city of Nishapurmarker, which later became a center of learning and trade, also assisted in defending the eastern provinces from attack.

In the south and central Arabia, Bedouin Arab tribes occasionally raided the Sassanid empire. The Kingdom of Al-Hirah, a Sassanid vassal kingdom, was established to form a buffer zone between the empire's mainland and the Bedouin tribes. The dissolution of the Kingdom of Al-Hirah by Pervaiz(King) Khosrau II in 602 contributed greatly to decisive Sassanid defeats suffered against Bedouin Arabs later in the century. These defeats resulted in a sudden takeover of the Sassanid empire by Bedouin tribes under the Islamic banner.


Interactions with Eastern states

Relations with China

See Iran-China relations for main discussion

Like their predecessors the Parthians, the Sassanid Empire carried out active foreign relations with Chinamarker, and ambassadors from Persia frequently traveled to China. Chinese documents report on thirteen Sassanid embassies to China. Commercially, land and sea trade with China was important to both the Sassanid and Chinese Empires. Large numbers of Sassanid coins have been found in southern China, confirming maritime trade.

On different occasions Sassanid kings sent their most talented Persian musicians and dancers to the Chinese imperial court at Luoyangmarker during the Jin and Northern Wei dynasties and to Chang'anmarker during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Both empires benefited from trade along the Silk Road, and shared a common interest in preserving and protecting that trade. They cooperated in guarding the trade routes through central Asia, and both built outposts in border areas to keep caravans safe from nomadic tribes and bandits.

Politically, we hear of several Sassanid and Chinese efforts in forging alliances against the common enemy who were the Hephthalites. Upon the rise of the nomadic Gokturk Empire in Inner Asia, we also see what looks like a collaboration between China and the Sassanid to defuse the Turkic advances. The documents from Mt. Mogh also talk about the presence of a Chinese general in the service of the king of Sogdiana at the time of the Arab invasions.

Following the invasion of Iran by Muslim Arabs, Pirooz II, son of Yazdegerd III, escaped along with a few Persian nobles and took refuge in the Chinese imperial court. Both Piroz and his son Narsieh (Chinese neh-shie) were given high titles at the Chinese court. At least in two occasions, the last possibly in 670, Chinese troops were sent with Peroz in order to restore him to the Sassanid throne with mixed results, one possibly ending up in a short rule of Peroz in Sistan (Sakestan) from which we have a few remaining numismatic evidences. Narsieh later attained the position of commander of the Chinese imperial guards and his descendants lived in China as respected princes.

Expansion to India

[[Image:VarahranI.jpg|thumb|Coin of the Indo-Sassanid kushansha Varhran I (early 4th century).

Obv: King Varhran I with characteristic head-dress.

Rev: Shiva and bull.]]Following the conquest of Iran and neighboring regions, Shapur I extended his authority eastwards into the northwestern Indian subcontinent. The previously autonomous Kushans were obliged to accept his suzerainty. Although the Kushan empire declined at the end of the 3rd century, to be replaced by the northern Indian Gupta Empire in the 4th century, it is clear that Sassanid remained relevant in India's northwest throughout this period.








The most striking difference between Parthian and Sassanid society was renewed emphasis on charismatic and centralized government. In Sassanid theory, the ideal society was one which could maintain stability and justice and the necessary instrument for this was a strong monarch. Sassanid society was immensely complex, with separate systems of social organization governing numerous different groups within the empire. Historians believe that society was divided into four classes: Priests (Atorbanan in Persian), Warriors (Arteshtaran in Persian), Secretaries (Dabiran in Persian), and Commoners (Vasteryoshan-Hootkheshan in Persian). At the center of the Sassanid caste system was the Shahanshah, ruling over all the nobles. The royal princes, petty rulers, great landlords, and priests together constituted a privileged stratum, and were identified as Bozorgan, or nobles. This social system appears to have been fairly rigid. The Sassanid caste system outlived the empire, continuing in the early Islamic period.



Art, science and literature

See also: Sassanid art, Sassanid music, Science and medical academy of Gundishapurmarker, Pahlavi literature, Sassanid architecture, Sassanid castles
Horse head, gilded silver, 4th century, Sassanid art
A Sassanid silver plate featuring a senmurw
A Sassanid silver shield boss depicting a lion
A Sassanid silver plate depicting a royal lion hunt
Sassanid silver vase featuring wine harvest decorations

Under Khosrau I the college of Gundishapur, which had been founded in the 5th Century, became "the greatest intellectual center of the time," drawing students and teachers from every quarter of the known world. Nestorian Christians were received there, and brought Syriac translations of Greek works in medicine and philosophy. Neoplatonists, too, came to Gundishapur, where they planted the seeds of Sufi mysticism; the medical lore of India, Persia, Syria, and Greece mingled there to produce a flourishing school of therapy.


"Sasanian art exported its forms and motifs eastward into India, Turkestan, and China, westward into Syria, Asia Minor, Constantinople, the Balkans, Egypt, and Spain.
Sassanid carvings at Taq-e Bostanmarker and Naqsh-e Rustammarker were colored; so were many features of the palaces; but only traces of such painting remain. The literature, however, makes it clear that the art of painting flourished in Sasanian times; the prophet Mani is reported to have founded a school of painting; Firdowsi speaks of Persian magnates adorning their mansions with pictures of Iranian heroes; and the poet al-Buhturi describes the murals in the palace at Ctesiphonmarker. When a Sasanian king died, the best painter of the time was called upon to make a portrait of him for a collection kept in the royal treasury.



The Sassand Dynasty, like the Achaemenid, originated in the province of Persismarker (Farsmarker). The Sassanids saw themselves as successors of the Achaemenids, after the Hellenistic and Parthian interlude, and believed that it was their destiny to restore the greatness of Persia.



Surviving palaces illustrate the splendor in which the Sassanid monarchs lived. Examples include palaces at Firouzabadmarker and Bishapurmarker in Farsmarker and the capital city of Ctesiphonmarker in Khvarvaran province, Iraqmarker. In addition to local traditions, Parthian architecture influenced Sassanid architectural characteristics. All are characterized by the barrel-vaulted iwans introduced in the Parthian period. During the Sassanid period, these reached massive proportions, particularly at Ctesiphon. There, the arch of the great vaulted hall, attributed to the reign of Shapur I (241–272), has a span of more than and reaches a height of . This magnificent structure fascinated architects in the centuries that followed and has been considered one of the most important examples of Persian architecture. Many of the palaces contain an inner audience hall consisting, as at Firuzabad, of a chamber surmounted by a dome. The Persians solved the problem of constructing a circular dome on a square building by employing squinches, or arches built across each corner of the square, thereby converting it into an octagon on which it is simple to place the dome. The dome chamber in the palace of Firouzabad is the earliest surviving example of the use of the squinch, suggesting that this architectural technique was probably invented in Persia.

The unique characteristic of Sassanid architecture was its distinctive use of space. The Sassanid architect conceived his building in terms of masses and surfaces; hence the use of massive walls of brick decorated with molded or carved stucco. Stucco wall decorations appear at Bishapur, but better examples are preserved from Chal Tarkhan near Rayymarker (late Sassanid or early Islamic in date), and from Ctesiphon and Kishmarker in Mesopotamia. The panels show animal figures set in roundels, human busts, and geometric and floral motifs.


Industry and trade

Sassanid sea trade routes

Persian industry under the Sassanids developed from domestic to urban forms. Guilds were numerous. Silk weaving was introduced from China; Sassanid silks were sought after everywhere, and served as models for the textile art in Byzantium, China, and Japan. Chinese merchants came to thriving Iranian ports such as Sirafmarker to sell raw silk and buy rugs, jewels, rouge; Armenians, Syrians, and Jews connected Persia, Byzantium, and Rome in slow exchange. Good roads and bridges, well patrolled, enabled state post and merchant caravans to link Ctesiphon with all provinces; and harbors were built in the Persian Gulf to quicken trade with India. Sassanid merchants ranged far and wide and gradually ousted Romans from lucrative Indian ocean trade routes. The recent Archeological discovery has shown an interesting fact that Sassanids used special labels (commercial labels) on goods as a way of promoting their brands and distinguish between different qualities.

Khosrau I further extended the already vast trade network. The Sassanid state now tended toward monopolistic control of trade, with luxury goods assuming a far greater role in the trade than heretofore, and the great activity in building of ports, caravanserais, bridges, and the like was linked to trade and urbanization. The Persians dominated international trade, both in the Indian Oceanmarker and in Central Asia and South Russia in the time of Khosrau, although competition with the Byzantines was at times intense. Sassanian settlements in Omanmarker and Yemenmarker testify to the importance of trade with India, but the silk trade with China was mainly in the hands of Sassanid vassals and the Iranian people, the Sogdians.

The main exports of the Sassanids were silk, woolen and golden textile, carpets and rugs, skin, leather and pearls from the Persian Gulfmarker. Also there were goods in transit from China (paper, silk) and India (spices) which Sassanid customs imposed taxes upon and which were re-exported from the Empire to Europe.




Under Parthian rule, Zoroastrianism had undergone corruption and disillusions from the Greek religion. The Greek religion had spread and mixed with Zoroastrianism when Alexander had conquered the Persian Empire from Darius III. Under Sassanid rule, the pure, orthodox version of Zoroastrianism was re-instated. The loose system of priests was replaced with a hierarchical formed religious system.

Large portions of the Avesta created during the reign of Darius I were lost when Alexander burned the city of Persepolismarker either while intoxicated or as an act of revenge for the First and Second Persian invasion of Greece. However, under the reign of Shapur I, attempts to re-build the Avesta were made.



Christians in Iran at this time belonged mainly to the Nestorian and Jacobite branches of Christianity, also known as respectively the Assyrian Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church. Although these churches originally maintained ties with the Christian churches in the Roman Empire, they were indeed quite different from them. One of the most important reasons for this, is that the Church language of the Nestorian and Jacobite churches was the Aramaic language, which is also the language spoken by the Jews in Judeamarker and Galilee at the time of Jesus. This language was not used by the vast majority of the Christians in the Roman Empire, who mainly spoke Latin, Koine Greek, or Coptic.

Another reason that the churches within the Persian Empire did not maintain such close ties with their counterparts in the Roman Empire, was the continuous rivalry between these two great empires. And quite often, Christians in Persia were (often falsely) accused of sympathizing with the Romans, especially when the Roman emperor Theodosius I declared Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.



Most of the Christians in the Sassanid empire lived on the western edge of the empire, predominantly in Mesopotamia, but there were also important communities on the island of Tylos (present day Bahrainmarker), the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, the area of the Arabian kingdom of Lakhm and the Persian part of Armenia. Some of these areas were the earliest to be Christianized; the kingdom of Armeniamarker became the first independent Christian state in the world in 301 while a number of Assyrian territories had almost become fully Christianized even earlier during the 3rd century; they never became independent nations.

Most Christians in the Persian Empire belonged to a number of predominantly Christian ethnic groups. Some of these groups were the Assyrians, the Arabs of southern Mesopotamia, and the Armenians, as well as some smaller ethnic groups such as the Monophysite Syriacs. The latter group was taken to Persia as prisoners of war from the many conflicts with the Roman Empire. Conversion did take place among ethnic Persians and other ethnicities residing in the empire. Among them were certain small Caucasian and Kurdish tribes which had converted to Christianity.

Other religions


Legacy and Importance

The influence of the Sassanid Empire continued long after it ceased to exist. The empire through the guidance of several able emperors prior to it's fall had achieved a Persian renaissance that would become a driving force behind the civilization of the newly established religion of Islam. In modern Iranmarker and the regions of the Iranosphere the Sassanid period is regarded as one of the high points of Iranian civilization.

In Europe


Through the late Roman Empire's adoption of Cataphract cavalry, the principles of the European knighthood (heavily armoured cavalry) of the Middle Ages can be traced to the Sassanid Asawaran knightly caste with whom it also shares a number of similarities.

In Jewish history

In Jewish history, the Sassanid Empire is a very important chapter in the expansion of the Jewish faith. The Sassanid period saw major developments such as the construction of the Babylonian Talmud and the establishment of several Jewish orientated academic institutions such as Suramarker and Pumbeditamarker, which were for centuries the most influential in Jewish scholarship. Several individuals of the Imperial family such as Ifra Hormizd the Queen mother of Shapur II and Queen Shushandukht the Jewish wife of Yazdgird I significantly contributed to the close relations between the Jews of the empire and the government in Ctesiphon.

In India

The collapse of the Sassanid Empire caused the state religion to be switched from Zoroastrianism to Islam. Zoroastrianism slowly became the religion of most in Iran, to a persecuted minority. For the survival of their faith and their lives, a large number of Zoroastrians chose to immigrate. According to the Qissa-i Sanjan, one group of those refugees landed in what is now Gujaratmarker, Indiamarker, where they were allowed greater freedom to observe their old customs and to preserve their faith. The descendants of those Zoroastrians, now known as the Parsis, would play a significant role in the development of India. Today there are around 70,000 Parsis in India.


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.

  • 241–244: War with Rome.
  • 252–261: War with Rome. Desicive victory of Persian at Edessa and Capture of Roman emperor Valerian.
  • 215–271: Mani, founder of Manicheanism.

271–301: A period of dynastic struggles.

283: War with Rome.

296-8: War with Rome. Persia cedes five provinces east of the Tigris to Rome.

  • 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.


420–438: Reign of Bahram V:
  • 420–422: War with Rome.
  • 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.


502-506: War with Constantinople.

526-532: War with Constantinople.


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 Constantinoplemarker 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.

632–644: Reality reign of Yazdegerd III.

636(XI): Decisive Sassanid defeat at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyahmarker during the Islamic conquest of Iran.

641(XII): Final victory of Arabs when Persian army destroyed at the Battle of Nihawānd.

651: Last Sassanid ruler Yazdegerd III then fled eastward from one district to another, until at last he was killed by a local miller for his purse at Mervmarker (present-day Turkmenistanmarker), ending the dynasty.[315855]His son Pirooz II and many others went into exile in Chinamarker[315856].

See also


  1. Hourani, p. 87.
  2. J. B. Bury, p. 109.
  3. Iraq Then and Now: A Guide to the Country and Its People pg 151
  4. Rome and Persia in late antiquity: neighbours and rivals 149
  5. Durant, p. ??.
  6. Transoxiana 04: Sasanians in Africa
  7. Sarfaraz, pp. 329–330
  8. Iransaga: The art of Sassanians
  9. Durant, p. ??
  10. Zarinkoob, p. 305.
  11. 5.1-6
  13.*.html XIV.1
  14. Greatrex-Lieu (2002), II, 37–51
  15. Iranologie History of Iran Chapter V: Sasanians
  16. Zarinkoob, p. 229.
  17. Richard Frye "The History of Ancient Iran"
  18. Iran Chamber Society: The Sassanid Empire, 224–642 CE
  19. Haldon (1997), 46; Baynes (1912), passim; Speck (1984), 178
  20. Zarinkoob, pp. 305–317
  21. Bashear, Suliman, Arabs and others in Early Islam, p. 117
  22. Zarinkoob, p. 307
  23. Stokvis A.M.H.J., , pp. 112, 123.
  24. Stokvis A.M.H.J., , pp. 76-78, 112.
  25. Stokvis A.M.H.J., , pp. 112, 120-122.
  26. Stokvis A.M.H.J., , p. 112.
  27. Stokvis A.M.H.J., , pp. 112, 129.
  28. [1] Guitty Azarpay "The Near East in Late Antiquity The Sasanian Empire"
  29. Sarfaraz, p. 344
  30. Nicolle, p. 10
  31. Nicolle, p. 14
  32. Nicolle, pp. 15–18
  33. Daniel, p. 57
  34. Nicolle, p. 11
  35. These four are the three common "Indo-Euoropean" social Tripartition common among ancient Iranian, Indian and Romans with one extra Iranian element (from Yashna xix/17). cf. Frye, p. 54.
  36. Zarinkoob, p. 201
  37. Durant.
  38. Iranian cultural heritage news agency (CHN)
  39. Parviz Marzban, p.36
  40. Fergusson, History of Architecture, vol. i, 3rd edition, pp. 381−3.
  41. Nicolle, p. 6
  42. Frye, p. 325
  43. Sarfaraz, p. 353
  44. Zarinkoob, p. 272
  45. Zarinkoob, p. 207
  46. Livius article on Sassanid Empire
  47. Sasanian Iran, 224- 651 CE: portrait of a late antique emprire‎ - Page 20
  48. The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the soul of a nation‎ - Page 33
  49. The fire, the star and the cross by Aptin Khanbaghi(2006) pg 6
  50. A. Khanbaghi(2006) pg 9


  • Börm, Henning (2008). "Das Königtum der Sasaniden - Strukturen und Probleme. Bemerkungen aus althistorischer Sicht." Klio 90, pp. 423ff.
  • .
  • Stokvis A.M.H.J., Manuel d'Histoire, de Généalogie et de Chronologie de tous les Etats du Globe depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, Leiden, 1888-1893 (ré-édition en 1966 par B.M.Israel)

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