Sasanian Empire
The last great pre-Islamic Persian empire (224–651 CE), with Zoroastrianism as state religion and a long rivalry with Rome/Byzantium, ultimately conquered by the Muslim Arabs.
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- Period
- 224–651 CE
- Founder
- Ardashir I
- Capital
- Ctesiphon
- State religion
- Zoroastrianism
Detail
The Sasanian Empire, the last great pre-Islamic Iranian empire, was founded in 224 CE by Ardashir I with the overthrow of the Arsacids, making Ctesiphon its capital. The Sasanians built a centralized state with a powerful bureaucracy and made Zoroastrianism the official religion. Under Shapur I the empire reached a peak of power, and he captured the Roman emperor Valerian in 260 CE; Khosrow I Anushirvan later inaugurated a golden age of Sasanian culture and learning through administrative, fiscal, and military reforms. The Sasanians warred for centuries against Rome and then Byzantium, and these attritional conflicts—especially Khosrow II Parviz's prolonged campaigns—exhausted both empires. Following defeats at al-Qadisiyya (636) and Nahavand (642) by the Muslim Arabs and the killing of Yazdegerd III in 651 CE, the Sasanian Empire collapsed.
Related entities
Also appears in
Sources
- Encyclopædia Iranica, "Sasanian Dynasty"
- Touraj Daryaee, Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
- The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(1)