Sasanian Empire and Related Topics

Parthian Empire

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Major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy under Andragoras, in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire.

The silver drachma of Arsaces I (r. c. 247–211 BC) with the Greek language inscription ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ "of Arsaces"

Parthia, shaded yellow, alongside the Seleucid Empire (blue) and the Roman Republic (purple) around 200 BC

Drachma of Mithridates I, showing him wearing a beard and a royal diadem on his head. Reverse side: Heracles/Verethragna, holding a club in his left hand and a cup in his right hand; Greek inscription reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "of the Great King Arsaces the Philhellene"

Drachma of Mithridates II (r. c. 124–91 BC). Reverse side: seated archer carrying a bow; inscription reading "of the King of Kings Arsaces the Renowned/Manifest Philhellene."

Han dynasty Chinese silk from Mawangdui, 2nd century BC, silk from China was perhaps the most lucrative luxury item the Parthians traded at the western end of the Silk Road.

Bronze statue of a Parthian nobleman from the sanctuary at Shami in Elymais (modern-day Khūzestān Province, Iran, along the Persian Gulf), now located at the National Museum of Iran. Dated 50 BC-150 AD, Parthian School.

A Roman marble head of the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus, who was defeated at Carrhae by Surena

Roman aurei bearing the portraits of Mark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC

Drachma of Phraates IV (r. c. 38–2 BC). Inscription reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "of the King of Kings Arsaces the Renowned/Manifest Benefactor Philhellene"

A close-up view of the breastplate on the statue of Augustus of Prima Porta, showing a Parthian man returning to Augustus the legionary standards lost by Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae

A denarius struck in 19 BC during the reign of Augustus, with the goddess Feronia depicted on the obverse, and on the reverse a Parthian man kneeling in submission while offering the Roman military standards taken at the Battle of Carrhae

Map of the troop movements during the first two years of the Roman–Parthian War of 58–63 AD over the Kingdom of Armenia, detailing the Roman offensive into Armenia and capture of the country by Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Parthian king making an offering to god Herakles-Verethragna. Masdjid-e Suleiman, Iran. 2nd–3rd century AD. Louvre Museum Sb 7302.

Rock relief of Parthian king at Behistun, most likely Vologases III (r. c. 110–147 AD)

A Parthian (right) wearing a Phrygian cap, depicted as a prisoner of war in chains held by a Roman (left); Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome, 203 AD

A Sarmatian-Parthian gold necklace and amulet, 2nd century AD. Located in Tamoikin Art Fund

Parthian golden necklace, 2nd century AD, Iran, Reza Abbasi Museum

A Parthian ceramic oil lamp, Khūzestān Province, Iran, National Museum of Iran

Coin of Kamnaskires III, king of Elymais (modern Khūzestān Province), and his wife Queen Anzaze, 1st century BC

A statue of a young Palmyran in fine Parthian trousers, from a funerary stele at Palmyra, early 3rd century AD

Coin of Mithridates II of Parthia. The clothing is Parthian, while the style is Hellenistic (sitting on an omphalos). The Greek inscription reads "King Arsaces, the philhellene"

A ceramic Parthian water spout in the shape of a man's head, dated 1st or 2nd century AD

Parthian votive relief from Khūzestān Province, Iran, 2nd century AD

A barrel vaulted iwan at the entrance at the ancient site of Hatra, modern-day Iraq, built c. 50 AD

The Parthian Temple of Charyios in Uruk.

A wall mural depicting a scene from the Book of Esther at the Dura-Europos synagogue, dated 245 AD, which Curtis and Schlumberger describe as a fine example of 'Parthian frontality'

A sculpted head (broken off from a larger statue) of a Parthian soldier wearing a Hellenistic-style helmet, from the Parthian royal residence and necropolis of Nisa, Turkmenistan, 2nd century BC

Parthian long-necked lute, c. 3 BC – 3 AD

Royal Parthian objects at the Persia exhibition, Getty Museum

Frequent civil wars between Parthian contenders to the throne proved more dangerous to the Empire's stability than foreign invasion, and Parthian power evaporated when Ardashir I, ruler of Istakhr in Persis, revolted against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, Artabanus IV, in 224 AD. Ardashir established the Sasanian Empire, which ruled Iran and much of the Near East until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century AD, although the Arsacid dynasty lived on through branches of the family that ruled Armenia, Iberia, and Albania in the Caucasus.

Shapur I

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1840 illustration of a Sasanian relief at Firuzabad, showing Ardashir I's victory over Artabanus IV and his forces.

Map showing the Roman-Sasanian borders after the peace treaty in 244

Rock-face relief at Naqsh-e Rustam of Shapur (on horseback) with Philip the Arab and Emperor Valerian

The Humiliation of Emperor Valerian by Shapur I, pen and ink, Hans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1521. At the time it was made, the above rock-face relief was unknown in the west.

Relief showing Shapur I on horseback, followed by his sons and nobles

Shapur I in the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp

Picture of the ruined palace of Shapur I at Bishapur

Drachma of Shapur wearing an eagle-headed crown

Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran.

Iran

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Country in Western Asia.

Inscription of Ardeshir Babakan (r. 224–242) in Naqsh-e Rostam: "This is the figure of Mazdaworshiper, the lord Ardashir, Shahanshah of Iran..."

An Ashrafi Coin of Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), reverse:"Coined on gold the word of kingdom in the world, Nader of Greater Iran and the world-conquerer king."

A cave painting in Doushe cave, Lorestan, from the 8th millennium BC

A bas-relief at Persepolis, depicting the united Medes and Persians

Tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire, in Pasargadae

The Achaemenid Empire (550 BC–330 BC) around the time of Darius the Great and Xerxes I

The Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD) in 94 BC at its greatest extent, during the reign of Mithridates II

Tomb of Hafez, a medieval Persian poet whose works are regarded as a pinnacle in Persian literature and have left a considerable mark on later Western writers, most notably Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Henry David Thoreau, and Emerson

Venetian portrait, kept at the Uffizi, of Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid Empire

A portrait of AbbasI, the powerful, pragmatic Safavid ruler who reinforced Iran's military, political, and economic power

Statue of Nader Shah, the first Afsharid ruler of Iran, at his Tomb

A map showing the 19th-century northwestern borders of Iran, comprising modern-day eastern Georgia, Dagestan, Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, before being ceded to the neighboring Russian Empire by the Russo-Iranian wars

The first national Iranian Parliament was established in 1906 during the Persian Constitutional Revolution

Reza Shah, the first Pahlavi king of Iran, in military uniform

The Allied "Big Three" at the 1943 Tehran Conference.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Imperial Family during the coronation ceremony of the Shah of Iran in 1967.

Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Iran on 1February 1979

An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask on the front-line during the Iran–Iraq War

The Green Movement's Silent Demonstration during the 2009–10 Iranian election protests

The 2017–18 Iranian protests were initiated on 31 December 2017 and continued for months.

Mount Damavand, Iran's highest point, is located in Amol, Mazenderan.

Persian leopard, listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Iran's syncretic political system combines elements of an Islamic theocracy with vetted democracy.

Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, meeting with his counterpart, China's paramount leader Xi Jinping on 23 January 2016. Iran and China are strategic allies.

Ali Khamenei voting in the 2017 presidential election

Iranian former President Hassan Rouhani meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Iran and Russia are strategic allies.

The Islamic Consultative Assembly, also known as the Iranian Parliament

Protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. Tehran, 11 December 2017.

Sophisticated indigenous long range missile system Bavar-373 paraded in Tehran.

Iran's provinces by their contribution to national GDP (2014)

A proportional representation of Iran exports, 2019

More than a million tourists visit Kish Island each year.

Iran holds 10% of the world's proven oil reserves and 15% of its gas. It is OPEC's second largest exporter and the world's 7th largest oil producer.

Literacy rate of Iran's population plus 15, 1975–2015, according to UNESCO Institute of Statistics

Sharif University of Technology is one of Iran's most prestigious higher education institutions.

The production line for AryoSeven at the Iranian biopharmaceutical company of AryoGen

Iran's provinces by population density (2013)

Iron Age gold cup from Marlik, kept at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kamal-ol-Molk's Mirror Hall, often considered a starting point in Iranian modern art

Tomb of the 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi, author of Šāhnāme, the classical Persian composition of the Iranian national epics, in Tus

Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, depicted on Raphael's The School of Athens

Karna, an ancient Iranian musical instrument from the 6th century BC, kept at the Persepolis Museum

The Roudaki Hall, constructed between 1957 and 1967 in Tehran

Reproduction of the 3rd-millennium BC goblet from southeastern Iran, possibly the world's oldest example of animation.

Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016), an acclaimed Iranian film director

Behrouz Vossoughi, a well-known Iranian actor who has appeared in more than 90 films

Haft-Seen, a customary of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year

Chelow kabab (rice and kebab), one of Iran's national dishes

The Azadi Stadium in Tehran is West Asia's largest football stadium.

An Iranian tea tray served near Garden of Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam in Nishapur

An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire in the third century BC, which was succeeded in the third century AD by the Sassanid Empire, a major world power for the next four centuries.

Map of Iran (Persia) and its surrounding regions on the eve of the Muslim invasions

Muslim conquest of Persia

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The assassination of Khosrau II in a manuscript of the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp made by Abd al-Samad c. 1535

Map detailing the route of Khalid ibn al-Walid's conquest of Mesopotamia

The site of the Battle of Qadisiyyah, showing Muslim army (in red) and Sassanid army (in blue)

Battle of Qadisiyyah from a manuscript of the Shahnameh

The ziggurat of Choqa Zanbil in Khuzestan

Sassanid fortress in Derbent, present day Dagestan, Russia. It fell to the Muslims in 643.

View of Tbilisi, which fell to the Rashidun Caliphate in 644.

Rashidun Empire at its peak under the third Rashidun Caliph, Uthman, in 654

Coin of the Rashidun Caliphate. Imitation of Sasanid Empire ruler Khosrau II type. BYS (Bishapur) mint. Dated YE 25 = AH 36 (AD 656). Sasanian style bust imitating Khosrau II right; bismillah in margin/ Fire altar with ribbons and attendants; star and crescent flanking flames; date to left, mint name to right.

The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sassanid Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion.

Khosrow II

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Bahram Chobin fighting Sasanian loyalists near Ctesiphon.

Illustration of the forces of Bahram Chobin and Khosrow II fighting.

An anachronistic illustration of the Battle of Nineveh (627) between Heraclius' army and the Persians under Khosrow II. Fresco by Piero della Francesca, ca. 1452

Sassanid King Khosrau II being vanquished by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, from a plaque on a 12th-century French cross. This is only allegorical, as Khosrau II never actually submitted in person to Heraclius.

17th-century Shahnameh illustration of Khosrow II's arrest

A divine investiture scene, with the Zoroastrian divinities Ahura Mazda and Anahita each giving Khosrow II a diadem.

Gold dinar of Khosrow II, minted in 625/6.

Capital with depiction of Khosrau II at Taq-e Bostan

Rock relief on the left side panel, depicting a boar hunt.

Drawing of an unfinished rock relief on the right side panel, depicting a deer hunt.

This folio from Walters manuscript W.659 depicts Mount Bistun and the carvings of Khusraw, Shirin, and Farhad.

Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; ), also known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: خسرو پرویز, "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling from 590 to 628, with an interruption of one year.

An 8th century Tang dynasty Chinese clay figurine of a Sogdian man wearing a distinctive cap and face veil, possibly a camel rider or even a Zoroastrian priest engaging in a ritual at a fire temple, since face veils were used to avoid contaminating the holy fire with breath or saliva; Museum of Oriental Art (Turin), Italy.

Zoroastrianism

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Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster .

Painted clay and alabaster head of a Zoroastrian priest wearing a distinctive Bactrian-style headdress, Takhti-Sangin, Tajikistan, Greco-Bactrian kingdom, 3rd–2nd century BCE

The Tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae, Iran.

A scene from the Hamzanama where Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib Burns Zarthust's Chest and Shatters the Urn with his Ashes

A Special Container Carrying The Holy Fire from Aden to the Lonavala Agiary, India

A modern Zoroastrian fire temple in Western India

Map of the Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BCE

Reconstruction of the Sassanid model of Fire Temple of Kashmar is located near the historical complex of Atashgah Castle

Faravahar (or Ferohar), one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a Fravashi or the Khvarenah.

The sacred Zoroastrian pilgrimage shrine of Chak Chak in Yazd, Iran.

Parsi Navjote ceremony (rites of admission into the Zoroastrian faith)

The Sassanids aggressively promoted the Zurvanite form of Zoroastrianism, often building fire temples in captured territories to promote the religion.

Ardashir I

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Drachma of Ardashir I, minted at Hamadan between 233–239

Initial coinage of Ardashir I, as King of Persis Artaxerxes (Ardaxsir) V. c. 205/6–223/4. 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.

Silver drachma of Ardashir I, struck at the Hamadan mint, dated c. 238–239. The obverse of the coin depicts Ardashir I with legend "The divine Mazdayasnian King Ardashir, King of King of the Iranians", while the reverse shows a fire altar with the legend "Ardashir's fire".

Drachma of Vadfradad I; the picture behind it is a structure similar to Ka'ba-ye Zartosht.

Ghaleh Dokhtar, or "The Maiden's Castle," Iran, built by Ardashir I in AD 209, before he was finally able to defeat the Parthian empire.

The second carving of "coronation" and the third carving of Ahura Mazda by Ardashir, carved in Naqsh-e Rajab

The first carving of "coronation" and the second carving of Ahura Mazda by Ardashir, Ardashir standing against his henchmen, city of Gur (current Firuzabad)

The third carving of "coronation" and the fourth carving of Ahura Mazda by Ardashir, carved in Naqsh-e Rustam. Ardashir and Ahura Mazda on horsebacks in front of each other, with the corpses of Artabanus and Ahriman under the nails of their horses, and Ardashir taking the ring of reign from Ahura Mazda

The fourth carving of "coronation" and the fifth carving of Ardashir in Khan-Takhti, Salmas

The picture of one of Ardashir's second group coins; Ardashir I's portrait on the coin and the symbol of firebox behind it

A view of the Palace of Ardashir, the city of Gur (current Firuzabad), the entrance hall and supporting halls of the palace were covered with wheel domes. The outside walls did not have windows, but did contain prominent and dome-like columns.

Ardashir I and his Dastur (Councillor). Page from the Great Mongol Shahnameh. Keir Collection

Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: اردشیر بابکان, Ardašir Bābakān), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire.

Khosrow I

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Solidus of the Byzantine emperor Justin I.

Shahnameh illustration of the death of Mazdak

14th-century Shahnameh illustration of Khosrow I seated on his throne.

Later imitation of a drachm of Khosrow I from the Surkhan Darya valley, Tokharistan, a region that was lost during the reign of Peroz I, but was later reconquered by Khosrow I.

Khosrau I fighting Ethiopian forces in Yemen. Egyptian woven pattern on a woolen curtain or trousers, which was a copy of a Sassanid silk import, which was in turn based on a Persian fresco.

The remains of a 6th-century Nestorian church in Geramon.

Drachma of Khosrow I, minted at Gundeshapur in 558.

Khosrow I holds a banquet for Bozorgmehr, his vizier.

King Khosrow sits before the chessboard, while his vizir and the Indian envoy of Kannauj are playing chess. Shahnama, 10th century CE.

Khosrow I and Borzuya, the translator of the Indian Panchatantra

Anushiruwan the Just statue in Tehran courthouse

Map illustrating the extent of the Great Wall of Gorgan.

Map of the Sasanian fortifications at Derbent, by Roderich von Erckert.

Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; ; New Persian: خسرو []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan (انوشيروان [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 531 to 579.

Achaemenid Empire

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Ancient Iranian empire based in Western Asia that was founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. It reached its greatest extent under Xerxes I, who conquered most of northern and central ancient Greece.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent under the rule of Darius I (522 BC–486 BC)

Map of the expansion process of Achaemenid territories

Cyrus the Great is said, in the Bible, to have liberated the Hebrew captives in Babylon to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire. At Pasargadae, Iran.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC

The Persian queen Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, sister-wife of Cambyses II, Darius the Great's wife, and mother of Xerxes the Great

Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars

Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

Achaemenid king fighting hoplites, seal and seal holder, Cimmerian Bosporus.

Achaemenid gold ornaments, Brooklyn Museum

Persian Empire timeline including important events and territorial evolution – 550–323 BC

Relief showing Darius I offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis

The 24 countries subject to the Achaemenid Empire at the time of Darius, on the Egyptian statue of Darius I.

The Battle of Issus, between Alexander the Great on horseback to the left, and Darius III in the chariot to the right, represented in a Pompeii mosaic dated 1st century BC – Naples National Archaeological Museum

Alexander's first victory over Darius, the Persian king depicted in medieval European style in the 15th century romance The History of Alexander's Battles

Frataraka dynasty ruler Vadfradad I (Autophradates I). 3rd century BC. Istakhr (Persepolis) mint.

Dārēv I (Darios I) used for the first time the title of mlk (King). 2nd century BC.

Winged sphinx from the Palace of Darius in Susa, Louvre

Volume of annual tribute per district, in the Achaemenid Empire, according to Herodotus.

Achaemenid tax collector, calculating on an Abax or Abacus, according to the Darius Vase (340–320 BC).

Letter from the Satrap of Bactria to the governor of Khulmi, concerning camel keepers, 353 BC

Relief of throne-bearing soldiers in their native clothing at the tomb of Xerxes I, demonstrating the satrapies under his rule.

Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite. c. 500 BC–475 BC, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Persian soldiers (left) fighting against Scythians. Cylinder seal impression.

Color reconstruction of Achaemenid infantry on the Alexander Sarcophagus (end of 4th century BC).

Seal of Darius the Great hunting in a chariot, reading "I am Darius, the Great King" in Old Persian (𐎠𐎭𐎶𐏐𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁𐎴 𐏋, "adam Dārayavaʰuš xšāyaθiya"), as well as in Elamite and Babylonian. The word "great" only appears in Babylonian. British Museum.

Achaemenid calvalryman in the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Armoured cavalry: Achaemenid Dynast of Hellespontine Phrygia attacking a Greek psiloi, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Reconstitution of Persian landing ships at the Battle of Marathon.

Greek ships against Achaemenid ships at the Battle of Salamis.

Iconic relief of lion and bull fighting, Apadana of Persepolis

Achaemenid golden bowl with lioness imagery of Mazandaran

A section of the Old Persian part of the trilingual Behistun inscription. Other versions are in Babylonian and Elamite.

A copy of the Behistun inscription in Aramaic on a papyrus. Aramaic was the lingua franca of the empire.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, was built by Greek architects for the local Persian satrap of Caria, Mausolus (Scale model)

Reconstruction of the Palace of Darius at Susa. The palace served as a model for Persepolis.

Lion on a decorative panel from Darius I the Great's palace, Louvre

Apadana Hall, Persian and Median soldiers at Persepolis

Lateral view of tomb of Cambyses II, Pasargadae, Iran

Plaque with horned lion-griffins. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

However, six centuries later Ardeshir I, founder of the Sasanian Empire, would consider himself Artaxerxes' successor, a grand testimony to the importance of Artaxerxes to the Persian psyche.