SASÁNIDA Empire: summary, stages and characteristics

The Persians have been one of the most important peoples of human history, occupying very important roles throughout the centuries. It was very noticeable how, after each collapse, they were able to resurface and regain influence. To talk about him second of the persian empires In this lesson from a Teacher we are going to offer a summary of the sassanid empire.

Index

1. Origin of the Sassanid Empire
2. Development of the Sassanid Empire
3. Decline and end of the Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire or Empire of the Iranians was the second empire of the persians and the last of the Iranian empires before the Muslim conquest, existing between the years 224 and 651. This empire included the areas of Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Afghanistan, and parts of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Arabia, and Central Asia.

The Sassanid dynasty was founded by Ardacher I in the year 224, the grandson of the king of Persia and son of the ruler of the Bajrangi region. Ardacher's father Papag began his conquest in the Iranian province of Fars, taking advantage of the fact that the Emperor of Parthia, Artaban IV was confronting his brother in the region of Mesopotamia. During the conquest, both Papag and his eldest son died, acceding to power.

Ardacher conquered much faster than his father, drawing the attention of Artaban IV, who was not happy that a vassal of his took so much power. To stop the advance of the Sassanids, Artaban sent some of his governors to take the area, but all who were sent were killed and defeated by Ardacher, who was defeated even the emperor himself Artaban.

The death of the emperor made Ardacher advance towards the western provinces of the emperor, taking all of Persia and being called for it as King of Kings and sole lord of all Persia, ending the Parthian Empire and changing the Empire sassanid.

The following years were marked by continuous Ardacher expansions and their descendants, occupying numerous provinces to the west, north and east. Some of the most important areas were Syria or Antioch, places where the Sassanids fought the Romans, and were even able to capture an emperor of Rome. The clashes between the Sassanids and the Romans would be a custom, being rivals for years.

At the beginning of the 4th century, the Sassanid Empire entered what we know as its golden stage, coinciding with the death of Emperor Ormuz II and with the arrival to the throne of Sapor II, who is said to be the only king who was crowned even before he was born.

Until Sapor's adulthood, the region was ruled by his mother and the nobles, who had to face Arab invasions that even reached the province of Fars. Already in adulthood, Sapor II launched himself to fight against Arabs and Romans, expelling the former from the southern areas and achieving victories against the Romans in the west.

The arrival of the nomadic peoples caused Sapor to end hostilities with the Romans, him signing a pact with the Roman Emperor Constantine II. After this, Sapor looked for a new place where he could expand and set out to conquer Central Asia, turning it into a province and reaching China itself.

At the same time, made a pact with the nomads, which would leave their territory in peace in exchange for both peoples fighting together against the Romans; it was a campaign in which the Sassanids took five Roman provinces.

The death of Sapor II and the intermediate stage of the Sassanid Empire

For all this, with the death of Sapor II the empire was stronger than ever, with many more provinces, Armenia and Central Asia conquered, with a strong alliance with the nomads and with the Romans frightened by their growing power.

The region entered a time of peace and tranquility, since except for some confrontation against the Byzantines the empire did not have any confrontation with any power. The time that happens from here is known as the intermediate time, occurring between the years 379 and 498 and being marked by a stability of the empire, losing and gaining small territories against Romans, Byzantines and nomads, but without any great change.

The only real enemies of this time were the hephthalites or white huns, which carried out numerous invasions from the north, but ended up being allies of the Sassanids.

Second golden age

Between 498 and up to 622 The so-called second golden age of the Sassanids happens, initiated by the arrival of Kavadh to the throne and his attack on the Romans together with the Hephthalites.

Thanks to this confrontation, the Sassanids managed to have an order within the empire with great victories against the byzantines and a great expansion and foundation of cities.

During this stage, the Sassanids they took Armenia, Egypt and part of Byzantium, being the moment of greatest splendor of the Sassanids before their inevitable end.

To conclude this summary of the Sassanid Empire, we must talk about the decline and end of the empire, to understand how one of the most interesting civilizations in history disappeared.

In 622 the Sassanid Empire lost its main leaders by battles and diplomatic problems, causing the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, allied with Kazakhs and Turks, to attack the main Persian possessions.

After taking very important regions, lThe Byzantines and their allies attacked the capital itself of the Sassanids, assassinating the king and causing a civil war in the region.

Due to this situation of weakness in which the Sassanids found themselves, the Arab troops commanded by Khalid ibn al-Walid, Muhammad's former ally, attacked the region in their quest to bring the Islam to a weak area and end the power of the Persians.

The victory of the Muslims was total and in a few years they took the entire region that was formerly the Sassanid Empire, annexing it to the Umayyad Caliphate and thus ending with this great empire that dominated much of the world for part of history.

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• Garrido González, E. (1990). Syria and the Romano-Sasanian confrontation in the 4th century AD.
• Soto Chica, J. (2015). BYZANCIO, THE PERSIA SASÁNIDA, THE BULGARIANS AND THE AVARO-TURKISH DISPUTE FOR CONTROL OF THE STEPPES: 557-603. Byzantion nea hellás, (34), 117-134.
• Sanz, A. S. (2013). Chionitas, Heftalitas, Kidaritas, Goks and Arabs. The forgotten enemies of the Sassanid Empire. Iranian World, (4), 37-40.