Ardashir I (
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥,
Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the
Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the
Kings of Persis, until he founded the new empire. After defeating the last
Parthian shahanshah Artabanus IV
Artabanus IV, also known as Ardavan IV (Parthian: 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus V, was the last ruler of the Parthian Empire from c. 213 to 224. He was the younger son of Vologases V, who died in 208.
Na ...
on the
Hormozdgan plain in 224, he overthrew the Parthian dynasty and established the Sasanian dynasty. Afterwards, Ardashir called himself "shahanshah" and began conquering the land that he called
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
.
There are various historical reports about Ardashir's lineage and ancestry. According to
Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
's
History of the Prophets and Kings, Ardashir was son of
Papak, son of
Sasan. Another narrative that exists in
Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan and
Ferdowsi's ''
Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...
'' also states it says that Ardashir was born from the marriage of
Sasan, a descendant of
Darius III, with the daughter of Papak, a local governor in
Pars.
According to Al-Tabari's report, Ardashir was born in the outskirts of
Istakhr, Pars. Al-Tabari adds that Ardashir was sent to the lord of Fort Darabgard when he was seven years old. After the lord's death, Ardashir succeeded him and became the commander of Fort Darabgard. Al-Tabari continues that afterward, Papak overthrew the local Persian
shah named
Gochihr and appointed his son,
Shapur, instead of him. According to Al-Tabari's report, Shapur and his father, Papak, suddenly died and Ardashir became the ruler of Pars. Tension rose between Ardashir and the Parthian empire and eventually on April 28, 224, Ardashir faced the army of
Artabanus IV
Artabanus IV, also known as Ardavan IV (Parthian: 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus V, was the last ruler of the Parthian Empire from c. 213 to 224. He was the younger son of Vologases V, who died in 208.
Na ...
in the
Hormozdgan plain and Artabanus, the Parthian shahanshah, was killed during the battle.
According to the royal reports, it was
Papak who overthrew
Gochihr, the local Persian shah, and appointed his son, Shapur, instead of him; Ardashir refused to accept Shapur's appointment and removed his brother and whosoever stood against him and then minted coins with his face drawn on and his father, Papak's behind. It is probable that the determining role that is stated about Ardashir in leading the rebellion against the central government is the product of the later historical studies. Papak had probably united most of Pars under his rule by then.
Ardashir had an outstanding role in developing the royal ideology. He tried to show himself as a worshiper of
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, M ...
related to god and possessing
khvarenah. The claim of the legitimacy of his reign as a rightful newcomer from the line of the mythical Iranian shahs and the propagations attributed to Ardashir against the legitimacy and role of the Parthians in the
Iranian history sequence show the valuable place that the
Achaemenid legacy had in the minds of the first Sasanian shahanshahs; though the current belief is that the Sasanians did not know much about the Achaemenids and their status. On the other hand, some historians believe that the first Sasanian shahanshahs were familiar with the Achaemenids and their succeeding shahanshahs deliberately turned to the
Kayanians. They knowingly ignored the Achaemenids in order to attribute their past to the Kayanians; and that was where they applied holy
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians hav ...
.
In order to remark his victories, Ardashir carved
petroglyphs in
Firuzabad (the city of Gor or Ardashir-Khwarrah),
Naqsh-e Rajab and
Naqsh-e Rustam. In his petroglyph in Naqsh-e Rustam, Ardashir and Ahura Mazda are opposite to each other on horsebacks and the corpses of Artabanus and
Ahriman are visualized under the hooves of the horses of Ardashir and Ahura Mazda. It can be deduced from the picture that Ardashir assumed or wished for others to assume that his rule over the land that was called "Iran" in the
inscriptions was designated by the lord. The word "Iran" was previously used in ''
Avesta'' and as "the name of the mythical land of the
Aryans
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ...
". In Ardashir's period, the title "Iran" was chosen for the region under the Sasanian rule. The idea of "Iran" was accepted for both the
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
and non-Zoroastrian societies in the whole kingdom and the
Iranians' collective memory continued and lived on in the various stages and different layers of the Iranian society until the modern period today. What is clear is that the concept of "Iran" previously had a religious and ethnic application and then ended up creating its political face and the concept of a geographical collection of lands.
Etymology
"Ardashir" is the
New Persian
New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thre ...
form of the
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
name

, which is ultimately from
Old Iranian ''*Artaxšaθra-'', equivalent to
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''Artaxérxēs'' (), and
Armenian ''Artašēs'' ().
Literally, Ardashir means "the one whose reign is based on honesty and justice". The first part of ''*Artaxšaθra-'' is adapted from the religious concept of justice known as
Ṛta or
Asha and the second part is related to the concept "city".
Three of
Achaemenid kings of kings and four of the local
Shahs of Pars—known as
Frataraka and
Kings of Persis—were named Ardashir, and Ardashir I has been Ardashir V in the chain of local Shahs.
Historiography
The primary references of the
Sassanian era can be divided to the two categories "text remnants" and "reports":
Text remnants
Text remnants include
inscriptions,
leather writings,
papyri and
crockeries written in multiple languages and scripts.
Examples of text remnants related to Ardashir I include his short inscription in Nagsh-e Rajab and also
Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
Shapur I's Ka'ba-ye Zartosht inscription (shortened as Shapur-KZ, ŠKZ, SKZ), also referred to as The Great Inscription of Shapur I, and ''Res Gestae Divi Saporis'' (RGDS), is a trilingual inscription made during the reign of the Sasanian king S ...
.
Reports
Reports are texts that are written in various languages and periods.
The basis of the writings of all
Muslim historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
s (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
and
Persian histories), has been the official
Khwaday-Namag of the
Sassanian court that have utilized the recorded diaries in the official calendars of the court as references. Khwaday-Namag was prepared at the ends of the Sassanian era in
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
language. The title of the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
translation of the book was Seir-ol Moluk-el Ajam and the Persian version was Shahnameh. Today, none of the direct translations of Khwaday-Namag or its original Persian text are available.
Greek-Roman
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
is one of the famous resources of
Parthian history that has given a report about the downfall of the Parthians and the rise of Ardashir I.
Herodian's ''History'' has also extensively explained the procedure of the change of monarchy from Parthian to
Sassanian.
Although
Agathias lived during the time of
Khosrow I, due to his access to the royal yearbooks in
Ctesiphon archives, his history book is one of the main sources. However, he has used colloquial statements in reporting the story of Ardashir's youth.
Armenian
The
Armenian history
The history of Armenia covers the topics related to the history of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the Armenian people, the Armenian language, and the regions historically and geographically considered ''Armenian''.
Armenia is locate ...
in the
Sassanian era is completely connected with Iranian royal history; thus, not only do the writings of then
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...
n historians provide important matters about the adventures of Iranian
kings of kings, but show the status of
Iran-Armenia relations.
''Armenian History'' by
Agathangelos is one of Armenian resources about the early Sassanian era.
Movses Khorenatsi, known as the Armenian
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...
, a famous historian of the fifth century A.D, has stated a story about Ardashir I that is relatively similar to the adapted story from the biography of
Cyrus the Great.
Syriac
Another class of
Sasanian history references is the books written by
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
in
Syriac language.
''Arbella's Chronicles'' is a text written in mid-sixth century AD and includes the history of Christian regions of
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
from the second century until 550.
The book is very valuable for the period of the downfall of the
Parthians and the rise of the Sasanians.
''History of Odessa'' is a book written in 540 and includes chronicles from 132 BC until 540.
''Chronicles of Karakh Beit Solug'', is a short but important source that presents valuable information about the early Sasanian period.
Middle Persian
''
Kār-Nāmag ī Ardašīr ī Pābagān'' is an epic story about Ardashir I and the procedure of his ascension to the throne of Iran. The text was written in about 600 AD and in the end of Sasanian era in
Middle Persian language.
New Persian
Ferdowsi's Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...
is the largest and most important reference about the reports related to the national
Iranian history. It presents helpful information about the
Sasanian organizations and civilization.
''Bal'ami's History'', which is a
Persian rewrite of
Tabari's History, is one of the most important Persian prose works about the Sasanians. Apart from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
text, the work is valuable, since it provides the Persian equals of Arabic expressions in Tabari's History.
''Farsnameh'' is one of the helpful Persian references about Sasanian history that presents valuable information about the status and the rankings of grand appointed
governors and their positions, while they were considered part of the public relative to the kings.
Ibn Isfandiyar's ''History of
Tabaristan'' is another one of Sasanian history sources. The
Letter of Tansar is written in the book.
Mojmal al-tawarikh is a text with limited value, since most of its reports are mentioned extensively in other sources.
''Ardasgir's Oath'' is a letter or preach by Ardashir I about government rituals that is named in ''Mojmal al-tawarikh''.
Arabic
''
Tabari's History'' is a book series in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
that is the main and essential source about
Sasanian history.
Al-Masudi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotu ...
's ''
The Meadows of Gold
''Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems'' ( ar, مُرُوج ٱلذَّهَب وَمَعَادِن ٱلْجَوْهَر, ') is a book of history in Arabic of the beginning of the world starting with Adam and Eve up to and through the late Abbasid Ca ...
'' is another source about the Sasanian history.
Lineage and ancestry

There are different historical reports about Ardashir's ancestry and lineage. According to
Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
's report, Ardashir was son of
Papak, son of
Sasan. Another statement that exists in ''
Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan'' and is told the same way in
Ferdowsi's ''
Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...
'', states that Ardashir was born as a result of the marriage of Sasan, a descendant of
Darius III, with the daughter of Papak, a local
governor in the province of
Pars. In ''Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan'', which was written after him, Ardashir is announced "a Papakan king with a paternal line from Sasan and a maternal line from Darius III".
Daryaee intends to say that according to that line in the text, it can be deduced that Ardashir has claimed his lineage to whoever he could. Relating Ardashir to the legendary
Kayanians with the nickname Kay beside connecting himself to Sasan, who has been a guardian and mysterious deity and also to Dara, which is a combination of
Darius I and
II the
Achamenid with local Persian
shahs Dara I and II, shows the former's fake lineage.
Since Ardashir had claimed his royal lineage to Sasan, it is important to inspect who Sasan was. First it was composed that the
epigraphic form "Ssn" on
potterywares and other documents imply that Sasan was a
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
deity, though he is not mentioned in
Avesta or other ancient Iranian texts. Martin Schwartz has recently shown that the deity shown on the potterywares is not related to Sasan, but shows Ssn, an old
Semitic
Semitic most commonly refers to the Semitic languages, a name used since the 1770s to refer to the language family currently present in West Asia, North and East Africa, and Malta.
Semitic may also refer to:
Religions
* Abrahamic religions
** ...
goddess that was worshiped in
Ugarit
)
, image =Ugarit Corbel.jpg
, image_size=300
, alt =
, caption = Entrance to the Royal Palace of Ugarit
, map_type = Near East#Syria
, map_alt =
, map_size = 300
, relief=yes
, location = Latakia Governorate, Syria
, region = ...
in the
second millennium B.C. The word "Sasa" is written on coins found in
Taxila; it is probable to be related to "Sasan", since the symbols on the mentioned coins are similar to the coins of
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ar ...
. It is remarked in Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh'' about Sasan's Oriental lineage that might imply that his house had come from the Orient. After all and considering all the difficulties, it can be said that Ardashir claimed his lineage to be belonging to gods and the Sasanians may have raised Sasan's rank to a god's.
The primary
Islamic sources, which are adapted from Sasanian statements, have emphasized on Sasan being a
mysticist and
hermit and have actually stated India, which is the center of
asceticism
Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
, as Sasan's origin. That was the only way for Ardashir to forge himself a double noble-religious lineage. It is not strange that Ardashir's religious lineage is emphasized in religious Sasanian statements and his noble lineage is emphasized in royal reports and then they are linked to religious statements about him. Anyway, whoever Sasan was and wherever he lived, he was not a native Persian and the eastern and western
Iranian Plateau are mentioned as his origins in the references.

Most of foreign sources are unanimous in considering an unknown lineage for Ardashir;
for example,
Agathias has stated that Papak was a shoemaker who found out from
astronomic
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, ...
proofs that Sasan would have a great son; thus Papak allowed Sasan to sleep with the former's wife and the result was Ardashir. Shakki considered Agathias's narrative a useless and vulgar story by the familiar Sergeus,
Surianian translator of
Khosrow I's court, ordered by the opponents and foes of Sasanians. Shakki said it was obvious Sergeus the
Christian had induced that nonsense to Agathias. Like he had cleared Ardashir's family tree, and it was adapted from the imaginations of Christians and the
materialist and
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
league. Shakki's reasoning is based on the current norm in marital customs that the children resulting from a woman's marriage with a second spouse (after divorcing her first spouse) will belong to the first spouse. In the three-language inscription of Shapur I's on
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht in
Naqsh-e Rustam, Sasan is introduced only as a nobleman and Papak as a king.
There are opinions about the validity and authenticity of each of the mentioned narratives. Some have considered Al-Tabari's report suspicious since he presents an elaborate family tree of Ardashir that relates his generation to mythical and mighty ancient Iranian kings. Some consider the reports of ''Karnamag'' and ''Shahnameh'' more justifiable, since Ardashir being Sasan's son and his adoption by Papak aligns with Zoroastrian norms and customs.
However, some have questioned the reports of ''Karnamag'' and ''Shahnameh'', considered them mythical and intended to legitimize the founder of the Sasanian dynasty.
Due to the high number of reports about Ardashir's lineage, it is not easy to accept any; though it should not be ignored that most of the founders of dynasties claimed to be descendants of ancient kings in order to become legitimate. About that, Daryaee says: "If Ardashir had been evolved from a noble house, he would have insisted on a report; while various stories show that he intended to gain legitimacy from all Iranian traditions and perhaps foreign tribes."
In sources, Ardashir's religious relations and his father being a cleric are mentioned; so it can be deduced that Ardashir had no connections with royal houses and was only a cleric's son who knew about religion, but was not a cleric himself; and that was how he, by his religious knowledge, found the chance to be the first person in his inscriptions receiving the royal ring from
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the '' Yasna ...
, something a Persian nobleman did not need and only a newcomer had to claim to be from the line of gods. It should be mentioned that it was not precedent to Ardashir to take a royal ring from Ahura Mazda, and it is not seen even in
Achaemenid inscriptions.
Pars before rise of the Sasanians

Persis, the state in which the movement of establishing the new
Sasanian government began, had lost its fame by third century AD. Since old times, a new city named
Istakhr had risen beside the ruins of
Persepolis, an
Achaemenid capital which was burnt by troops of
Alexander III of Macedon. Although the land's local
shahs picked themselves famous Achaemenid names like Dara (Darius) and Ardashir in order to preserve old traditions, that was almost the only remaining instance of the ancient magnificence and greatness.
The local governors of Pars that considered themselves the rightful heirs of the Achaemenids, had accepted submitting to the
Arsacids during the four and a half century of the latters' reign and always waited for a chance to retake their old glory.
They considered the Parthians primordial usurpers who had taken the formers' right by force.
The remnants of
Pasargadae and Persepolis could be permanent memorials of the past magnificence of Pars; though the knowledge about the existence of a large empire was almost forgotten.
As of now, not much knowledge is gained about the four hundred-year history of that state, which was once part of the
Seleucid Kingdom and then of Parthian Empire, and almost all the knowledge about the political status of Pars – before the rise of Ardashir, depends on the coins which were minted by the local semi-dependent kings; based on the existent information on the Persian coins, at least one local king ruled in Persian lands slightly after the demise of Alexander III. Even if the existence of the names of kings like Dara and Ardashir on the coins of local shahs of the land does not prove that a subsidiary house of the Achaemenids still ruled in Pars, it at least shows the continuance of some of Achaemenid traditions in that land.
During the Seleucid era, the Frataraka (local Persian shahs) ruled Pars at the time of the rebellion of
Alexander,
Molon's brother, against
Antiochus III. That shows those local shahs shared power with Seleucid satraps or each of them ruled part of Pars separately.
Also in the Parthian era, the local Persian shahs were entitled to mint coins with their own names like some other semi-dependent shahs of the Parthian Empire. During the time, the Persian governors called themselves "Frataraka", which probably meant "governor" based on its synonym achieved from the
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
documents of the Achaemenid era. Afterwards, the titles of local governors altered and they named themselves "Shahs". There have been royal crowns and symbols, temple pictures, fireboxes with aflame fires, and symbols of the moon, stars and the portrait of
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the '' Yasna ...
minted on coins of the Frataraka that shows the holy fire was adored and the
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
gods were worshiped and the old creed was permanent in Pars in contrast to other regions.
In a portrait of Papak and his son
Shapur carved on Takht-e Jamshid, Papak, while dressed as a priest, squeezes the hilt of his sword by one hand and manipulates the fire of the hearth and adds more firewood to it by the other hand, with his son Shapur taking the royal ring from him. In other pictures of granting the royal medal during the time, meaning granting
Khwasak, the mayor of Susa, which is discovered there, and the picture of granting the medal to the governor of Elymais, discovered in Bardneshandeh, the Parthian emperor is granting the royal medal to local shahs; while in the mentioned picture of Papak and his son Shapur in Takht-e Jamshid, it is Papak who is granting the royal ring to Shapur wearing like priests. Lokonin believed that the carving of Papak granting the royal medal to his sone shows that the Sasanians took the power by force in Pars and wished to show their independence from the Parthian emperors; that was why Papak personally grants the royal medal to his son in the mentioned picture.
Lokonin also believes that the religious clothes and medals of Papak on the pictures and cois of Shapur (his son), show the separation of religious and royal rule -at the time; Papak was the grand priest and his son Shapur was the land's shah.
Daryaee believes that the picture shows multiple things; first that the House of Sasan had both the religious and irreligious powers together in Pars; second that the fire creed, related to Zoroastrianism, lived on before the rise of Ardashir; third that the carved picture of Shapur and Papak in Takht-e Jamshid shows the importance of the Achaemenid structure for the Sasanians.
State of the Parthian Empire before its demise
After the demise of
Commodus,
Roman emperor, in 192 AD, a rivalry between his generals,
Pescennius Niger
Gaius Pescennius Niger (c. 135 – 194) was Roman Emperor from 193 to 194 during the Year of the Five Emperors. He claimed the imperial throne in response to the murder of Pertinax and the elevation of Didius Julianus, but was defeated by a ri ...
and
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succ ...
, arose, and
Vologases V,
Parthian emperor, decided to support Niger against Severus. According to
Herodian's History, the Parthian emperor only managed to request his local following governors to send troops to aid Niger, as Vologases V did not possess a great army. Eventually in 194, Severus won the quest for power in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and he invaded Western
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
in order to retake the lost regions. The accurate details of the invasion is not known, but
Osroene and
Nusaybin were retaken anyway. Then Severus returned to Rome due to
Clodius Albinus's rebellion; during Severus's return from Mesopotamia, the Parthian Empire was in disarray. In 197, Severus initiated hostilities with the Parthians.
Meanwhile, Vologases suppressed a rebellion in the east of the Empire. Narses, governor of
Adiabene (a region to the west of current
Lake Urmia), disobeyed to accompany Vologases to invade the East to suppress the rebellion. The noncompliance and also Narses's friendly relations with Rome caused Vologases to attack Adiabene, to destroy multiple cities there and to also kill Narses.
Vologases later proceeded towards Nusaybin and laid siege to it, but aborted it due to Roman reinforcements and failed to capture the city. Afterwards, Severus started marching toward
Euphrates and to South and took
Seleucia and
Babylon without resistance, although the Romans contended heavily in late 198 during the fall of
Ctesiphon. However, the Romans did not manage to hold the captured regions; they had to retreat due to lack of provisions. The Romans decided to take
Hatra while returning, but failed and tried once more in spring 199 to conquer Hatra, and were forced to cede control of
Syria with heavy casualties.
It must have been that "highly disruptive period of Vologases V's reign" and the raid and destruction of Mesopotamia by Severus when
Papak probably united most of Pars under his rule. Apparently a peace treaty was then formed between the two powers, though the ancient historians have had no mention of it. Until Vologases' death in 206 or 207 and also Severus's in 211, the Parthian-Roman relations were peaceful.
After Vologases V's death, his son
Vologases VI rose to the throne; but shortly afterward, his reign was challenged by his brother
Artabanus IV
Artabanus IV, also known as Ardavan IV (Parthian: 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus V, was the last ruler of the Parthian Empire from c. 213 to 224. He was the younger son of Vologases V, who died in 208.
Na ...
.
In about 213, Artabanus launched a rebellion against his brother Vologases and took the rule of a large part of the Parthian Empire; it can be deduced from the coins found in
Hamadan that he ruled the
Median land.
According to an
inscription of his in
Susa, the control of the region is considered to have been Artabanus's. Elsewhere, Vologases VI's coins found in Seleucia show his control over the land.
In Rome,
Caracalla rose to power after the death of Septimius Severus, his father. Although the information about the contest between Artabanus and Vologases is trace, the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
sources say that Caracalla gave special attention to the internal contest of Parthians and reported the disruption of the Parthians' status to the
Roman Senate
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...
. Knowledge about the civil war in the Parthian Empire might have encouraged "the idea of a military conquest" in Caracalla and stimulated him towards successes larger than those of his father's (Septimius Severus) in fighting the Parthians. At the time while Emperor Caracalla had already been formulating a plan to start a new war with the Parthians, he sent a request for
extradition
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisd ...
of two fugitives, a
philosopher named Antiochus and an unknown man called Tiridates, to Vologases searching for an excuse to start a war in 214 or early 215; Vologases returned the two fugitives; but Caracalla invaded
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...
anyway.
It can be deduced from Caracalla's request from Vologases for returning the two fugitives that the Romans considered Vologases the actual Parthian power and great shah at the time.
About one year later in 216, Caracalla made another excuse to attack Parthia; that time he demanded Artabanus (not Vologases) to give him his daughter for marriage, which Artabanus did not accept and the war started in summer 216. According to that request of Caracalla from Artabanus, it is assumed that Aratabanus gained "the upper hand" in his internal contest with Vologases then, though Vologases' coins were minted until 221–222 in Seleucia.
Although the exact path of the Romans' invasion is not known, they certainly conquered
Erbil, center of Adiabene; apparently the Parthians avoided a large confrontation; but they applied an offensive policy toward Mesopotamia in early 217. That was the time Caracalla, who was heading to
Harran, was killed by head of his
security detail Macrinus, who showed his inclination towards peace with the Parthians by "putting the blame of starting the war on Caracalla" and "freeing Parthian prisoners"; but Artabanus demanded the Romans' "relinquishing of the whole Mesopotamia", "rebuilding the destroyed cities and fortresses" and "paying compensations for destroying the royal cemetery of Erbil", knowing of having the upper hand.
Macrinus refused the extensive demands of the Parthians and war was restarted and its peak was in a three-day battle in Nusaybin. Although there is controversy about the result of the battle in the views of the ancient world's historians, the aftermath of the battle was obviously Roman defeat. After the end of the war, peace negotiations began and resulted in a peace treaty in 218 according to which the Romans paid 50 million
dinars to the Parthians and kept Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia. It was probably in about 220 that the local Persian governors (Ardashir I) started taking far and close lands. At the time, Artabanus did not pay much attention to his actions and decided to fight him when it had become too late. Eventually, Ardashir ended the life of the House of
Arsaces in the
Battle of Hormozdgan
The Battle of Hormozdgan (also spelled Hormizdagan and Hormozgan) was the climactic battle between the Parthian Empire, Arsacid and the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian dynasties that took place on April 28, 224. The Sasanian victory broke the power of t ...
and founded the
Sasanian dynasty.
However, the end of the Parthian dynasty did not mean an endpoint for all Parthian houses.
Movses Khorenatsi,
Armenian historian, has quoted some reports of the roles and aids of some Parthian houses, like
Suren and
Ispahbudhan, in Ardashir's uprising.
Biography
Early years until his uprising and gaining power
According to
Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
's report, Ardashir was born in a village named "Tirudeh" in the country "Khir" around
Istakhr, Pars in a famous family. His grandfather,
Sasan, was the trustee of the Temple of
Anahita
Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" ( Aban) and hence associ ...
in Istakhr and his grandmother was
Rambehesht from
Bazrangi House. Al-Tabari added that when Ardashir was seven years old,
Papak, Ardashir's father, asked
Gochihr, local
shah in Pars, to send Ardashir to Tiri, commander of Fort Darabgard, for raising, which Gochihr did. After Tiri's death, Ardashir took over for him and became the commander of Fort Darabgard.
According to the current sources, Papak was the priest of the Fire Temple of Anahita. He managed to assemble local Persian warriors who believed in the deity.
At the time,
Vologases V's reign was disrupted due to the invasion of
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succ ...
,
Roman emperor, on
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
.
It is probable that Vologases defeated Papak after he rebelled and forced him to submit to
Parthian rule for a while. It is not probable that Papak's kingdom was beyond the Persian land.
According to
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
-
Persian sources, Ardashir started his uprising when he was the commander of Fort Darabgard in eastern Pars. The oldest
archaeological proofs of the period of Ardashir's reign are acquired from ''Ardashir-Khwarrah'' (Gor or current
Firuzabad) in south border of Pars. Therefore, Ardashir rose up in his war in ''Ardashir-Khwarrah'', far from the fortress of local Persian shahs in Istakhr and farther from the Parthian Empire. The beginning of Ardashir's uprising may be related to his first
inscription in Firuzabad; in the inscription, he is shown acquiring the royal ring from
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the '' Yasna ...
in front of his henchmen.
Ardashir began the procedure of extending his reign by killing some local kings and taking their domains. According to Al-Tabari's report, Ardashir then asked Papak to stand against Gochihr and start a rebellion. Papak did it and rebelled against Gochihr and killed him.
Daryaee believes that Papak was a local governor who dreamed of conquering Istakhr and was eventually able to achieve it by the help of his older son Shapur; that means in contrast to Al-Tabari's report, it was not Ardashir's request and order that caused Papak's rebellion against Gochihr, governor of Istakhr, and it can be implied from the common coins of Papak and Shapur.
Later, Papak wrote a letter to
Artabanus IV
Artabanus IV, also known as Ardavan IV (Parthian: 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus V, was the last ruler of the Parthian Empire from c. 213 to 224. He was the younger son of Vologases V, who died in 208.
Na ...
and requested permission to appoint Shapur instead of the "overthrown" Gochihr in power; in response, Artabanus announced Papak and Ardashir outlaws.
Although Artabanus had defeated the
Romans, he faced the problem of the defiance of
Vologases VI, who had minted coins in his own name between 221 and 222; and this shows that no powerful emperor controlled the Parthian Empire then. During the time that Artabanus was dealing with a more important challenge, he could not pay much attention to the rise of a newcomer in Pars.
After a while, Papak died in an unknown date and Shapur ascended to the throne; afterward, the contest and fight started between the two brothers (Shapur and Ardashir), but Shapur died in an accidental way. According to sources, Shapur stopped at a ruin while assaulting Darabgard and a stone suddenly separated from the ceiling and hit his head and Shapur succumbed immediately. After the incident, the brothers relinquished the Persian throne and crown to Ardashir, who became the Persian Shah thereafter.
Ardashir and his followers could be considered the main suspects of Shapur's mysterious death, since they "benefitted from the accidental death"; but the accusation is not provable.
Papak's picture has been drawn on both Shapur's coins and later Ardashir's; in the picture of the Papak drawn on Shapur's coins, he wears a wig dissimilar to normal Parthian and local Persian shahs and only Shapur has worn a royal wig. According to royal reports, it was Papak who overthrew Gochihr and appointed Shapur instead of him. Ardashir refused to accept Shapur's appointment and removed his brother and whoever stood against him and then minted coins with his face drawn on them and Papak's behind them. Papak's picture on Ardashir-Papak coins, wears a wig similar to those of local Persian shahs in contrast to his picture in Shapur-Papak coins.
According to the descriptions given on Papak's pictures on the coins, it is probable that the determining role of Ardashir depicted in leading the rebellion against the central government is the product of later historical studies. It is probable that Papak had united most of Pars under his rule by the time;
since his picture exists on Ardashir's coins too.

In the procedure of extending his domain and power, Ardashir made many Parthian-dependent local shahs and landlords follow him. In the first phase of rebellion, Ardashir challenged the Parthians' central power by actions like minting coins and constructing new cities. After all, a sight of victory was not imaginable for Ardashir without a public dissatisfaction and interest in rebellion against the Parthians.
For example, according to sources, the governor of a land northeast of
Ctesiphon called "
Beth Garmai" in
Syriac and its center was today
Kirkuk, along with the famous Sharat, who was the governor of
Adiabene, aided Ardashir in his rebellion against the Parthians.
In order to consolidate his power, Ardashir killed some of the important figures in Darabgard; then he invaded
Kerman and took it too and took control of whole Pars, including the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...
shores. At that time, Ardashir constructed a palace and
fire temple in Gor (current
Firuzabad) that its ruins still remain and is called the
Palace of Ardashir. He appointed one of his sons named Ardashir as the governor of Kerman. Artabanus, the Parthian emperor, ordered the governor of
Susa to attack Ardashir, suppress his rebellion and send him to Ctesiphon. After Ardashir killed and terminated
Shadh-Shapur, the governor of
Spahan, after fighting him, headed towards
Khuzestan and killed the governor of Susa too and added his domain to the lands under his rule. Then he invaded
Characene State in the mouth of
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
and took it and added it to his kingdom.
Eventually, in Ardashir's contest with Artabanus in the
Battle of Hormozdgan
The Battle of Hormozdgan (also spelled Hormizdagan and Hormozgan) was the climactic battle between the Parthian Empire, Arsacid and the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian dynasties that took place on April 28, 224. The Sasanian victory broke the power of t ...
on April 28, 224, Artabanus was killed by Ardashir and the Parthian dynasty was overthrown with his death. The year of the occurrence of the battle is confirmed by
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ar ...
's inscription in
Bishapur. The extended report of the Battle of Hormozdgan is probably made for the Sasanian's formal history. If the mentioned assumption is right, the writing may have been the main source of Al-Tabari's History.
After Artabanus's death, Ardashir's quest for extending his kingdom did not end. In a procedure, the large landlord Parthian houses, either submitted to Ardashir (willingly or unwillingly) or were conquered by him.

The subsequent sources emphasized on the Sasanians' hatred of everything adapted from the Parthians. The existence of such a mentality in Ardashir is understandable; but even he was forced to establish his newborn government on Parthian foundations by the help of other remarkable Iranian houses, who were either affiliated with the Parthians or nursed by them. However, no change is seen in that hatred of the Parthians in the next generations of Sasanian emperors either. Therefore, it can be deduced that the Parthians enforced a more hard and tyrannical domination than presumed on their submitted shahs and that might have been the reason that facilitated Ardashir's conquest.
After coronation
There is controversy among specialists about the year of Ardashir's coronation; according to
W.B. Henning
Walter Bruno Henning (August 26, 1908 – January 8, 1967) was a German scholar of Middle Iranian languages and literature, especially of the corpus discovered by the Turpan expeditions of the early 20th century.
__TOC__
Biography
Walter Henning ...
's studies and calculations, Ardashir was crowned on April 28, 224; however, the calculations of
H. Taqizadeh show the date April 6, 227.
Josef Wiesehöfer believes the year of Ardashir's coronation in
Ctesiphon 226 and at the time of his invasion on Northern
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
based on other sources.
Anyway, by choosing the title ''Shahanshah'' (
king of kings), Ardashir revealed his inclination toward government. During about 226–227, Ardashir experienced a failed attempt to conquer
Hatra, which was previously unsuccessfully tried by
Trajan and
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succ ...
, while on a crusade for taking the northwest regions of the land. In the late
Parthian era, Hatra had become semi-dependent due to the gradual deterioration of the central government. After that unsuccessful attempt of Ardashir's in the west, he started taking eastern lands and dominating large Parthian landlords, local noblemen and large Iranian houses and was successful.
The exact extent and limits of Ardashir's ruled domain can not be determined correctly.
Ardashir's domain in the west was probably extended to the traditional borders between the
Romans and Parthians in the northwest; in the east, the
Kushan and
Turan and probably
Merv Desert rulers surrendered to Ardashir's empire;
and in the southwest, the northern part of "
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
shores of the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...
"were taken by war.
War with Rome
According to the information collected from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
and Greek sources, the first clash between the "newborn
Sasanian power" in its west borders with Rome occurred by the
Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
' attack on the regions held by Rome in Northern
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
on Ardashir's era, 230. Ardashir besieged
Nusaybin, which was one of the two fortresses of Roman defense system in Mesopotamia -the other being
Harran, but was not able to take it; the Sasanian riders' assault was pulled to other
Syrian regions and
Cappadocia
Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Re ...
and they invaded it. After the Romans' unfruitful attempt to make peace with Ardashir,
Severus Alexander
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself wa ...
eventually decided to oppose the Persians unwillingly and reluctantly in 232.
The Roman forces led by Alexander attacked
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...
by one military column and the south by two columns. Although there is no accurate information about the details of the events, it is known that the Romans achieved some victories in the north (Armenia); but the troops sent to Southern Mesopotamia did not achieve anything.
In any case, "the first war test between the Sasanians and Romans" ended without any positive result for the Romans; though Alexander held a celebration in Rome for his "victory" and the war has been viewed as a victory in some Roman writings due to preserving the past borders of the Roman empire and Alexander appeared as a victor in Rome. In the war, many casualties were inflicted upon the two armies. In subsequent
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
-
Persian sources, there has been no mention of the war; the cause of not mentioning might have been Ardashir considering the incident shameful.
Although no peace treaty was signed, the eastern Roman borders were not attacked by the Sasanians in the next years. It might have been more important for the Romans to attach
Hatra to their fortresses of the border defense system. The people of Hatra knew that their relative
autonomy, which became possible at the late Parthian era due to the weakness of the central government, was under the threat of the policies announced by the Sasanians. The foreign policy of the new Persian rulers was to proceed to the Occident and that was probably in order to divert the public attention from the internal problems of the land; that is while the procedure of the Parthians and the Romans in the final years was to leave everything be as they are.
The murder of Severus Alexander by his soldiers and its aftermath which resulted in disturbances in Rome, motivated Ardashir to attack Rome again. In about the years 237–238,
Ardashir took Nusaybin and Harran and attacked the city Dura;
then he marched toward Hatra, which was a commercial city and the center of the traffic of commercial caravans. Hatra stood hard against the Persian siege and did not fall until April or September 240; it seems that Hatra was chosen as a point for pushing and operation against Roman Mesopotamia. The fall of Hatra might have been the cause of
Gordian III's wars with Persia.
In the mythical-national Persian history, the Battle of Hatra and the incident of its fall is accompanied with a romantic story. According to the story, at the time of the Persian attack on Hatra, the daughter of the city's king had fallen in love with
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ar ...
, Ardashir's son and had him promise her marriage and then opened the gate of the city; then the Persians captured the city and destroyed it. After Shapur found out about the kindness and attention of the father towards his daughter on the wedding night, the former had her killed due to the daughter's inappreciation to that kind of father.
Final years and succession
Due to the difficulties in the sources, the last years and the day of Ardashir's death are not very clear. His son,
Shapur probably ascended as a royal partner on April 12, 240. The time is found from the Pirchavush inscriptions in
Salmas, Northwestern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
that show Shapur's royal participation. The answer to the question if Shapur was crowned as a shah without a partner during Ardashir's life depends on the interpretation a special kind of coin.
On those coins, the faces of Ardashir and Shapur are carved together. Adding Shapur to his royal position was probably Ardashir's plan to solve the succession problem without any troubles; the reason was that Ardashir had other sons and feared that they might have craved the throne like himself.
About the year of Shapur's participation in reign with Ardashir, it has been written in
Cologne Mani-Codex
The Cologne Mani-Codex (Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis) is a minute parchment codex, dated on paleographical evidence to the fifth century CE, found near Asyut (the ancient Lycopolis), Egypt; it contains a Greek text describing the life of Mani ...
in Greek about Mani's life:
''When I became twenty-four years old; in the year that Persian king, Dari-Ardashir opened the city Hatra, and in the year Shapur Shah, his son, put the largest crown in the month Famuthi, on the month day (8th day of Farmuthi), my god, who is the most blessed, made me proud by his generosity, summoned me by his favor...''
It can be deduced by calculating the
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
ian month and year that Shapur's coronation as his father's royal partner occurred on April 12, 240 (the first day of the
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state ...
n month Nisan in the year 551). Ardashir and Shapur's simultaneous reign lasted apparently until early 242. Therefor, it can be said that Shapur was probably crowned twice; once as a royal partner in 240 and later in 243 as lonely reign; however it is more probable that he was crowned only once in 240.
Timeline of life
According to three dates that are achieved from
Shapur's inscription on a column in
Bishapur, the period between 205 and 206 appears as the beginning of an era in
Sasanian history;
it is written in the first lines of the mentioned inscription:
''1- Farvardin 58, 2- Azar Ardashir 40, 3- Azar Shapur from royal Azars 24''
Therefor, history is designated with "three eras" in the inscription; "Azar Ardashir 40" means the 40th year in Ardashir's era and "Azar Shapur 24" means the 24th year in Shapur's era. 58 shows an era that has remained unknown.
It has been deduced from the allusion that one of the mentioned events (overthrowing the local
shah of
Istakhr by
Papak or announcing independence from the
Parthians) has happened between the years 205 and 206; since the year is implied as "the year of the beginning of an era". The assumption that "the period between the years 205 and 206" is related to Papak's rebellion is very probable since "the period between the years 205 and 206" was never a basis in any of the future achieved histories from the Sasanians and usually every Sasanian emperor either based the calendar on the year of "his ascension" or based it on the
Seleucid calendar that began with
312 B.C.
R. Ghirshman
Roman Ghirshman (, ''Roman Mikhailovich Girshman''; October 3, 1895 – 5 September 1979) was a Russian-born French archeologist who specialized in ancient Persia. Ghirshman spent nearly thirty years excavating ancient Persian archeological ...
believes that the year 58 shows the beginning of the domination of the Sasanian dynasty over the Iranian lands. Besides, the date of altering the Persian coins along with which the names of previous governors were replaced with the Sasanian dynasty can be accepted to be 205–206.
It is very probable that Papak took the royal throne of Istakhr between the years 205/206 and 211/212 and appointed his son Shapur for it; then in an insurgent action, Ardashir moved to Gur (Ardashir-Khwarrah or current
Firuzabad) from Darabgard and raised his defense fortifications there in order to be able to attack his older brother just after the death of his father, Papak. "The first inscription of Ardashir's quest of the crown" in Firuzabad is probably the symbol of his rebellion against his father and brother. Papak probably died in about 211/212 and it is after that when his two sons (Shapur and Ardashir) minted coins titled "The Shah" and decorated them with the face of their recently deceased father (Papak) behind. The report of ''Zin-el-Akhbar'' also confirms that Ardashir was crowned as a local shah in 211/212. The events of 211/212, which contain the defeat of Shapur (Ardashir's brother) and his probable murder, might be related to Ardashir's second inscription on
Naqsh-e Rajab and also minting coins without the Papak's face. The writing of the phrase "his majesty worshiping
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, M ...
, Ardashir the Persian Shah" on some second group of coins of Ardashir's might have been after his conquest of Istakhr and taking control of Pars. Ardashir's conquest of Pars and taking the adjacent lands was a threat for
Artabanus; therefore, Artabanus defied Ardashir and eventually lost the
Battle of Hormozdgan
The Battle of Hormozdgan (also spelled Hormizdagan and Hormozgan) was the climactic battle between the Parthian Empire, Arsacid and the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian dynasties that took place on April 28, 224. The Sasanian victory broke the power of t ...
and was killed. It was after that when Ardashir was able to claim being "the
Shahanshah of
Iranians". Ardashir carved a memorial inscription for victory in the Battle of Hormozdgan near the city Gur. The signs of these events (the period between taking Istakhr until conquering
Ctesiphon and formal
coronation there) are shown in
the inscription of Ardashir's coronation in Naqsh-e Rostam and also the alteration of his coins.
Reign infrastructure
The procedure of centralization of power
The history of the
Sasanian society can be studied based on two completely opposite principles; one was the central power, whose incarnation was the "
shahanshah" himself and constantly attempted to increase his power; and on the other hand was the liegemen and grand landlords who prevented the centralization of power by the shahanshah and sometimes increased their own powers against the
shah.
At first, the Sasanian policies were formed based on the relations between the shah, the royal family and the noble landlords (including members of the old
Parthian high class). In Ardashir's period, though the centralization had begun and the number of local shahs had decreased sharply, his reign stood on the same bases which the Parthian empire was on after all.
According to the description of ''
Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
Shapur I's Ka'ba-ye Zartosht inscription (shortened as Shapur-KZ, ŠKZ, SKZ), also referred to as The Great Inscription of Shapur I, and ''Res Gestae Divi Saporis'' (RGDS), is a trilingual inscription made during the reign of the Sasanian king S ...
'' of Ardashir's court, the latter's name is mentioned as the king of kings (shahanshah) along with four "shahs", who were the rulers of
Nishapur,
Marw
Merv ( tk, Merw, ', مرو; fa, مرو, ''Marv''), also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria ( grc-gre, Ἀλεξάνδρεια), Antiochia in Margiana ( grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ) and ...
,
Kerman and
Sakastan. There were also the three kingdoms
Makran,
Turgistan and
Kushanshahr that had submitted to Ardashir's command and paid him taxes. Those local shahs were partly semi-dependent from the central government and the successions were inherited for them.
However at the periods of the succeeding Sasanian shahanshahs, the independences of some of them were taken; for example at the time of
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ar ...
, the independences of Merv and Nishapur were taken and Sakastan became a province (city) and was granted to liegeman
Narseh
Narseh (also spelled Narses or Narseus; pal, 𐭭𐭥𐭮𐭧𐭩, New Persian: , ''Narsē'') was the seventh Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 293 to 303.
The youngest son of Shapur I (), Narseh served as the governor of Sakastan, Hind a ...
, son of Shapur. This shows an increasing inclination towards the centralization of power since the early Sasanian era.
The structure of the central Parthian government depended on "local noblemen" and "clan grandees" and included local autonomous governments based on "
aristocracy" and "tribal interests". Ardashir had realized that it would be impossible to pursue and finish the policy of attacking and attaching without permanentizing and consolidating power in his domain; and thus, he could alter the military balance in then status and the homeland structure only by removing the local governors and establishing a central power with an organized
bureaucratic system.
Although the Sasanian government did not have any difference from the final Parthian era on its first days, but as mentioned, one of the prominent features of the Sasanian era was an increasing inclination toward the concentration of power in Iran since the first days of the Sasanians' uprising. In the Sasanian dawn, Iran included a union of kingdoms and noble landlords (liegemen), each of which possessed a various degree of independence from the central government and were economically connected to it by different channels.
In other words, a type of
feudal society under the rule of large owners stood in the
Iranian Plateau while in the
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
n deserts, the urban culture and pathway cities were the face of society more often.
Urbanization
The first
Sasanian shahanshahs founded or renovated some cities in different Iranian regions.
It is clear from the first Sasanian
inscriptions that "altering the names", renovating or rebuilding of new cities were done in regions that had been conquered by Sasanian troops and were considered part of the royal property ().
Those "royal cities" of the Sasanian era were the centers of military garrisons in newly taken lands and later became the centers of newfound official divisions and abodes of government agents.
Therefore, the increase in the number of "royal cities" equaled with the growth of royal ; thus, instead of the autonomous cities of the
Parthian era that were usually in western regions of the land and governed more of less extensive regions independently from the central government, came the "royal cities" in the early Sasanian era that were considered the garrison centers of the central government.
Each of those regions were constructed to center a rural district under the rule of a "Shahrab" and the taxes of those regions were sent directly to the empire. On the other hand, beside the royal fields (), wide lands ruled by noble landlords and local grandees also existed and the shahanshah did not have direct control over them and the taxes of those lands were paid to the royal treasury by indirect channels. That was why it became the internal goal and financial policy of Ardashir and his descendants to increase the number of royal districts and the regions attached (); though the dichotomy of taxation between the royal lands () with direct taxes to the royal treasury and the lands ruled by grandees and noble landlords with indirect taxes to the royal treasury continued until the fiscal reforms at the time of
Kavadh I and
Khosrow I.
The cities which are believed to had been constructed by Ardashir are:
According to
Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
, Ardashir I founded eight cities, three of which were in Pars, titled "Ardashir-Khwarrah", "Ram-Ardashir" and "Riv-Ardashir"; one was in Khuzestan titled "Hormozd-Ardashir", two cities in
Asoristan titled "
Veh-Ardashir" and "Ostabad", one in Bahrain titled "Pasa-Ardashir" and one close to today Mosul titled "Nud-Ardashir".
However, attribution of the dates of constructions of all these cities to Ardashir's royal era is doubted. For example, it is known that
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ar ...
founded several cities "with a name combined with Ardashir's" to honor his father; while some other are founded by other people named Ardashir.
Government ideology and Iranian thought

The remnants of the ruins of
Pasargadae and
Takht-e Jamshid
, native_name_lang =
, alternate_name =
, image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.
, map =
, map_type ...
could be permanent memorials of the previous magnificence of Pars; though the knowledge about the existence of a great empire was almost forgotten. According to the information from the coins of local Persian governors before the
Sasanian uprising, at least one local king ruled in Persian land almost slightly after the demise of
Alexander III of Macedon.
The first local Persian
shahs were known as "Frataraka", meaning mayors or governors.
They carved the title "Lord of the Gods" (Ferehtorkeh of Baghs) on their coins; this carving was the subject of important studies. Panaino believes that by the phrase "gods" (baghs), deities like "
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the '' Yasna ...
", "
Mitra" and "
Anahita
Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" ( Aban) and hence associ ...
" are meant that were supported by
Achaemenid shahs.
Daryaee believes that "gods" indicates Achaemenid shahs and not "the deities they supported". He adds that the "gods" (baghs) mentioned on the coins were the Achaemenid shahs that were worshiped by the
Seleucids after death. This is probably why the fact that "bagh" is translated as "god" on the coins of Ardashir and other succeeding shahs today is originated from Greek concepts.
It is deduced from
onomastic and
physiognomic findings that the remark of the Achaemenids and adoring fire, one of the principles of
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ont ...
, still existed in Pars. The similarity of Ardashir I's coins with the remaining coins of local Persian shahs shows a Persian tradition and the adoring of local shahs toward it.
On the coin of Hubarz, one of local Persian shahs, it is written: "Hubarz, a governor from the gods, son of a Persian". The importance of this writing is that it shows the title on Ardashir's coins "Worshiper of Mazda, Lord Ardashir, the
shahanshah of Iran that ''has a face from the gods''" is the continuation of the tradition of Fratarakas.
On the other hand, with the existence of the names of kings like
Darius
Darius may refer to:
Persian royalty
;Kings of the Achaemenid Empire
* Darius I (the Great, 550 to 487 BC)
* Darius II (423 to 404 BC)
* Darius III (Codomannus, 380 to 330 BC)
;Crown princes
* Darius (son of Xerxes I), crown prince of Persia, ma ...
and
Artaxerxes
Artaxerxes may refer to:
The throne name of several Achaemenid rulers of the 1st Persian Empire:
* Artaxerxes I of Persia (died 425 BC), Artaxerxes I Longimanus, ''r.'' 466–425 BC, son and successor of Xerxes I
* Artaxerxes II of Persia (436 ...
on the coins of local shahs of the land, if it is not assumed that a subsidiary house of the Achaemenids still ruled in Pars, it at least testifies for the continuation of a part of the Achaemenid traditions.
After all, the rise of the
Parthians to power meant the domination of nomadic and degenerate
Iranians on urban Iranians; the second faction, which was more original and nationally authentic than the first faction, looked at the Parthians with a grudge, considered them usurpers who had violated their right and Pars was the head of those regions.
Ardashir had a remarkable role in developing the royal ideology.
He tried to announce himself as a Mazda worshiper connected to god and owner of divine
khvarenah. The claim of his royal eligibility as a rightful newcomer from the line of mythical Iranian shahs and the propagations attributed to Ardashir against the eligibility and the role of the Parthians in the Iranian history sequence confirms the excellent place that the Achaemenid legacy had in the minds of the first Sasanian shahanshahs; though the consensus is that the Sasanians probably did not know much about the Achaemenids and the status.
On the other hand,
Shahbazi believes that the first Sasanian shahanshahs were familiar with the Achaemenids and their succeeding shahanshahs turned to the
Kayanians deliberately. About that, Daryee adds that the Sasanians knowingly ignored the Achaemenids in order to be able to attribute their origins to the Kayanians; and that is why they applied the holy historiography. In that method, the social familiarity and
bureaucracy did not matter and the court propagated its custom history by the help of the religious system.
In order to remark his victories, Ardashir carved pictures in
Firuzabad,
Naqsh-e Rustam and
Naqsh-e Rajab; on his picture in Naqsh-e Rustam, Ardashir and Ahura Mazda are opposite to each other on horsebacks and the bodies of
Artabanus IV
Artabanus IV, also known as Ardavan IV (Parthian: 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus V, was the last ruler of the Parthian Empire from c. 213 to 224. He was the younger son of Vologases V, who died in 208.
Na ...
and
Ahriman are visualized under the nails of Ardashir and Mazda's horses. It can be deduced from the picture that Ardashir believed or wanted others to believe that his reign over the land that is called "
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
" in inscriptions is designated by the Lord. The word "Iran" was previously used in
Avesta and as "the name of the mythical
Aryan land". In Ardashir's period, the title "Iran" was applied to the geography under Sasanian rule. The thought of "Iran" was accepted by both Zoroastrian and non-Zoroastrian societies in the whole empire and the collective memory of the Iranians has continued and survived until the
modern period today in different stages and various layers of the Iranian society. What is clear is that the concept "Iran" has had a religious application too and has later ended in the formation of its political face meaning a collection of lands.

Choosing a place like Naqsh-e Rustam, which is mausoleum of Achaemenid shahs, for carving and inscribing, the site of the temple of Anahita in
Istakhr and the existence of the names of some Achaemenid shahs as ancestors in the legendary Sasanian
family tree show the existence of an inclination toward the Achaemenids in the early Sasanian period. There are many proofs in
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
-
Persian writings that show the Sasanians' aggressive confrontation with
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in order to return to the magnificent past status in the west and it had been assumed that the glory was taken by the Romans. About that,
Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
has mentioned that Ardashir claimed and announced that he had risen to take the revenge of
Darius III, who had been defeated and killed by
Alexander III of Macedon. Roman historians like
Herodian and
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
have also mentioned reports about "the Sasanians' desire to return to the magnificence and kingdom of the Achaemenids"; these reports of Roman historians show that the Romans had understood the goals of the Sasanian foreign policy well; though they did not have a decent understanding of the change and transformation in the royal Iranian continuum. The place of Alexander, who was known as a nemesis of Iran, in the thought of the Sasanians' desire for return at the time was simultaneous and aligned with the idea of "following and honoring Alexander" in the Roman emperors;
Caracalla called himself "the second Alexander" and "
Severus Alexander
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself wa ...
" honored him.
Kettenhofen, Robin and Heuse believe that the class of Greek-Roman sources that have reported the Sasanians' familiarity with the Achaemenids and their desire for return to and extension of the Achaemenid lands had propagative applications and should be interpreted in the frame of the Roman empire thoughts.
But what is clear is Ardashir's and later his son
Shapur's claim of Roman lands. Daryee believes that the cause of Ardashir and Shapur's wars with Rome was to accommodate their territorial ideals with traditions; he believes that the Sasanians' claim of Asian lands as their fathers' legacy had a mythical basis and originated from the mythical story of
Fereydun dividing the world between his sons (
Salm,
Tur and
Iraj); in that myth, Fereydun grants the reign of
Turan to Tur and Rome to Salm and Iran, which is the best land in the world, to Iraj; the brothers become envious of the latter and the world goes under war. Thus, the Sasanians considered themselves Iraj's children and the Romans Salm's heirs by a mythical view. Daryee adds that only by that way the Sasanians' territorial claims, which are mentioned in Cassius Dio and Herodian's works, can be understood. He believes that the Sasanians' territorial claims were basically different from those of the Achaemenids.

In the Sasanians' legendary
genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
that has appeared in
Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, the relation between the Sasanians and the Achaemenids is mentioned. In the book, the thought that has been reflected is the relation of
Sasan, the ancestor of the Sasanian house, with Darius's descendants on one hand and the local Persian kings on the other hand; though in the fifth century, the Sasanians attributed their lineage to the mythical kings of
Avesta or Kayanians; and its proof is the addition of the prefix "Kay" to the aliases of the Sasanian shahanshahs.
The question whether those claims and schemes and avengings, in the same way as mentioned in the historical sources, were actually proposed by Ardashir himself or were later attributed to him as the founder of the empire has still remained without answer due to the lack of sufficient sources; though the attribution of these claims to Ardashir after his lifetime seems more logical. According to these, it is undoubtedly true that Ardashir's grandiose views about policy and relations with the outside world had formed based on rebooting and repeating the Achaemenids' successes. However, the Sasanians' knowledge of the Achaemenids were superficial and vague information and did not have a regular and historical basis.
About that,
Richard Frye and Daryee believe that the section of the Arabic-Persian sources (like Al-Tabari) that contain the Sasanian history since the beginning until the age of
Khosrow I should be looked at suspiciously; they consider this suspicious look at texts like Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan too. The suspicious look has been due to that most of the Iranian history sources were edited in the age of Khosrow I and by the royal writers and clerics in order to accommodate their predecessors' history with then
world view of the Sasanian empire and draw a picture of Ardashir idealistic and aligning with Khosrow's ideals in the best way.
Religious policy
Papak was the grand priest of the temple of
Anahita
Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" ( Aban) and hence associ ...
in
Istakhr and the father of Ardashir, the founder of the
Sasanian house, with the beginning of whose reign religion sat on the
Persian throne. Papak's religious credit might have helped him in taking the power from Gochihr, then Persian governor who had no interest in following the religion of fire. In a scratched picture, Papak and his son Shapur are shown on a wall in
Takht-e Jamshid
, native_name_lang =
, alternate_name =
, image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.
, map =
, map_type ...
; in the picture, Papak and Shapur both wear the same helmet similar to that of
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ar ...
's in his coins; in the picture, Shapur is visualized in the dual place of
shah-priest in a way that he squeezes the hilt of his sword by one hand and manipulates the fire in the fireplace and adds woods by the other hand; and Shapur, son of Papak, squeezes his sword by one hand and takes a ring having a ribbon which is the royal symbol by the other hand on horseback. In his coins, Ardashir, who replaces his brother Shapur as the ruler of Pars in 220, wears the same crown as Shapur's, from the front however, and the picture of his father Papak is drawn behind.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ont ...
was the believed and supported religion of the Sasanians until Ardashir's takeover. The current belief is that the priests of the
fire temples became noticed and respected by Ardashir's uprising and the opponents were disturbed; but this narrative is the subject of controversy today. Although no remarkable authority of Zoroastrianism had a high rank in Ardashir's court, it seems that the first attempts to establish Zoroastrianism as a government religion was done during Ardashir's period; also the remaining
Achaemenid,
Hellenic and
Parthian traditions were combined and used in that era.

In his coins and
inscription in
Naqsh-e Rustam, Ardashir has called himself the worshiper of
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the '' Yasna ...
and from the line of gods.
In Ardashir's subsequent coins, the dentate crown has replaced the traditional hat on his head; that change along with the addition of the phrase "...looks similar to the gods" (he is from the line of gods) claim Ardashir's divine place. That dentate crown looks like the same crown that is drawn on the head of Ahura Mazda in the carvings of the
coronation in Naqsh-e Rustam and it is not known whether Ahura Mazda's crown is adapted from Ardashir's or vice versa.
His beliefs are revealed behind his coins by visualizing the fire temple. His projecting pictures in
Firuzabad,
Naqsh-e Rustam and
Naqsh-e Rajab have shown him close to Ahura Mazda. The latter's attention towards Ardashir has been known as
khvarenah due to the mythical Iranian thoughts and it can be compared to the Greek "tuxeh" and the
Roman "fortuna". Ardashir's khvarenah status shows the legitimacy of his reign. Founding the fire temples and giving budget to them along with considering
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
religious texts was another way for Ardashir to gain legitimacy. A special fire temple called "Ardashir's Fire" was founded in the beginning of his reign that is named in his
inscriptions in
Bishapur. In ''
the Meadows of Gold
''Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems'' ( ar, مُرُوج ٱلذَّهَب وَمَعَادِن ٱلْجَوْهَر, ') is a book of history in Arabic of the beginning of the world starting with Adam and Eve up to and through the late Abbasid Ca ...
'',
Al-Masudi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotu ...
has attributed some words to him:
''Remember that religion and reign are two brothers that one can not exist without the other; because religion is the basis of reign and reign is the supporter of religion. Whatsoever does not stand on a basis will be doomed and whatever does not have a supporter will deteriorate''.
Ardashir's policy against non-Mazda worshiping societies inside his kingdom had made it a difficult period for them. The
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
and believers in some other religions were more or less tolerated in the
Parthian era and also had limited independence. Ardashir and his son
Shapur, especially in the beginning of his reign, tried to limit the Jews' autonomy and deprive them of their independent judiciary and legal rights. The purpose of those actions might have been to extend the Zoroastrian society. The
Syriac-language
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
were treated with more tolerance and leniency and their population increased until mid-third century.
Mani did not reveal his propaganda until Ardashir's death; he might have realized that Shapur was more convincing than his father.
Court and government posts
The rankings of the figures in Ardashir's court is found from
Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
Shapur I's Ka'ba-ye Zartosht inscription (shortened as Shapur-KZ, ŠKZ, SKZ), also referred to as The Great Inscription of Shapur I, and ''Res Gestae Divi Saporis'' (RGDS), is a trilingual inscription made during the reign of the Sasanian king S ...
. Thus, the first four
shahs are mentioned as
Satarop
Satarop was an Iranian king who ruled Parthia. He was possibly first a vassal of the Kushan Empire, and by the time the Sasanian ruler Ardashir I had begun to conquer Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ca ...
Shah Abarinag (Abarineh: higher (lands),
Nishapur,
Khorasan),
Ardashir the Shah of
Merv, Ardashir the Shah of
Kerman, Ardashir the Shah of Sekan (
Sakastan), having the right of inherited succession in their family. After that, the name of three queens
Denag Bazrangi, Ardashir's grandmother,
Rodag, Ardashir's mother, and
Denag Babakan, Ardashir's sister and wife are mentioned. Then, the names of "Ardashir Bidakhsh" and "Papak Hazarbed" and the five members of the great houses, called "Dihin" from the House of Veraz, Sasan from the
House of Suren, Sasan-e Andigan-e Khoday va Piruz and Goug from the
House of Karen along with "Abarsam-e Farardashir", who was probably the senior advisor are mentioned. Afterward, the names of fifteen remarkable characters like "
Spahbed", "Dabiroft", Ayundbad (Director of Ceremonies), Framadar and his clerks and religious authorities like
Herbad and Mubed and Mogh are mentioned. According to the
inscription, the high posts of
wuzurg framadar, priest of priests and Herbadan Herbad were not yet established in Ardashir's period.
It can be deduced from the list that some deviations have occurred in the important names and events of the era in the late
Sasanian sources. For example, in the narrative
Iranian history, the land that was ruled by "
Mihrak Andigan" was named "the largest enemies of Ardashir"; while the mentioned region was under the rule of Sasan Shah Andigan and is mentioned as one of the pro-Ardashir regions in the mentioned inscription. It can be deduced from the list that a same-story group had appeared supporting Ardashir that included the representatives of large Iranian houses like the Varazes, Surens and Karens in addition to the shahs of Andigan and Opernak and Merv and Sakastan. According to
Roman sources, some of the minor
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
n governors had also joined them.
Ardashir in the narrative-mythical Iranian history
In the narrative Iranian history, Ardashir is described as a heroic, bold, forethoughtful man with a high amount of fortitude and mood. According to those texts, he was a persistent man and had a chivalric behavior though he applied much violence and cruelty, and fought alongside his warriors in battles. In the narrative Iranian history texts, Ardashir succeeded because he was from the line of the ancient Iranian
shahanshahs and was chosen by the gods to rule
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
. But there is no doubt in that justifying the
Sasanian rule occurred by adding some matters to the real trend of the events of the era later and at the end of their reign and it probably had a political reason to mention those matters in official writings.
In the ''
Letter of Tansar'', it is mentioned that Ardashir's intention was to seek the revenge of
Darius III from the
Alexandrians (
Romans). That text was obviously written in order to arouse the Iranians national emotions; though these narratives have more actually the criteria of epic stories. But it reveals the psychological truth that the Iranians deeply had the feeling of possessing a national identity for several centuries and considered themselves separate from other peoples; and that is why the other lands that the Iranians conquered were never named "
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
", but were called "
Aniran".
Ardashir's petroglyphs
The
Sasanians'
petroglyphic art was established by Ardashir and lived on until
Shapur II's reign. The art was revived in
Khosrow II's period. Ardashir's petroglyphs are clearly different from the few remaining
Parthian samples and a new historic frame is seen in them. His first three petroglyphs have various styles, but do not show a clear evolutionary procedure. Only the fourth petroglyph, the picture of Ardashir's coronation in
Naqsh-e Rustam, possesses clear features that reappears in the petroglyphs of
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ar ...
and his successors.
Numismatics
The coins minted in Ardashir's period are divided into three general groups based on the applied designs:
The first group is the coins that show a full-face portrait of Ardashir on the coin and a profile of
Papak, Ardashir's father who looks left due to the
Parthians, behind the coin. The phrase "Ardashir
Shah" is written on these coins with the phrase "His Majesty Papak Shah" behind.

The second group have the profile of Ardashir wearing a hat or crown looking right similar to other coins of the
Sasanian era.
Behind the second group coins, a symbol of the firebox of the
fire temple is seen like in all the coins of the Sasanian era.
On the second group of the coins, the phrase "The worshiper of
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, M ...
, his majesty Ardashir the Iranian
shahanshah who has his face from the gods" is written that shows Ardashir's religious beliefes.
On the third group of the coins, the picture of Ardashir is carved in front of the picture of his son,
Shapur, with the phrases "Shapur the Iranian shah who has his face from the gods" and "Ardashir's fire". The firebox of the fire temple is carved behind the coins.
The symbol behind the second group coins is a fireplace carving based on a design found in Persia and the phrase "Ardashir's fire" implies a royal fire that was ignited in the beginning of every shah's reign. The section of the supporting basis of the fireplace has some similarity to the
Achaemenid throne. Some hanging bands are carved in the end of an open headband, which is the royal symbol in Persian traditions. Therefore, the
petroglyphs behind these coins show Ardashir's concern for showing himself not only as the Achaemenids' rightful heir, but also as a religious
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
. In the makeup of head and hair, Ardashir was loyal to the Parthian traditions in the first coins and chose a crown similar to the crowns of
Mithridates II's period. However, in the final years, Ardashir's main crown was from a type in which a part of the hair was decorated in a globe above the head; the globe and the lid were covered with a thin silky net and some bands were hanging behind it.
Based on a research by Callieri, most of the symbols of the Frataraka's coins like the flag, the memorial building and the appearing posture of the person standing opposite to it are derived from the Achaemenids.
Daryaee believes that though the Fratarakas probably did not know the proper application of a building like
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, it still had an ideological importance to them. Therefore, it can be deduced from the similarity of Ardashir's coins with the late coins of local Persian governors there was a movement based on Persian traditions and the local Persian governors' adornment of it. However that does not necessarily mean that Ardashir was related to the local Persian shahs in all affairs.
Legacy
Among the
Sasanian shahs, two, Ardashir I and
Khosrow I, are attributed preaches and scholarly words more than other shahs and these works are quoted of them in most of
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
literature and history books and by them in
Persian ethics and history books. One of the most important works attributed to Ardashir is his "testament".
Ardashir's Testament
''Ardashir's Testament'' is a book including Ardashir's political advice to the Iranian
shahs who rose after him and he had mentioned lectures in it that he believed were necessary to be applied in running the kingdom.
Ibn al-Nadim
Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Nadīm ( ar, ابو الفرج محمد بن إسحاق النديم), also ibn Abī Ya'qūb Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Warrāq, and commonly known by the '' nasab'' (patronymic) Ibn al-Nadīm ...
once mentioned a book called ''Ardashir's Testament'' that
Al-Baladhuri (died 279
Hijri), one of
Persian (Middle) translators, had turned into an
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
poem. Once again in the chapter about the books of the
Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
,
Romans,
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
and
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
in the preaches and ethics and doctrines, he mentioned a book called ''Ardashir I's Testament to His Son
Shapur'' and it seems that he meant another book.
The original Middle Persian text of ''Ardashir's Testament'' is lost; but some versions of its Arabic translations are available:
# The text that is written in the book ''Al-Ghorreh'' that was probably written in the second half of the fourth century and its author is not known. That version was rewritten in 584 Hijri.
# The text that is written in
Miskawayh's ''Tajarob-ol Omam''.
# The text that is written in a series belonging to the Kuperolo Library (No. 1608) and was probably rewritten from a sixth-century version in the early eleventh century.
# The text written by Abi.
In addition to the complete text, there is an abridged version of it titled ''Montakhab men Ahd-e Ardashir bin Babak'' available.
In the
Islamic era, ''Ardashir's Testament'' was famous and is mentioned in many history and literature books.
Al-Masudi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotu ...
has remarked it and has quoted a phrase of its about the last millennium. It is also named in ''
Mojmal al-tawarikh'' and ''Farsnameh'' and in the latter it is mentioned about
Khosrow I that "he suggested the testaments of Ardashir, son of
Papak, and applied his preaches that were in that testament." The same matter is mentioned by
Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
and
Al-Tha'alibi.
Al-Jahiz has mentioned ''Ardashir's Testament'' along with ''
Bozorgmehr's Quotes'' and mentions that the writers (Kottab) used it.
Al-Mubarrad (died 286 Hijri) writes that
Al-Ma'mun
Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'm ...
had ordered his son's mentor to teach him ''Al-Watheg bellah'' the book of God and read him ''Ardashir's Testament'' and force him to memorize ''Kelileh va Demneh''.
Ardashir's Testament to His Son Shapur
Ibn al-Nadim
Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Nadīm ( ar, ابو الفرج محمد بن إسحاق النديم), also ibn Abī Ya'qūb Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Warrāq, and commonly known by the '' nasab'' (patronymic) Ibn al-Nadīm ...
names a book titled ''Ardashir I's Testament to His Son
Shapur'' among the books of preaches and ethics and doctrines. That is probably the same short text that is written with the version title ''Ardashir's Testament to His Son Shapur'' in the book ''Nahayat-ol Aarab'' attributed to
Al-Asma'i. Apparently,
Ibn al-Muqaffa' or more probably the author of the ''Seir-ol Moluk'' that was the reference of ''Nahayat-ol Aarab'' chose the text from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
translation of ''Ardashir's Testament'' and added some matters from other places to it.
Ibn Qutaybah has written a matter from Ardashir intended to his son quoted from ''One of the Ajam Books'' that can be found in this testament.
Ardashir's Book on Government Principles
A book attributed to Ardashir about the bases of government is written in an
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
translation in the book ''Nahayat-ol Aarab'' and the warriors (Asawereh), writers (Kottab), Judges (Gozat), invasion (Bo'uth va Thoghur), accepting ambassadors () constructing cities (Bana-ol Modon), his strategy for noble houses (Tadbirohu fi Ahl-e Boyutat-el Sharaf), complaint (Mazalem) and development of lands (Tadbirohu Emarat-al Arzain) are discussed in it. The
Persian translation of that book is written in the translation of ''Nahayat-ol Aarab'' called ''Tajarob-ol Omam'' and also in
Ferdowsi's ''
Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...
''. It is not known whether the book is translated directly from
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
or not. Grinaski believes that an Arabic-writing author had assembled it from different places. In order to prove his opinion, he mentions evidence that shows the influence of
Islamic principles in it, for instance the writing in the book that one fifth of the
war plunder is for the
shah. However, since the text is written in ''Shahnameh'', it probably existed in ''
Khwaday-Namag'' too and some matters aligning with Islamic principles were added to it in the translation.
Ardashir-Khwarrah

Ardashir-Khwarrah is one of the five Iranian villages in the
Sasanian era until the first
Islamic centuries centered by the city of Gur (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
: Jur) that were constructed by Ardashir. The name means "Ardashir's magnificence". The town was probably constructed after Ardashir's victory over
Artabanus in 224. The town was constructed beside Ardashir's palace (where he lived before the rebellion) and it is said that the emperor built five
fire temples beside the town that the famous historian,
Al-Masudi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotu ...
had seen.
The city of Gur was run by a representative from the
shah.
Gur was later renamed
Firuzabad by the 10th-century
Buyid king
'Adud al-Dawla.
Ardashir-Khwarrah can be mentioned as a military base and one of the active
mints of the Sasanian era. Of the works of Ardashir-Khwarrah, the building of Tarbal (Menar) Kiakhoreh beside the building of Chaharotag (The Gur fire temple), Ardashir's palace, the
inscription of
Mihr Narseh
Mihr-Narseh ( pal, 𐭬𐭲𐭥𐭭𐭥𐭮𐭧𐭩 ), was a powerful Iranian dignitary from the House of Suren, who served as minister () of the Sasanian '' shahanshahs'' Yazdegerd I (), Bahram V (), Yazdegerd II () and Peroz I (). Accordin ...
(the
vizier of three Sasanian kings;
Yazdegerd I,
Bahram V and
Yazdegerd II) and his four fire temples can be mentioned.
The structure of the town is inspired by the architectural method of Darabgard and contains circular walls that surround an area with a diameter of about two
kilometers and a double muddy wall and a trench with a
Parthian style and two axes divide the perpendicular intersection of the city to four sectors with four main gates of Mehr, Bahram, Hormoz and Ardashir that each is divided to five smaller sections that are connected to each other by ring-like streets.
See also
*
Inscription of Ardashir-e Babakan and Hormozd
*
Kārnāmag-ī Ardaxšīr-ī Pābagān
The Kār-Nāmag ī Ardašīr ī Pāpakān ("''Book of the Deeds of Ardeshir, Son of Papak''") (New fa, کارنامهٔ اردشیر بابکان), is a short Middle Persian prose tale written in the Sassanid period (226-651). The story narrates ...
References
Sources
*
*Oranskij, I. M. 1977: ''Les Langues Iraniennes''. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck, pp 71–76. .
External links
Book of the Deeds of Ardashir son of Babak*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ardashir 01
180 births
242 deaths
3rd-century Sasanian monarchs
People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars
Shahnameh characters
Istakhr
City founders
Kings of Persis