Persia

The Medes

  1. Characteristics
    • capital at Ecbatana (Modern Hamadan)
  2. The Median Kings
    1. Deiokes Herodotus i.95.2-i.101 @704-647
    2. Phraortes @647-625
    3. Kyaxares @625-585
    4. Astyages @585-529?/550
  3. Conquest by the Persians @550
    1. Arrival of the Medes and Persians
    2. Medes and Persians in Daniel 5:28
  4. Persians
    1. Characteristics
    2. Languages -until c. 1000 b.c.e-
      1. Caucasian, perhaps the basal language of the near east
        1. Elamite -Western Persia
        2. Haldian- Armenia
        3. Hurrian & Mittanian in N & W Mesopotamia
        4. Hittite, Carian, Pamphylian, Lycian and Lydian
      2. Semitic- N Arabia> Egypt (c. 4000 b.c.e)
    3. religion 
      1. Videvdat: Antidaemonic law of the Zend-Avesta:
      2. Burial practices: Strabo xi.11.8; cf. Her. iii.92-93; vii.67,86;
      3. Pliny vi.45
      4. Indo-Aryan gods: Mithra, Varuna, Indra, Nasatya twins
      5. Evil spirits and daemonism borrowed from the ancient and
      6. widespread Sumerian Magian beliefs: Aeshma (drunkenness),
      7. Angra Mainyu (Big Evil God), Nasu Druj ("corpse fiend")
  5. The Ancient Persian Empire
    1. Achaemenes c. 700-675
    2. Teispes 675-640
    3. Cyrus I (640-600)
    4. Cambyses I (600-559)
    5. Cyrus II (559-530)
    6. Cambyses II (530-522)
    7. Bardiya (Smerdis, Gaumata)(522)
    8. Nebuchadnezzar III (552)
    9. Darius I (522-521)
    10. Nebukadnezar IV (521)
    11. Darius I (521-486)
    12. Xerxes I (486-465)- Persians build canal through Isthmus of Mt. Athos, bridge Strymon & Hellespont (483-481); Xerxes at Sardis 481 BCE; Xerxes built a huge fleet and amasses it at Phocaea and Kyme Battle of Thermopylae; Battle of Artemisium; Battle of Salamis; Mardonius in Attica; Battle of Plataea ; Battle of Mycale; military losses and general disruption in Asia Minor cause Xerxes to withdraw to Ecbatana Diod. XI
      Xerxes accepts Themistocles to his court Diod. XI.56-57 and after his acquittal in the Persian court gives him the cities Magnesia on the Maeander, Myus and Lampsacus Battle of the Eurymedon river in Pisidia against the Athenian general Cimon- the Persians are soundly defeated The Hyrcanian Artabanus decided to attempt a coup against Xerxes. He assassinated Xerxes and attempted by stratagem to destroy the princes but failed. Diod. XI.69
    13. Artaxerxes I (465-424) Diod XI.71 War with Egypt (463-460) ; war with the Athenian general Cimon in Asia Minor and Cyprus (450)
    14. Xerxes II (424) 
      1. Xerxes at the Hellespont
      2. The Herodotus Website on Xerxes
      3. Foundation Slab of Xerxes
    15. Sogdianos (424-423)
    16. Darius II (Ochos) (423-405/404)- Darius had decided to support the Spartans and their allies against the Athenians to counter their empire.
      -the Medes had revolted from Darius and were suppressed again in 409 BCE Xen Hell. I.2.19
       Darius had in Asia Minor the satraps Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus and Ariobarzanes; later he sent his son Cyrus to take command of the whole coastline and to help the Spartans against the Athenians Xen Hell. 1.4.3; Cyrus put to death Autoboesaces and Mitraeus, the sons of Darius II's sister (daughter of Xerxes II, father of Darius II) Cyrus in Media summons Lysander to him Xen Hell. II.1.8-15;
    17. Artaxerxes II (Arsakes) (405/404-359/358) Xenophon's Anabasis narrates the battle of Cyrus for the kingship; Tissaphernes remained as satrap of large parts of Asia Minor after the death of Cyrus Hell. III.1.3; after the power of Athens had been broken and Sparta gained supremacy in Greece, Persian policy was to maintain a balance of power and thus was opposed Spartan activities in Asia Minor, particularly in her efforts to free the Greek cities of the coastal regions; later after losses to the Spartan general Agesilaus Artaxerxes had Tissaphernes executed and replaced by Tithraustes 396-395 BCE (Xen. Hellenika III.4.25; cf. Diodorus Siculus XIV.80 and Hellenika Oxyrhyncia 11 and 12) as a result of Spartan actions in Asia the Persians sent money and agents to stir up war against the Spartans in Greece. The Persian satrap Pharnabazus worked with the Athenian general Conon in naval operations in Asia from 394 (Xen Hell IV.8 ff.) Pharnabazus later married the king's daughter and Ariobarzanes succeeded Pharnabazus in the satrapy of Dascyleion. (V.1.28) There was also a Persian satrap named Tiribazus active in Anatolia at the time and engaged in negotiations with the Spartan Antalcidas though to no result. Artaxerxes sent Streuthas down to the coast as satrap with whom the Spartans under Thibron made war. Tiribazus called an assembly of the Greek ambassadors and established the ' King's Peace', sometimes called the Peace of Antalcidas 386 BCE (Xen Hell. V.1.29-36) ; Revolt of the Egyptians under King Hakoris 385-383 (Diod. xv.29); Artaxerxes sent an expedition against the Egyptians who had revolted, commanded by Pharnabazus and Iphicrates the Athenian 375-373 BCE (Diod xv.41-43); Artaxerxes sent Philiscus to Greece to try and manage a peace between the Boeotians under Thebes and the Lacedaemonians (Diod. xv.70); Satraps Revolt: Ariobarzanes refused to give up his throne to Pharnabazus' son, Artabazus and thus became the ringleader of the satraps revolt (cf. Diod. XV.90-91; Tarn Camb An. Hist. 6.20-21; Olmstead Hist of Pers. Emp. 411f. ; Nepos Datames 2.5; Trogus Prol. 10; Demosthenes 15.9; Isocrates15.111ff; Nepos Timotheus 1.2,3); Ariobarzanes was apparently betrayed by his son Mithridates, sent up to court and crucified ***about 362 BCE (Harpocotion; Xenophon Education of Cyrus 8.8.4; Aristotle Politics 5.1312 a; Valerius Maximus 9.11)
    18. Artaxerxes III (Ochos) (359/358-338/337)
    19. Artaxerxes IV (Arses)(338/7-336/5)
    20. Darius III (Kodomannos)(336/5-330)
  6. Archaeology
    1. Persepolis (Ernst Herzfeld & Erich Schmidt)
    2. thousands of tablets (Elamite, Aramaic, Phrygian)
    3. archives of Xerxes
    4. Bihistun

Parthians and Hellenes

  1. Parthian Empire in Persia : The Parthians NB: all Parthian and Sassanian regnal dates and names need to be reconfigured- Lord Odinmank sibi
    1. Hellenistic rulers in Iran (Seleucids); Ethnographic makeup of ancient Persia: Turanian (?) peoples; ******
      1. Buddhism begins to spread north. Gandhara art type emerges and starts a new art style - Serindian
      2. 285 BCE - Red Sea canal, completed by Ptolomies, facilitates Mediterranean trade with Indian Ocean region; re-excavated 2nd cent. A.D.
      3. 266 BCE - Antiochus II Theos associated king by his father
      4. 261 BCE - Death of Antiochus I (1 or 2 June); Antiochus II becomes sole king (261-246)
      5. 246 BCE- Antiochus II dies at Ephesus (summer) and is succeeded by Seleucus II Calinicus (246-226/5), but in Asia Minor by Antiochus Hierax (246-226). Outbreak of the Third Syrian (or Laodicean) War (246-241) between Ptolemy III and Seleucus II
      6. 241 BCE. - End of Third Syrian War leaves Ptolemy III in possession of much of the south coast of Asia as well as Syria
      7. c. 240 BCE. - Diodotus I creates Graeco-Bactrian kingdom of Bactria (lasting to 100 B.C.), around which gravitate Sogdiana (to the north), Margiana (to the north-west) and Aria (in the west)
    2. Arsakes I c. (247?) 238-217* , a leader of the Aparni, a nomadic people who lived along the Ochus (Tejend or lower Oxus) River east of the Caspian Sea, revolted against the Seleucid Empire and established the Parthian Empire.
      "When the peoples beyond the Taurus revolted as the kings of Syria and Media, who also controlled those parts, were fighting with each other. Bactria and all the territory near it was the first to be made independent by the men who enjoyed the confidence of the kings, namely Euthydemus and his followers. Then Arsaces, a Scythian, at the head of some of the nomad tribes of the Dahae, who are called the Parni and live along the Oxus, invaded Parthia and established control over it. Initially he was weak as he and his men had to fight against men dispossessed of their territory, but late they became so powerful by seizing lands through continuous successes in war that in the end they became the masters of all the territory within (to the east of ) the Euphrates. They also seized part of Bactria by reducing the Scythians, and even before this Eucratides and his followers...(3) They say that the Parnian Dahae are migrants from the Dahae who live above lake Maeotis (Aral Sea) whom they call Xandii or Parii; but it is not quite agreed that the Dahae are Scythians from above Lake Maeotis. At any rate some say that Arsaces derived his origin from them, while others say that he was a Bactrian who was escaping from the growing power of Diodotus and his followers and so caused Parthia to revolt..." Strabo xi.2-3
      1. 226 B.C. - Death of Antiochus Hierax; Seleucus II recovers Asia Minor
      2. 226/5 BCE - Seleucus II succeeded by Seleucus III Soter (to 223)
      3. 223 BCE - Seleucus III succeeded by Antiochus III the Great (to 187). Achaeus on the latter's behalf re-establishes Seleucid power in Asia Minor against Pergamum
      4. 222 BCE - Revolt of Molon, who assumes the royal title (to 221) in Mesopotamia. Ptolemy III is succeeded (Dec.) by Ptolemy IV Philopator (to 204)
      5. 221 BCE - Outbreak of Fourth Syrian War (to 217), Antiochus III attacking and overrunning most of Coele-Syria
      6. 220 BCE. - Achaeus assumes the royal title in Asia Minor (to 214)
      7. 217 BCE - Egyptian victory at Raphia (22 June) ends the Fourth Syrian War, and Egypt recovers Coele-Syria except for the port of Seleucia
    3. Arsakes II 217 or 214-c.190
      1. 215 BCE - Outbreak of the First Macedonian War (215-205) between Philip V and Rome. Antiochus re-establishes Seleucid power in Asia Minor and blockades Achaeus in Sardis
      2. 210 BCE. - Antiochus II occupied in the East with his so-called Anabasis (to c. 204)
      3. 202 BCE. - Outbreak of Fifth Syrian War (202-200)
      4. 200 BCE- Seleucid victory at Panium ends the Fifth Syrian War; Egypt loses Coele-Syria for good, though retaining Cyprus
    4. Phriapitios c. 191-176
      1. Domestication of the Bactrian and Arabian camel, vital for desert travel
      2. 192-188 BCE. - Asiatic War :Rome wars against Antiochus III, Seleucid king of Syria
      3. 191 BCE - Antiochus defeated by the Romans and their allies at Thermopylae (April) and driven out of Greece
      4. 190 BCE. - Antiochus' fleet defeated at Myonnesus (September)
      5. 189 BCE. - Antiochus, totally defeated by the Scipios at the battle of Magnesia ad Sipylum, surrenders his holdings in Europe and Asia as far as the Taurus Mountains
      6. 188 BCE. - Roman settlement of Asia by the Peace of Apamea (Phrygia). Antiochus pays a large indemnity, loses his fleet, and effectively surrenders Asia Minor to the profit of Pergamum, Rhodes - and Rome
      7. 187 BCE - Antiochus ignominiously killed (3 or 4 July) while pillaging a local sanctuary in Elymais
      8. 185 BCE - Parthians expand into eastern Iran
    5. Phraates I 176-171
    6. Mithradates I 171-138
      1. 167 BCE. - Jewish priest Maccabaeus (Mattathias of Modin) begins a revolt against Antiochus IV's anti-Judaic measures
      2. 155 BCE - In the Indus valley, Menander founds a Indo-Greek kingdom (lasting to 50 B.C.)
      3. 144 BCE - Parthians take Babylonia
      4. 141 BCE - Parthians take Media
      5. 139 BCE - Parthians take Persis
    7. Phraates II 138-128
      • 129 BCE - Rome creates the province of Asia
    8. Artabanos Ic.127-c. 124
      • 126 BCE - Parthians re-take Babylonia
    9. Mithradates IIc. 123- c. 88/87- Mithridates II ascended to the throne in ***130 BCE. He expanded the empire westward into present day Armenia and Syria, northward as far as Merv, and eastward, keeping the Sakas under control. Trouble came in 96 BCE, when Parthia confronted Rome. In 92 BCE?, Mithridates II was able to conclude the first treaty between Parthia and Rome establishing the Euphrates as a mutual boundary. Upon his death, external relations remained tense, while rival dynastic claimants began to squabble over major territories. The Suren, a noble Parthian family, reconquered the eastern provinces from the Sakae, and subsequently conquered various Bactrian and Indian territories.
      1. 106 BCE - First trading caravans bring silk to Parthia, take horses to China
      2. 101 BCE - Chinese ships guided by rudimentary compasses reach India. Mithradates of Parthia sends ambassadors to both Sulla and Wu-ti to provide an important link between Rome and China
      3. Isidore of Charax writes Parthian Stations, a geography of trade routes in Parthia 95 BCE - Parthians sign a treaty of friendship with Sylla, fixing their frontier on the Euphrates
    10. Gotarzes I c. 91-81/80
      • 85 BCE - Sakas cross Chinese Turkestan and the Pamirs and, under Maues, occupy Taxila
    11. Orodes I c. 80-78/77
    12. Sinatrukes 78/77-71/70
    13. Phraates III 71/70-58/57
      • 63 BCE - End of the Seleucid monarchy. Pompey organizes the eastern territories of the Roman empire as far as the Euphrates
    14. Orodes II 58/57- c. 39
    15. Mithradates III 55/54 *********
    16. Phraates IV 39/38-3/2
      1. 53 BCE - Parthians defeat Romans at Battle of Carrhae (Harran), Triumvir Crassus killed; 34,000 legionnaires captured or killed
      2. 40 BCE - Brutus and Cassius, Caesar's assassins, having fled Rome after their murder of Julius Caesar ,had made the east their base of operations. Although defeated by the combined forces of Octavian and Marc Antony, their envoy Q. Labienus who had gone to the Parthians for assistance had been well received. A force was dispatched and Pacorus I, allied with Quintus Labienus, invaded Judaea, captured Hyrcanus and placed his nephew, Antigonus, on throne of Judaea. Then Labienus took the army into Asia Minor. He siezed most of the cities in Caria. Antony sent a strong force from Egypt to deal with these incursions. Labienus withdrew to Cilicia, was defeated and destroyed.
      3. 36 BCE - Marc Antony defeated by Parthians at Phraaspa; retreat through Armenia- A civil war broke out in 35 CE, in which both sides used Sarmatian allies.
      4. 31 CE - Octavian's forces defeat armies under Marc Antony and Cleopatra at Battle of Actium
    17. Tiridates 30-26
      1. 26-20 BCE. - Embassies from southern India or Sri Lanka to Emperor Augustus
      2. 20 BCE - Standards captured from the Romans at the defeat of Crassus in 53 BCE., from L. Decidius Saxa in Syria in 40 B.C., and from Antony in 36 BCE. were returned by Parthia
    18. Phraates V 3/2 bce-4 ce **********
      1. China sends the first ambassador to Rome from Pan Ch'ao's command, but he fails to reach Rome
      2. Graeco-Egyptian geographer, Claudius Ptolemy, writes his Geography, attempts to map the Silk Route
      3. 39 BCE - Herod Antipas exiled to Gaul on charges of secret alliance with the Parthians
    19. Orodes III c. 5-7
      • c. 5-10 CE - Last Indo-Greek king, Straton II, lost the territory between Chenab and Sutlej rivers

Parthians and Romans

  1. Parthian Empire in Persia : The Parthians NB: all Parthian and Sassanian regnal dates and names need to be reconfigured- Lord Odinmank sibi
    1. Vonones I 8/9-11/12
    2. Artabanos II 11/12- c. 38
      • A.D. 17 - Major earthquake -- many Asia Minor cities destroyed
    3. Vardanes I (Western) 39-45
    4. Gotarzes II (Eastern) 43/44-50/51
      1. c. 47 - Parthian (Parthava) ruler Gondophares displaces northern Sakas in Gandahara
      2. c. 50 - Establishment of direct sea trade between Rome and India, bypassing overland route middlemen
    5. Vologaeses Ic. 51-76 or 79
      1. 52 CE- Legendary date of arrival of St. Thomas in India
      2. 58-63 CE- Roman campaigns against Armenia
      3. 66 CE- The Arsacid dynasty of Armenia formally established when King Tiridates of Armenia, Parthian nominee to that throne, visits Nero in Rome
      4. c. 70 CE- Foundation of Hatra
      5. 75/75 CE - Last known Cuneiform text
    6. Vologaeses II 77/78-78/79
    7. Pakoros II 77/78-86/87
    8. Artabanos III 79/80-80/81
    9. Vologaeses II?? 89-90 ***(105/106-147?)
    10. Osroes 89-90
    11. Pakoros II 92/93-95/96
    12. Vologaesus III ????104/105-1-7/108
    13. Osroes108/109- 127/128
    14. Pakoros II113/114-114/115
      • CE 114 - Rome wars on Parthia and annexes Armenia
    15. vologaeses III ??? 111/112-146/147 *****
    16. Parthamaspates 117 ???
      • CE. 116 - Trajan conquers Assyria and Mesopotamia and reaches the Persian Gulf
      • CE 117 - Hadrian withdraws from the eastern lands conquered by Trajan
    17. Mithradates IV??? c. 130-147
    18. Vologaeses IV? 147/148-190/191
      1. CE 161-166 -A new clash with Rome came in 161, this time upon the initiative of Vologases( III ?), who considered himself strong enough to attack. He occupied Armenia, crossed the Euphrates, and invaded Syria, which for two centuries had not seen Parthian cavalry. And, although the country had been Roman since the time of Pompey, the Syrian population, which included Jews driven from Palestine by the Romans, received the Iranians as liberators. The situation became so serious that Lucius Verus, co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius, was dispatched to the east with strong reinforcements taken from the fronts on the Danube and Rhine. The Romans retook Armenia (163) and succeeded in a campaign similar to Trajan's: Dura-Europus was taken and remained Roman until its destruction by the Sassanids; Seleucia on the Tigris, despite the welcome it reserved for the Romans, was sacked; and in 164 or 165 for the second time Ctesiphon fell into the hands of Romans, who razed the royal palace. But once more success was not continuous. The Roman army had come from Armenia and had crossed through Azerbaijan, where they seem to have contracted the plague. Contaminated, the Roman army was sorely tried by disease and obliged to retreat. Lucius Verus, repeating his campaigns in Armenia and northern Mesopotamia, inflicted heavy losses on the Parthians.
      2. Rome experiences a severe plague in the latter part of the century, possibly carried by Verus' troops returning from Parthia
      3. CE 164 - Cassius, Legate of Syria, takes Nisibin and Ctesiphon
      4. 166 CE- First Roman envoy is sent by Marcus Aurelius from the Persian Gulf and successfully arrives in China
    19. Vologaeses V? 190/191-207/208 The tensions between the two states did not diminish when Vologases IV? (191-208/209) supported a pretender (C. Pescennius Niger) against the emperor Septimius Severus. The latter became emperor in 193 and began operations that permitted him to occupy first northern and then southern Mesopotamia and, for the third time in a century, Ctesiphon 197
    20. The Parthians in their retreat adopted a scorched-earth policy. As under Trajan, the starving Roman army went back up the Tigris, failed in its attempt to take Hatra, and left the country.
      • his triumph was celebrated on his return to Rome in 202 CE
    21. Vologaeses VI? 207/208-222/223 Vologases V?, son of the previous king, succeeded him (209-222), and his throne was contested from 213 by another prince, Artabanus V (213-224)
    22. Artabanos IV (V?) c. 213-224 , who was able to maintain himself thanks to the support of the kingdom of Media . A new invasion of Mesopotamia took place under Caracalla 217 CE, the casus belli being the refusal of Artabanus V to give Caracalla his daughter in marriage. The young Roman emperor dreamed of rebuilding Alexander's empire but succeeded only in the pillage of Media and the destruction at Arbela of the ***hypogea of the Arsacid kings, whose bones he scattered. Caracalla however was assassinated and replaced by Macrinus.
    23. The Parthian reply was harsh. Artabanus V avenged himself by invading the Roman provinces and destroying several cities. Rome sued for peace. Artabanus' conditions were too hard and were refused. Hostilities were taken up again and turned in favour of the Parthians, who obtained such a success that the emperor Macrinus paid 200,000,000 sesterces to make peace.
      • Around the same time Buddhism reached China. For the next few centuries, Buddhism flourished, becoming the most popular religion in Central Asia, replacing Zoroastrianism

Sassanid Persian Dynasty

The chronology of events in the early Sasanian period was calculated by the German orientalist T. Nöldeke in 1879, and his system of dating is still generally accepted. The discovery of fresh evidence in manuscript materials dealing with the life of Mani, a religious leader whose activities fall in the early Sasanian period, led to a reassessment of Nöldeke's calculations by W.B. Henning, by which the principal events are dated about two years earlier. Another alternative was proposed by S.H. Taqizadeh, who preferred a sequence by which the same events are placed about six months later than the dates established by Nöldeke. Since the dating systems employed by the Sasanians themselves were based on the regnal years of the individual kings, whose exact coronation dates are often subject to dispute, several details remain uncertain, and their definite solution has not been possible. A firmer basis of calculation is obtained when the ancient sources quote dates in! terms of the Seleucid era, either according to the computation that prevailed in Babylonia, which started from 311 BCE, or after the Syrian reckoning, beginning in 312 BCE. Tables 2 and 3 give the dates of events of the early Sasanian period as they can be established on direct numismatic or literary evidence in the differing chronological systems of Nöldeke, Henning, and Taqizadeh.

Ardashir I

  1. 224-240 CE - Ardashir I defeats the last Parthian king; it is probably during his reign that eastern Iran (the former Kushan kingdom) is conquered. Strong cultural influence along the trade routes
  2. CE 226 - Ardashir I takes Mesopotamia: Rise of Ardashir I

At the beginning of the 3rd century CE, the Arsacid Empire had been in existence for some 400 years. Its strength had been undermined, however, by repeated Roman invasions, and the empire became once more divided, this time between Vologases V (209-222), who seems to have ruled at Ctesiphon, on the left bank of the middle Tigris in what is now Iraq, and Artabanus V (c. 213-224 CE), who was in control of Iran and whose authority at Susa, in southwestern Iran, is attested by an inscription of 215 CE (See also Mesopotamia, history of: The Sasanian period.)

It was against Artabanus V that a challenger arose in Persis. Ardashir I, son of Papak and a descendant of Sasan, was the ruler of one of the several small states into which Persia had gradually been divided. His father had taken possession of the city and district of Istakhr (Estakhr), which had replaced the old residence city of Persepolis, a mass of ruins after its destruction by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. Papak was succeeded by his eldest son, who was soon killed in an accident, and in 208 CE Ardashir replaced his brother. He first built for himself a stronghold at Gur, called after its founder Ardashir-Khwarrah (Ardashir's Glory), now Firuzabad, southeast of Shiraz in Fars. He subdued the neighbouring rulers and disposed, in the process, of his own remaining brothers. His seizure of such areas as Kerman, Esfahan, Elymais, and Characene (Mesene), to the east, north, and west of Fars, respectively, led to war with Artabanus, his suzerain. The conflict between ! the two rivals lasted several years, during which time the Parthian forces were defeated in three battles. In the last of these, the battle in the plain of Hormizdagan (224 CE), Artabanus was killed. There is evidence to support the assumption that Ardashir's rise to power suffered several setbacks. Thus, Vologases V struck coins at Seleucia on the Tigris as late as 228/229 CE (the Seleucid year 539). Another Parthian prince, Artavasdes, a son of Artabanus V, known from coins on which he is portrayed with the distinguishing feature of a forked beard, seems to have exercised practical independence even after 228 CE Numismatic evidence further reflects the stages of Ardashir's struggle for undisputed leadership. He appears on his coins with four different types of crown: as king of Fars, as claimant to the throne before the battle at Hormizdagan, and as emperor with two distinctly different crowns. It has been suggested that this evidence points to two separate coronation ceremonies of Ardashir as sovereign ruler, the second, perhaps, indicating that he may have lost the throne temporarily.

According to at-Tabari, the Arabic historian (9th-10th centuries), Ardashir, after having secured his position as a ruler in western Iran, embarked on an extensive military campaign in the east (CE 227) and conquered Seistan (Sakastan), Gorgan (Hyrcania), Merv (Margiana), Balkh (Bactria), and Khwarezm (Chorasmia). The inference that this campaign resulted in the defeat of the powerful Kushan Empire is supported by the further statement of at-Tabari that the king of the Kushans was among the eastern sovereigns, such as the rulers of Turan (Quzdar, south of modern Quetta) and of Mokran (Makran), whose surrender was received by Ardashir. These military and political successes were further extended by Ardashir by his taking possession of the palace at Ctesiphon, by his assuming the title "king of kings of the Iranians," and by his refounding and rebuilding of the city of Seleucia, located on the Tigris River, under the new name of Weh-Ardashir, the Good Deed of Ardashir.!

Shapur I- (240- ) Wars of Shapur I

Shortly before his death, probably because of failing health, Ardashir abdicated the throne in favour of his chosen heir, his son Shapur I. The latter assumed the responsibilities of government but delayed his coronation until after his father's death. Coins thus exist showing Ardashir together with his son as heir apparent and Shapur alone wearing the eagle cap, indicating the exercise of royal rule before his coronation--besides the normal series of Shapur crowned as king.

Shortly after his accession, Shapur was faced with an invasion of Persia by the emperor Gordian III (238-244):

Several years later, in 256 CE (or 252 CE), another confrontation between the Persians and Romans occurred:

A third encounter took place when the emperor Valerian (253-260) came to the rescue of the city of Edessa, in Syria, which was besieged by the Persian army:

The source for these quotations is Shapur's own account of the events. It was unknown until 1938, when expeditions of the Oriental Institute in Chicago discovered a long inscription on the walls of an Achaemenid building known as the Ka'be-ye Zardusht (Ka'ba of Zarathushtra). The text is in three languages, Sasanian Pahlavi (Middle Persian), Parthian, and Greek. Besides the narrative of the military operations, the inscription provides a description of the Persian Empire of the time and an inventory of Zoroastrian religious foundations established by Shapur I to commemorate his victorious wars. These foundations were fire temples dedicated to the "soul" (memory) of the founder himself, of members of the royal family, and of prominent officials who had served under Shapur and his predecessor. The list of the officials who are specified by the positions they held throw light on the administrative organization of the empire.

  1. Hormizd I
  2. Bahram I
  3. Bahram II
  4. Bahram III
  5. Narseh
  6. Hormizd II
  7. Schapur II
  8. Ardaschir II
  9. Schapur III
  10. Bahram IV
  11. Yezdigird I
  12. Bahram V
  13. Yezdigird II
  14. Hormizd III
  15. Peroz
  16. Balas
  17. Kavad I
  18. Zamasp
  19. Kavad I
  20. Chosrau I
  21. Hormizd IV
  22. Chosrau II
  23. Bahram VI
  24. Chosrau II
  25. Kavad II
  26. Ardaschir III
  27. Sharbaraz
  28. Boran
  29. Yezdigird III

The Later Period

  1. Ummayad Rule
  2. Abbasid Rule
  3. Assassins
  4. Mongol Invasions
  5. Safavids
  6. Qazvar Dynasty
  7. Pahlavi Dynasty
  8. The Rise and Fall of the Shah
  9. Iranian Revolution
  10. The Iran-Iraq War
  11. The Gulf War and the War in Afghanistan
  12. The future ????

100-200 CE

200-300 CE

300-400 CE

400-500 CE

400-500 CE

Web Resources for Persia

Copyright 1998- November 13, 2005 ,
Jerome T. Shaw, Asgard Enterprises.
Juyayay

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