Sasanid Dynasty
224 CE - 651 CE (oct 24, 224 – mar 28, 651)
Description:
1. The Sasanian Empire (also spelled Sassanian, Sasanid or Sassanid) was the last pre-Islamic Persian empire, established in 224 CE by Ardeshir I, son of Papak, descendant of Sasan. The Empire lasted until 651 CE when it was overthrown by the Arab Caliphate. It is considered by the Iranian people to be a highlight of their civilization, for after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire at the hands of Alexander the Great in 330 BCE until the fall of the Parthian Empire, there was not be another state that truly felt ”Iranian".
2. Around 155 BCE the Parthians themselves fell to Ardeshir I, who was a Persian for he came from the province of Fars (originally known as Pars, which is where the word Persian comes from) from where the Achaemenids came. He installed his own dynasty under the family name of his forefather Sasan. The Sasanians then started a process that would reinstate the values of Iranian culture. Although certainly still Hellenized, the Sasanians started a process of "Iranization" unlike the Parthians before them: Zoroastrianism became one of the founding stones of the Empire -- nevertheless religious minorities such as Jews, Christians, Manicheans, and other faiths of the Iranian people would play an important part. Some of the Sasanian kings even married Jewish and Christian women. For 400 years the Sasanian Empire was the major power in the Near East as the rival of the Late Roman Empire.
Added to timeline:
Period 2 Timeline
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