PolledHidtory: Friday Special - the Sassanid Empire (c 200- c 600 AD)

Hello! Today's friday special does not cover a certain event like we usually do. We usually cover events that span for years, decades, or a century. But we are covering an empire's history this time and the empire is quite an interesting one - the Sassanid Persian Empire. We'll divide this episode to several parts.

Part 1 - Prelude

331 BC, Gaugamela. In modern day Iraq. Alexander the Great, who we have covered before, leads his army to victory against the once mighty and prestigious Achaenemid Persian Empire. Several years later, he fully defeats the Persian army and dies at a young age by 323 BC, leaving behind a vast empire that has no clear succession. By 306 BC, his empire, after a brutal and quite uneccesary war between his generals, three main dynasties emerge succeeding Alexander: the Antigonids, Ptolemies, and Seleucids. The Antigonids were shorter lived and ruled mostly the old lands of Macedon: Greece. The Ptolemies inherited Egypt, and the Seleucids most of the empire: Syria, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, and in their peak, lands stretching all the way to modern day India. The Seleucids became sort of a Persian Empire mixed with Greek culture, and you could consider it another "persian empire". (Disclaimer: there are many Persian Empires in hustory). The Seleucids declined. The Roman Republic took their western territories liks Syria, the Levant, and parts of Seleucid Anatolia. But the empiee to conquer most of the Seleucid Empire was the Parthian Persian Empire. The Parthians was a bitter rival of the Romans, and though the Parthians had one major big victory aginst the Romans at the Battle of Carrhae, the Parthians were always internally unstable and for most of its later history, was easily attacked by the Romans, and became much weaker. The Parthians were succeeded by a new people - the Sassanids, and the Sassanid Persian Empire formed.

Part 2 - The Early Sassanid Empire

In 224 AD, the weakeaned Parthian Empire, which had became easy to target for the Romans and had greatly declined. We don't know what exactly happened that made Ardashir rebel and became shah (king in Persian), but he did overthrow Artabanus IV, the final Parthian leader. we know he defeated Artabanus in battle. Ardashir started his reign in 224 AD, officially forming the Sassanid Empire. The Sassanid Empire was much more succesful than its Parthian predecessors - it was internally stable and much more of a challenge to Rome than Parthia was. Ardashir quickly expanded the empire.  He died in 241 BC and his son, Shapur I, became Shah. He expanded the empire to both sides, the east and the west, and became an shah to threaten the Romans effectively. The Roman emperor Gordian III, an emperor during Rome's dark days during the 3rd Century Crisis, tried to campaign against him, but was defeated and murdered by his own troops. Gordian's sucessor Philip the Arab had to negotiate with Shapur I and gave lots of payments to him. Shapur didn't end his wars there, going as far as the major city of Antioch. In 260 AD, he had scored a humiliating victory against the Romans and their emperor Valerian at the Battle of Edessa, where Valerian was captueed. Later, Valerian was killed. Shapur tried to campaign further but was finally defeated when he faced the Roman ally Odenaethus, and his territorial gains he had made from his wars with Rome was lost. Shapur I was religiously, a unique policy for the usually intolerant Sassanid emperors. Shapur was succeeded by Bahram I, his son, when he died in 270 AD. Bahram I was a short-lived ruler and he was religiously intolerant, promoting the traditional Persian religion Zoroastrianism. Bahram II succeeded his father Bahram I, and too was religiously intolerant. His major failure was when the emperor of Rome, Caus, sacked the Sassanid capital city Ctesiphon. After Bahram II was Bahram III, who died in the same year he ascended to the throne. Narseh then succeeded him, the son of Shapur, ruling around eleven years and was victorious at first against Galerius (emperor of R.) but then was defeated. Narseh continued fighting, but in the end, after several defeats, surrendered against Diocletian and Galerius (at the time there was the Tetrarchy in Rome). His son Hormizd II became Shah after him, and he ruled in a time of unrest and he was killed in 309 AD.

Part 3 - The First Sassanid Golden Age

Following the death of Hormizd II, the empire was in big trouble. Hormizd II's children were killed, imprisoned, and blinded, except for one person - an unborn child of Hormizd. He ruled ceremonially for SEVENTY years - that's a long time! However, during his youth rhe empire was really governed by his mother and the nobillity. Once old and experienced enough, he assumed power and became a very effective ruler. He completely defeated the Arabs, which had stirred up trouble previously, and campaigned against the Romans, which had limited success. He ceased his roman campaign to address a new problem in fhe east. Tribespeople threateaned the route for the Silk Road, the ancient trading route that spanned from China to Rome. Shapur II then expanded to the east and popularized Sassanian/Persian xulture. In 359 AD, he campaigned against Persia yet again, retaking several cities. The Roman Emperor Julian responded and was quite succesful, bur was killed. The reign of Shapur II was a time of great prosperity for the Sassanian empire. Shapur II's military policy, however, was strange. Usually, when he campaigned against the Romans, he would attack, and once the Roman emperor arrived to go get him, he would retreat. He died in 379 AD after ruling seventy years and ruling for his entire life. 

Part 4 - The Intermediate Era (379-498 BC)

After Shapur II's death there was a period of peace between the Sassanian and Roman Empire, which at the time had been fighting for more than a hundred years. By the time of Shapur II's death, the Roman Empire had basically been divided into two halves: West and East. Only two Sassanian-Roman wars were waged. Still, the empire continued to function well during this time. After Shapur II came his half brother Ardashir II who ruled until 383 AD and another leader, his (S. II) son Shapur III, both of which were quite idle. Their sucessor Baham IV (388-399 AD) was also quite unimportant. Bahram IV was succeeded by an emperor that finally had some importance,  Yazdegerd I, often compared to Constantine I of Rome as a parallel but Persian. They were both powerful and tolerant, and Yazdegerd's reign was a peaceful one, and he ruled until 421 AD. Following Yazdegerd I was Bahram V, who ruled until 438 AD, who was a popular Shah and one who expanded the empire further. Then came Yazdegerd II, who waged war against the Eastern Roman empire (that would be one of the last Roman-Sasanian wars for a long time), and died in 457 AD, and then came Hormizd III, who, during his reign, was busy fighting his brother Peroz and in 459 AD, Peroz comitted fratricide and killed Hormizd III. By that time a group of Huns (specifically Hephtalites) migrated into modern day Iran (under Sassanian control) and attacked it. Bahram V and Yazdegerd II defeated them, driving them back, but Peroz I (who, after overthrowing his brother, became Shah and ruled until 484 AD) was defeated by the Hephtalites. Peroz died when he was  captured by the Huns and was succeeded by Balash, who ruled until 488 AD, who was a generous ruler but an unpopular one to the nobillity, so he was deposed and Kavad I became ruler of Iran (the Sassanid Empire). Kavad was an important ruler and an active one, but his reforms lead to his deposition and he was imprisoned. His brother Jamasp became ruler in 496 AD after Kavad, but Kavad escaped prison and entered the Hephtalite camp for protection. Jamasp, who succeeded his brother and ruled until 498 AD, was a food ruler, but in 398 AD, Kavad returned with an army and Jamasp decided to step down and Kavad became Shah, ending a century of relative peace.

Part 5 - The Second Sassanid Golden Age

When Kavad I be ame ruler, he statted a war against the Romans after about six decades of peace with them. Kavad's campaigns were sometimes victorious yet sometimes flawed and he suffered several defeats. In 527 AD, the Roman/Eastern Roman commander Belisarius defeated a large Sassanian army. In 531 AD, Kavad I died. His son Khosrau I became Shah, ruling until 579 Ad, and is a highly-appreciated Sassanid ruled. He reformed the government, introduced new taxational systems and made great efforts against the Roman Empire, which was being ruled by Justinian. Justinian died in 565 and Khosrau I quickly waged another war, scoring some victories and then died in 579 AD, being succeeded by Hormizd IV. 

Part 6 - The Decline and Fall of the Sassanids

A rebelion was inflicted against this ruled and a new Shah, his son Khosrau II, with Byzantine (Roman) support overthrow him in a coup. When Khosrau II heard of the death of Maurice, his Byzantine (Eastern Roman) emperor ally who had helped him overthrow his father, and heard of the accession of the emperor Phocas, who assasinated him, Khosrau II lead an invasion against Phocas, where he quickly took over Syria, Egypt, and the Levant, reaching the height of Sassanid territory and almost achieving the dream the Sassanids longed for - owning an empire just as big as the Achaenemid Persians two generations of Persian Empires before them. But these extravagant victories mostly relied from Phocas' terrible response, and the campaign was a great blunder as well as the empire's resources were drained. Heraclius son of Phocas campaifned, retaking basically all of the territory the Sassanids took years prior. Khosrau II was succeeded by Kavadh II, and after Kavadh was lors of irrelevant short-lived rulers. The Sassanid Empire was extremely weakeaned and unready. This weak state is usually recoverable after some time, but the Sassanian army got unlucky. During the reign of Yazdegerd III, Arab raiders who had converted to Islam, began raiding Sassanid territory during a time when the Sassanid empire and the Byzantine Roman empire was exhausted because of war after war that made them weak. The Arabs conquered Persia and the Sassanids could nor defend well. The commander Khalid ibn al Walid, an Islamic commander, as well as succeeding rulers, humiliated the Sassanids, taking Ctesiphon. The official fall of the Sassanid empire is considered to be 651 AD when Yazdegerd III died. The Byzantine Empire did not follow the same fate, but survived, but was also very weak and almost destroyed if not for a decisive Byzantine victory when the Arabs tried to conquer Constantinople but failed. The fall of the Sassanid Empire marks the end of Classical persian civilization and the beginning of Islamic dominance in the Middle East.

Part 7 - Uniqueness of Sassania

That's the history through time, but how was Sassanian government? Military? Culture? 

7a. GOVERNMENT

The Sassanids followed a similar government with the Parthians, using the same title that has been used since the Achaenemid empire (in short Shahh). There was a mowbed (chief priest) and wuzurg framadar (prime minister). The Zoroastrian priesthood (Zoroastrianism being the prominent religion in Classical Persia, both in Parthian and Sassanian empires) was very powerful. According to a Muslim historian, the Sassanian kings were "excellent in administration" and "caring for their subjects." 

7b. Milirary

Sassanian military was based on the Parthian military - revolving around the strong cavalry they had access to - such as horse archers (mounted archers) and cataphracts (which you can imagine as a knight). What the Sassanids did differently was with their special armor and different siege warfare tactics. The Sassanians  probably had access to war elephants. The navy was mostly used to control the Persian Gulf, as it was economically important.

7c. Relations 

The Sassanian Empire were bitter rivals with the Romans and Byzantines, but had respect for them. The Sassanids had frequent warfare with less organized peoples like the Tueka and Hephtalites, buildinf walls to drive them out. They often had war with the Axumites (present day Ethiopia). They had knowledge of China and had sent embassies and participated in the Silk Road. They were both enemies of the Hephtalites and might have made coalitions to difht the Hephtalites and turks. 

7d. Culture and Science

The Sasanian kings and royalty were cultured and often enjoyed philosophy. Khosrau I is one example of a philosophical ruler, as he possessed the works of  Plato and Aristotle and founded an academy for a new intellectual center as Justinian had closed the schools of Athens. The Sassanians also made rock carvings. An example is the carvings depicting Shapur's victory against Valerian and Philip, both impressive. The Sassanids had their own architectural style.

That's all for today! If you got this far, thank you for reading!