Sasanian Empire (226651 A.D.)
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[1901a] Ardashir I, The Great (AD 224-241) SASANIAN EMPIRE. Ardashir I, 224-241 AD. AR Drachm; Göbl 10; 4.27 gm; Toned VF. Obverse: Crowned draped bust; Reverse: Fire-altar. Ex Pegasi.
Ardashir I, The Great (AD 226-241)
Ardashir I (early Middle Persian Arđaxšēr "Who has the Divine Order as his Kingdom"), also known as Ardashīr-i Pāpagān "Ardashir, son of Pāpağ" Ardeshiri Babakan, and as Artaxerxes, was ruler of Persia (226–241) and the founder of the Sassanid dynasty (226–651). Other variants of his name appear as Artaxares, Artashastra, Ardaxshir, Ardasher, Artashir and Artakhshathra.
Early Years
Ardashir I was born in the late 2nd century in Istakhr, (located today in Iran) a vassal kingdom of the Parthian Empire. His father Pāpağ (sometimes written as Pāpak or Babak) deposed the previous king, Gochihr, and took his throne. His mother may have been named Rodhagh. During his father's reign, Ardashir I ruled the town of Darabjird and received the title of "argbadh". Upon Pāpağ's death, Ardashir I's elder brother Šāpūr ascended to the throne. However, Ardashir I rebelled against his brother and took the kingship for himself in 208.
Ardashir I rapidly extended his territory, demanding fealty from the local princes of Fars and gaining control over the neighboring provinces of Kerman, Isfahan, Susiana, and Mesene. This expansion brought the attention of the Arsacid Great King Artabanus IV (216–224), Ardashir I's overlord and ruler of the Parthian Empire, who marched against him in 224. Their armies clashed at Hormizdeghan, and Artabanus IV was killed. Ardashir I went on to invade the western provinces of the now-defunct Parthian Empire. This led to a confrontation between Kurds and Aradshir I which is recorded in a historical text named "Book of the Deeds of Ardashir son of Babak". It is written in Pahlavi script. In this book, the author explains the battle between King of the Kurds, "Madig" and Ardashir I.
Crowned in 226 as the sole ruler of Persia, and taking the title Šāhānšāh "King of Kings" (his consort Adhur-Anahid took the title "Queen of Queens"), Ardashir I finally brought the 400 year-old Parthian Empire to an end and began four centuries of Sassanid rule.
Over the next few years, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana (in modern Turkmenistan), Balkh, and Chorasmia. Bahrain and Mosul were also added to Sassanid possessions. Furthermore, the Kings of Kushan, Turan, and Mekran recognized Ardashir as their overlord. In the West, assaults against Hatra, Armenia and Adiabene met with less success.
Religion and State
According to historian Arthur Christensen, the Sassanid state as established by Ardashir I was characterized by two general trends which differentiated it from its Parthian predecessor: a strong political centralization and organized state sponsorship of Zoroastrianism.
The Parthian Empire had consisted of a loose federation of vassal kingdoms under the suzerainty of the Great King. Ardashir I, perhaps seeing from his own successes the weaknesses of such decentralized authority, established a strong central government by which to rule Persia. The empire was divided into cantons, the dimensions of which were based on military considerations. These cantons were designed to resist the influence of hereditary interests and feudal rivalries. Local governors who descended from the ruling family bore the title of shāh. In an attempt to protect royal authority from regional challenges, the personal domains of the Sassanids and branch families family were scattered across the empire. While the old feudal princes (vāspuhrs) remained, they were required to render military service with their local troops (for the most part peasant levies). The lesser nobility was cultivated as a source of military strength, forming the elite cavalry of the army, and the royal household found a useful (and presumably reliable) military force through the hiring of mercenaries.
Zoroastrianism had existed in the Parthian Empire, and its holy text, the Avesta, had likely been compiled during the years of the Arsacid dynasty. The Sassanids could trace their heritage to the Temple of Anahita at Staxr, where Ardashir I's grandfather had been a dignitary. Under Ardashir I, the Zoroastrian (sometimes called Mazdean) religion was promoted and regulated by the state. The Sassanids built fire temples and, under royal direction, a new and official version of the Avesta was compiled by a cleric named Tansār. The government officially backed the Zurvanist doctrine of the religion, which emphasized the concept of time as the "original principle", over the competing doctrine of Vayism, which stressed the importance of space over time. Despite this state backing of a particular sect, it appears that other religious practices were tolerated so long as they did not interfere with the political authority of the Sassanids.
In other domestic affairs, Ardashir I maintained his familial base in Fars, erecting such structures as the Ghal'eh Dokhtar and the Palace of Ardashir. Despite these impressive structures, he established his government at the old Parthian capital of Ctesiphon on the Tigris River. He also rebuilt the city of Seleucia, located just across the river, which had been destroyed by the Romans in 165, renaming it Veh-Ardashir. Trade was promoted and important ports at Mesene and Charax were repaired or constructed.
War with Rome
In the latter years of his reign, Ardashir I engaged in a series of armed conflicts with Persia's great rival to the west – the Roman Empire.
Ardashir I's expansionist tendencies had been frustrated by his failed invasions of Armenia, where a relative of the former Arsacid rulers of Parthia sat on the throne. Given Armenia's traditional position as an ally of the Romans, Ardashir I may have seen his primary opponent not in the Armenian and Caucasian troops he had faced, but in Rome and her legions.
In 230 Ardashir I led his army into the Roman province of Mesopotamia, unsuccessfully besieging the fortress town of Nisibis. At the same time, his cavalry ranged far enough past the Roman border to threaten Syria and Cappadocia. It seems that the Romans saw fit to attempt a diplomatic solution to the crisis, reminding the Persians of the superiority of Roman arms, but to no avail. Ardashir I campaigned unsuccessfully against Roman border outposts again the following year (231). As a result, the Roman emperor Alexander Severus (222–235) moved to the east, establishing his headquarters at Antioch, but experienced difficulties in bringing his troops together and thus made another attempt at diplomacy, which Ardashir I rebuffed.
Finally, in 232, Severus led his legions in a three-pronged assault on the Persians. However, the separate army groups did not advance in a coordinated fashion, and Ardashir I was able to take advantage of the disorder and concentrate his forces against the enemy advancing through Armenia, where he was able to halt the Roman advance. Hearing of the Roman plans to march on his capital at Ctesiphon, Ardashir I left only a token screening force in the north and met the enemy force that was advancing to the south, apparently defeating it in a decisive manner. However, one can discern that the Persians must have suffered considerable losses as well, as no attempt was made to pursue the fleeing Romans. Both leaders must have had reason to avoid further campaigning, as Severus returned to Europe in the following year (233) and Ardashir I did not renew his attacks for several years, probably focusing his energies in the east.
On 237 Ardashir I, along with his son and successor Shapur I (241–272), again invaded Mesopotamia. This effort resulted in successful assaults on Nisibis and Carrhae and the shock this caused in Rome led the emperor to revive the Roman client-state of Osroene. In 241, Ardashir I and Shapur finally overcame the stubborn fortress of Hatra. Ardashir I died later in the year.
Final Assessment
Ardashir I was an energetic king, responsible for the resurgence of Persia, the strengthening of Zoroastrianism, and the establishment of a dynasty that would endure for four centuries. While his campaigns against Rome met with only limited success, he achieved more against them than the Parthians had done in many decades and prepared the way for the substantial successes his son and successor Shapur I would enjoy against the same enemy.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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[1902a] Sasanian Kingdom. Shapur I. A.D. 241-272. AR drachm.Sasanian Kingdom. Shapur I. A.D. 241-272. AR drachm; 23 mm, 4.23 g. Obverse: Crowned bust right, with ear flaps; Reverse: Fire altar with two attendants. Göbl I/1. Toned VF, rough surfaces. Ex Sayles and Lavender.
"At Nazs-i Rustam, seven kilometres north of Persepolis, lies the burial place of the famous Achaemenid Persian kings of antiquity, Darius and his son Xerxes, whose unwelcome attentions the Athenians and their allies fought off at the battles of Marathon and Salamis in 490 and 480 BC. Here, too, were discovered in 1936, inscribed in three languages on the side of a Zoroastrian fire temple, the proud boasts of a much later Persian King:
'I am the Mazda-worshipping divine Shapur, King of Kings . . . of the race of the Gods, son of the Mazda-worshipping divine Ardashir, king of kings . . . When I was first established over the dominion of the nations, the Caesar Gordian [emperor, 238-44 AD.] from the whole of the Roman Empire . . . raised an army and marched . . . against us. A great battle took place between the two sides on the frontiers of Assyria at Meshike, Caesar Gordian was destroyed and the Roman army was annihilated. The Romans proclaimed Philip Caesar. And Caesar Philip came to sue for peace, and for their lives he paid a ransom of 500,000 denarii and became tributary to us . . . And the Caesar lied again and did injustice to Armenia. We marched against the Roman Empire and annihilated a Roman army of 60,000 men at Barbalissos. The nation of Syria and whatever nations and plains that were above it, we set on fire and devastated and laid waste. And in the campaign [we took] . . . thirty-seven cities with their surrounding territories. In the third contest . . . Caesar Valerian came upon us. There was with him a force of 70,000 men . . . A great battle took place beyond Carrhae and Edessa between us and Caesar Valerian and we took him prisoner with our own hands, as well as all the other commanders of the army . . . On this campaign, we also conquered . . . thirty-six cities with their surrounding territories.'
. . . Shapur proceeded to drag Valerian around with him, in chains, as a symbol of his own greatness--an image preserved for posterity in the great carved relief of Bishapur. After his death, Shapur had him skinned and tanned as a permanent trophy. Later in the century, a second Roman emperor, Numerianus, was also captured, but killed immediately: 'They flayed him and made his skin into a sack. And they treated it with myrrh [to preserve it] and kept it as a object of exceptional splendour'"1 (Heather, Peter. The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 58-9;60).
Notes:
1. Chronicon Paschale, 510
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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[1921a] Sasanian Kingdom. Khusro I. A.D. 531-579. AR drachm. Sasanian Kingdom. Khusro I. A.D. 531-579. AR drachm; Göbl I/2; 32 mm, 4.05 g; VF, Nihavand, year 37; Obverse: Crowned bust right; three crescents around single border of dots; Reverse: Fire altar between two attendants.
“The Great King Chosroes I of Persia—known to his subjects as Anushirvan, ‘of Immortal Soul’—had occupied the throne since 531. Of all the great Sassanian Kings, perhaps of all the Persian rulers throughout history, he was the most illustrious and is still the best remembered. As a statesman, he reformed and reorganized every branch of government and completely revised the fiscal system; as a general, he created the first standing army loyal to the King alone and pushed forward his frontiers till they extended from the Black Sea to the Yemen, from the Oxus River to the shores of the Mediterranean; as an intellectual, he had given—even before his accession—an enthusiastic welcome to those pagan Greek scientists and philosophers who had drifted to Persia after Justinian’s closure of the School of Athens in 529. He founded his country’s great medical academy at Gondeshapur, codified the Avesta—the sacred book of Zoroastrianism—compiled the first collection of the myths and legends of his people and introduced from India the game of chess. He was, in short, a worthy match for Justinian, his adversary and rival for over thirty years. The Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, the Great died in 565 AD; The Sasassinan King, Chosroes I, The Great died in 579 AD” (Norwich, John Julius. Byzantium, The Early Centuries. London: The Penguin Group, 1990. 228) Cleisthenes
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[1921b] Sasanian Empire, Khusro I, 531 - 579 A.D.Silver drachm, Gobl II/2 MY, aVF, Meshan mint, 4.12g, 29.8mm, 90o, 569 A.D.; Obverse: XUSRO AFZUN, crowned bust right, three crescents outside border; Reverse: MY NWCSYH, fire altar with two attendants. Khusro is also sometimes spelled Xusro, Khusru, or Chosroes. Ex FORVM.
Khosrau I, CHOSROES ANUSHIRVAN ('OF THE IMMORTAL SOUL') ruled from 531–579. He is the most celebrated of the Sassanid rulers. Khosrau I is most famous for his reforms in the aging governing body of Sassanids. In his reforms he introduced a rational system of taxation, based upon a survey of landed possessions, which his father had begun and tried in every way to increase the welfare and the revenues of his empire. Previous great feudal lords fielded their own military equipment, followers and retainers. Khosrau I developed a new force of dehkans or "knights" paid and equipped by the central government and the bureaucracy, tying the army and bureaucracy more closely to the central government than to local lords. (Chosroes I's reforms, visit: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/fryehst.html)
Although the Emperor Justinian I (527–565) had paid him a bribe of 440,000 pieces of gold to keep the peace, in 540 Khosrau I broke the "eternal peace" of 532 and invaded Syria, where he sacked the city of Antioch and extorted large sums of money from a number of other cities. Further successes followed: in 541 Lazica defected to the Persian side, and in 542 a major Byzantine offensive in Armenia was defeated at Anglon. A five-year truce agreed in 545 was interrupted in 547 when Lazica again switched sides and eventually expelled its Persian garrison with Byzantine help; the war resumed, but remained confined to Lazica, which was retained by the Byzantines when peace was concluded in 562.
Khosrau I's reign witnessed the rise of the dihqans (literally, village lords), the petty landholding nobility who were the backbone of later Sassanid provincial administration and the tax collection system.[22] Khosrau I was a great builder, embellishing his capital, founding new towns, and constructing new buildings. He rebuilt the canals and restocked the farms destroyed in the wars. He built strong fortifications at the passes and placed subject tribes in carefully chosen towns on the frontiers to act as guardians against invaders. He was tolerant of all religions, though he decreed that Zoroastrianism should be the official state religion, and was not unduly disturbed when one of his sons became a Christian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid_Empire
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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