PERSIA Parthians Sassanids

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PERSIAParthians - Sassanids

• Challenges to Rome, India, and Ptolemaic Egypt

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• Parthia in northeast modern Iran
• Controlled by the Persians/Achaemenids, the area
  came under the control of Alexander the Great
  when he defeated Darius II at the Battle of
  Guagamela in 331 B.C.E.

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The Diadochi the successors
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Greatest Extent

• After the PARTITION OF BABYLON 323 B.C.E.,
  Parthia came under the control of the Selucids.
• Seleucus I Nicator had been one of the military
  successors of Alexander who jostled for power
  after his death. In 312 B.C.E. he established an
  empire at Babylon and conquered the nearby
  states.

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Mithridates I r. 171-138 B.C.E.

• The Arsacids took control of most of Parthia and
  Iran from the Selucids.
• Internal revolts, wars with Rome, nomadic
  invasions, vassalaries weakened Arsacid control.
• The empire was eventually conquered by the
  Persian Sassanids.

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1 C.E.
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Sassanid Empire 224-651 C.E.
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• Under the Sassanids, Persia experienced periods
  known as Golden Ages with advances in the arts
  and sciences.
• Trade between Byzantine Rome, India, and China
  led to great prosperity.
• The Sassanids were eventually defeated when the
  first armies of Islam moved across the Middle
  East.

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• Legacy and Importance
• The influence of the Sassanid Empire continued
  long after it ceased to exist. The empire through
  the guidance of several able emperors prior to
  it's fall had achieved a renaissance that became
  a driving force behind the civilization of the
  newly established religion of Islam. In modern
  Iran the Sassanid period is regarded as one of
  the high points of Iranian civilization.

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• Sassanid culture and military structure had a
  significant influence on Roman civilization. The
  structure and character of the Roman army was
  affected by the methods of Persian warfare. In a
  modified form, the Roman Imperial autocracy
  imitated the royal ceremonies of the court of the
  Sassanids, and those in turn had an influence on
  the ceremonial traditions of the courts of modern
  Europe. The origin of the formalities of European
  diplomacy is attributed to the diplomatic
  relations between the Persian governments and
  Roman Empire. Through the late Roman Empires
  cavalry, the principles of the European
  knighthood - heavily armored cavalry- of the
  Middle Ages can be traced to the Sassanid.
• In Jewish history, the Sassanid Empire is a very
  important chapter in the expansion of the
  Judaism. The Sassanid period saw major
  developments such as the construction of the
  Babylonian TALMUD and the establishment of
  several Jewish orientated schools which were for
  centuries the most influential in Jewish
  scholarship. Several individuals of the Imperial
  family significantly contributed to the close
  relations between the Jews of the empire and the
  government in the capital Ctesiphon.

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• The collapse of the Sassanid Empire caused the
  state religion to be switched from Zoroastrianism
  to Islam. Zoroastrianism slowly became the
  religion of most in Iran, to a persecuted
  minority. For the survival of their faith and
  their lives, a large number of Zoroastrians chose
  to immigrate. According to the Qissa-i Sanjan,
  one group of those refugees landed in what is now
  Gujarat, India, where they were allowed greater
  freedom to observe their old customs and to
  preserve their faith. The descendants of those
  Zoroastrians, now known as the Parsis, would play
  a significant role in the development of India.
  Today there are around 70,000 Parsis in India.
• The Parsis, as Zoroastrians, still use a variant
  of the religious calendar instituted under the
  Sassanids.

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Sassanid Trade Routes
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