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4. The Sassanid Empire (224 – 633) In the early third century CE, the province of Fars, where the old Achaemenid Empire had originated, was taken over by a local ruler named Ardashir. Once in place he gained control over several neighbouring provinces, to the point that the Parthian ruler Artabanus V sent an army against him, which was defeated. Artabanus himself led another army against Ardashir, which was also defeated and Artabanus was killed. Ardashir then invaded the western provinces of the Empire, established himself at Ctesiphon, and in 224 was declared ShahanShah. He must have secured the cooperation of the bulk of the Parthian nobility, as he was soon in control of the whole empire. He kept his armies moving, gaining considerable territory in the east and northwest, and attacked Roman Mesopotamia. After Ardashir’s initial successes, the Romans under Emperor Alexander Severus counterattacked and the affair ended inconclusively in 233.

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Ardashir was succeeded in 242 by his son Shapur, who continued the war with the Romans, which was to and fro until 260, when the emperor Valerian and his entire army were captured at Edessa.

Shapur accepting the surrender of Valerian.

Valerian and his surviving army were sent to Shapur’s new capital Bishapur, near Shiraz, where the men were used in engineering work.

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Under Shapur’s grandson, Shapur II, who reigned for 70 years starting in 309, the Empire reached its greatest extent.

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Under the Persian Sassanids, the government of the Empire became more centralised. In the Parthian era, the great nobles were largely autonomous, something like the feudal system in Medieval Europe. The Sassanids, in a partial revival of the Achaemenid system, established numerous offices which were granted to the great families, thus keeping them more or less under control, something like the arrangements of Louis XIV of France. The long, relatively stable and relatively militarily successful reigns of the early Sassanids enabled the expansion of trade, both along the Silk Road and by sea, and the emperors encouraged agriculture both by expanding qanat irrigation and by maintaining and extending the irrigation works in Mesopotamia. Further, large numbers of former Roman citizens were deported to various places in the Empire (not only captured soldiers, but for example hundreds of thousands of people from Caesarea in Cappadocia were deported to the southern provinces by Shapur I). This influx of engineers and artisans contributed to the economic revival, and also a revival of Greek learning.

Much material was translated into Pahlavi, the middle Persian language of the Empire, and many centres of learning were established.

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Kavad I (488 – 531) The reigns following that of Shapur II are significant because they indicate the emergence of a theory of kingship that went beyond an alliance or identification with a particular religion or class, to assert that the shah had the duty to uphold justice for all his subjects. The king ruled on the basis of divine grace, and was allowed to raise taxes and keep soldiers, but only on the condition that he ruled justly. Between Shapur II’s death in 379 and the accession of Kavad I in 488 there were several more or less truncated reigns, several wars, barbarian invasions and so on. When Kavad came to the throne, the empire was in a bad way. The eastern part was under the control of the White Huns (an Iranian-speaking people different from Attila’s Huns, whose modern descendants are thought to be a subgroup of the Pashtun of Afghanistan). The peasantry was suffering from repeated famines and excessive taxation both from rapacious nobles and to pay tribute to the Huns. Also, there were revolts in other parts of the Empire.

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Kavad reformed the taxation system, introducing a poll tax, and made a survey of arable land to ensure that the tax was equitably imposed. The Empire was divided into four sectors, each under a military commander, supported by a chancery that kept his troops supplied. In addition, he established a new clerical position, Protector of the Poor, to reinforce the moral duty of the priesthood to look after the lowest strata of society (presumably previously neglected). These reforms created or strengthened the system of small-scale gentry, now directly under control of the Shah, who collected taxes and supplied the armoured cavalry, key to the army’s effectiveness. This dehqan class became the primary means of preserving the traditions and culture of the Empire, even after its conquest by the Muslims. Kavad of course continued the long tradition of war against the Byzantines. In 530 his forces engaged armies commanded by general Belisarius. Belisarius later commanded Justinian’s forces against the Ostrogoths based in Ravenna, resulting in the Byzantine reconquest of Italy in the mid-540s, but also the devastation of the present-day Venetian region. Kavad died suddenly in 531.

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Religion In religion, the Sassanians at first continued the tolerant policies of the Parthians, although the Zoroastrian priesthood was given greater support and power. The collection of the Zoroastrian sacred writings was completed, a project begun more than a century earlier by the late Parthians. This enabled penalties to be established against heresy and apostacy, reflecting the increasing influence of the Magi. Modern Zoroastrianism comes from this new orthodoxy. Institutionalisation of Zoroastrianism was also promoted by the establishment of fire temples by several of the Sassanian rulers. The most important fire temples kept a perpetual fire, to which devotees contributed special wood such as sandalwood. Fire was symbolic of purity and truth. The temples themselves were simple buildings. The important thing was the fire itself.

Fire Temple in Esfahan

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During the reign of Shapur I, the prophet Mani put forward the philosophical and religious system known as Manichaeism, which spread widely to Europe and Central Asia. Mani was a descendant of the Parthian royal families, and lived in Mesopotamia, having moved there from Ecbatana. His parents seemed to have been Christians, members of a sect called the Elkasites, and he was strongly influenced by Gnostic ideas (esoteric knowledge known mainly to the elites). The core idea of Manichaeism is that there are two deities taken from the Ancient Iranian pantheon, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, in the original twin sons of a disinterested creator god Zurvan. In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda represents truth and order, while Angra Mainyu represents lie or disorder. In Zurvanism, and Manichaeism, Ahura Mazda represents light or the spirit while Angra Mainyu represents matter and the flesh. The Manichaeans believed that since the inherently sinful acts of reproduction were necessary, that the evil spirit had imprisoned the good in matter. Jesus had briefly liberated the good, but the only true liberation was death. The Manichaean elites practised an extreme asceticism. This very pessimistic system was considered heretical by Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians alike, but strongly influenced Christianity through Saint Augustine of Hippo, who in his younger years was a Manichaean priest.

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Although Augustine rejected Manichaeism, and argued for it being considered a heresy, his own teachings of original sin, predestination, an elite of the saved, and the damnation of the unbaptised, have Manichaean origins. Augustine’s major opponent was Pelagius, who argued for free will and against predestination and original sin. Augustine won the debate, with Pelagius being declared a heretic. Mani himself was well regarded by the Emperor Shapur I, even accompanying him on some of his military campaigns. After Shapur’s death, in 277, Mani was executed gruesomely at the instigation of the Zoroastrian Magi. Shapur II’s reign spanned the accession of Constantine as Roman Emperor, and his encouragement of Christianity. Since Persia and Rome were more or less perpetually at war, Shapur began to distrust his Christian subjects as potential agents of the enemy. Several Patriarchs of the Church of the East based in Seleucia-Ctesiphon were executed, along with thousands of believers, in the mid 4th Century.

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Nestorian Christianity During the period between Shapur II and Kavad I a new form of Christianity spread widely through the Persian Empire. Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431, advanced a doctrine that emphasized the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. In particular, he advocated that Mary was more appropriately called “Mother of Christ” rather than “Mother of God.” This view was declared heretical by the Council of Ephesus in 431, leading to a schism. Many of Nestorius’ supporters moved to Sassanid Persia, where the Christian community was vibrant, although persecuted. In 424, the Persian church had declared itself independent of the Byzantine and all other churches, and, following the schism, became increasingly Nestorian. After many difficulties, the Nestorian Persian church emerged in the 6th and 7th centuries to spread beyond Persia to the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, Arabia, India and even Tang China. The Persian church survives today in the 170,000 members of the Assyrian Church of the East, which reconciled its differences with the Catholic Church in 1994, each Church recognizing the legitimacy of the other’s titles for Mary.

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Mazdak About the same time as Kavad I’s accession in 488, a religious reformer named Mazdak arose. He was a Zoroastrian priest who preached good conduct, which involved a moral and ascetic life, no killing and not eating flesh (which contained substances solely from Darkness), being kind and friendly and living in peace with other people. According to Mazdak, God had originally placed the means of subsistence on earth so that people should divide them among themselves equally, but the strong had coerced the weak, seeking domination and causing the contemporary inequality. This in turn empowered the "Five Demons" that turned men from Righteousness – these were Envy, Wrath, Vengeance, Need and Greed. To prevail over these evils, justice had to be restored. In particular, everybody should share excess possessions with his fellow men. Mazdak allegedly planned to achieve this by making all wealth common or by re-distributing the excess. He was also said to be an advocate of free love, although this might have been an attempt to curb excessive polygamy among the nobility.

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Kavad I was an adherent of Mazdak. With the King's backing Mazdak could embark on a program of social reform, which involved pacifism, anti-clericalism and aid programs for helping the poor. Mazdak had government warehouses opened to help the poor. Mazdak’s political usefulness to Kavad was to weaken the power of the nobility, thus making it easier to implement his reforms.

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Koshraw I (531 – 579) Kavad’s son Koshraw was made Shahanshah on Kavad’s death in 531. The Mazdakites, however, supported another of Kavad’s sons, resulting in their being massacred and Mazdak himself hanged. A few followers survived in remote areas, their descendants being recorded up to the 18th Century. Mazdakean ideas recurred a number of times in Islamic Persia. Koshraw also had his own brothers executed. Koshraw’s reign is considered to be a golden age in Sassanian history. He completed his father’s reforms in the administration of the Empire and the organization of the army. His administration improved the roads and the agricultural infrastructure, as well as promoting trade. He is credited with much building throughout the Empire. Militarily, he reduced the White Hun khanate in the east, with the help of Turkic peoples who were moving into Central Asia, and established Sassanian control over Yemen, in southern Arabia. The war with the Byzantines of course continued off and on. Koshraw was called “The Just” by the Arabs, and continues to be respected in Iran.

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Statue of Koshraw in the Courthouse in Tehran

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Koshraw was a patron of the arts and philosophy. He is recorded as having said:

We examined the customs of our forebears, but, concerned with the discovery of the truth, we [also] studied the customs and conducts of the Romans and Indians and accepted those among them which seemed reasonable and praiseworthy, not merely likeable. We have not rejected anyone because they belonged to a different religion or people. And having examined the good customs and laws of our ancestors as well as those of the foreigners, we have not declined to adopt anything which was good nor to avoid anything which was bad. Affection for our forebears did not lead us to accept customs which were not good.

A synthesis of Greek, Persian, Indian, and Armenian learning traditions took place within the Sassanian Empire. One outcome of this synthesis created the first hospital that introduced a concept of segregating wards according to pathology. Greek pharmacology fused with Iranian and Indian traditions resulted in significant advances in medicine Chess, having recently been invented in India, was introduced to Persia through the court of Koshraw. Backgammon was developed in Persia about this time, and was introduced to India. The story is that an embassy from India brought chess to Koshraw as a friendly challenge, and that backgammon was sent to the Indian emperor in return.

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Koshraw’s successors lacked his ability and character. Their reigns were relatively short, so the civil wars of succession were more frequent; cruelty and ruinous taxation alienated the population; and wars devastated the most productive provinces of both Persia and Byzantium. In 632 the boy Yazdegerd III ascended the throne, at the same time as the first Muslim Arab raiders. The Arabs captured Ctesiphon in 637. Yazdegerd fled to the east, eventually being assassinated in 651. The Sassanian Empire was at an end.

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China and the Silk Road Like their predecessors the Parthians, the Sassanid Empire maintained active foreign relations with China, and ambassadors from Persia frequently travelled to China. Chinese documents record thirteen Sassanid embassies to China. Commercially, land and sea trade with China was important to both the Sassanid and Chinese Empires. Large numbers of Sassanid coins have been found in southern China, confirming maritime trade. The Sassanid Empire spanned the fragmented China between the Han and Sui/Tang Dynasties. Following the invasion of Iran by Muslim Arabs, Pirooz, son of Yazdegerd III, escaped over the Silk Road along with a few Persian nobles and took refuge in the Tang imperial court. Both Pirooz and his son Narsieh (Chinese neh-shie) were given high titles at the Chinese court. At least on two occasions, last one possibly in 670, Chinese troops were sent with Pirooz in order to restore him to the Sassanid throne with mixed results, one possibly ending up in a short rule of Pirooz in Sistan (Sakestan) from which we have some remaining numismatic evidence. Narsieh later attained the position of commander of the Chinese imperial guards and his descendants lived in China as respected princes.

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Besides the Silk Road trade, there was extensive trade with Russia and India, the latter mostly by sea. Siraf, on the Persian Gulf, was a major seaport. Ctesiphon, on the Tigris, was a major trading centre and entrepot. All the trade routes met there.

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Architecture As the Sassanian Empire grew out of the Parthian Empire, Sassanian architecture grew out of Parthian architecture. It was characterized by • Mud or baked brick with gypsum mortar • Vaults and domes • Few columns, but massive or decorative only • Clay-based decoration (now largely disappeared)

Ctesiphon Ruin (Koshraw: 531- 579) The largest unsupported brick barrel vault in the world.

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Palace at Sarvestan, Fars Province Bahram V (420 – 438)

Palace of Ardashir I at Firuzabad, near Shiraz (224 – 242)

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Falak Ol Aflak Castle

Khoramabad: West – Central Iran

Moshir Bridge, on the road from Bishapur to Borazjan,

Fars Province, Southwest Iran

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Art

Investiture of Ardashir I (left, trampling the last Parthian Shah underfoot) by Ahura Mazda, trampling Ahriman

Investiture of Ardashir II (379 – 383) by Ahura Mazda.

Mithra on the left.

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Shapur II (309 – 379)

Bahram II (276 – 293) with Family

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Silver, mercury gilding

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Silver and Gilt

Silver and Gilt

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Ctesiphon