HTML clipboard
About 224 CE, the
Parthian governor of the province of Fars (which still exists as a province in
present-day Iran), brought down the central government in Ctesiphon and
established the Sassanid Empire, taking the throne as Ardashir I. The Sassanid
Empire would last over 400 years, and would be the last Persian Empire before
the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century brought the region under Arab
rule. For this reason the Sassanid Empire is important to our understanding of
Islamic history, because it was instrumental in promoting Persian nationalism,
and creating a Persian identity that remained strong even after the Islamic
conquest and attempted Arabisation of the region.
The Sassanid Empire
was almost constantly at war with the neighbouring Roman Empire to the west;
Ardashir's son, Shapur I, even captured the Roman Emperor, Valerian, for a time
in 260. The animosity between the two empires was exacerbated in the 4th
century, when the Roman Emperor, Constantine I, converted to Christianity, and
later, Theodosius I made Christianity the official state religion. After that,
relations between the two empires took on an increased religious aspect, as the
Roman Empire sought to protect all Christians outside its borders, including
those under Sassanid rule. The Christians in the Sassanid Empire had not
previously faced persecution for their religion, since they were mostly
Nestorian Christians, a different branch of Christianity than that practiced in
the Roman Empire. For that reason the Sassanids viewed their Christians not as
following the religion of the enemy, but rather another Persian religion. Still,
the Sassanid Christians were the first to be suspected of political disloyalty
whenever the empire came into conflict with the Romans after Constantine's time.
While Christianity
had become the state religion of the Roman Empire, Zoroastrianism had been the
official religion of the Sassanids since the beginning of their empire in the
3rd century. The Zoroastrian church became very powerful, and its head, the
mobadan mobad, joined the military and bureaucratic leaders as one of the
most important men in the empire. Zoroastrianism is also said to have influenced
Judeo-Christian theology, such as that pertaining to the dualism between good
and evil, or light and darkness; the belief in angels and archangels; Satan as
the epitome of evil and the adversary of God; the idea of paradise and hell; the
idea of the continued existence of the soul past that of the body; reward and
punishment by divine justice; the resurrection of the dead; the Last Judgement;
beliefs in millennial periods and the end of the world; and the coming of a
Saviour at the end of the world. Many of these ideas would also appear in
Islamic theology. Zoroastrianism, which itself might have absorbed some of these
ideas from Buddhism and Hinduism, was thus an important influence on several
religions that followed it.
Politically,
Khusrau I (r. 531-579) is considered the most influential Sassanid ruler. He has
been compared to the 16th century Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I for instituting
reforms that changed the empire. He reformed the army by providing soldiers with
salaries and equipment, thus earning their loyalty and decreasing the power of
nobles with private armies. He also improved efficiency in the tax system, by
changing the method of assessment and collection. This was perhaps his most
significant reform, because the Sassanid tax system later became a model for tax
collection in the Islamic caliphate. The Muslims were also influenced by the
office of the Sassanid prime minister, which became a prototype for the Islamic
grand vizier.
After 50 years of
peace, Khusrau II (r. 590-628) resumed hostilities with the neighbouring
Byzantine Empire, the successor to the Roman. He rapidly expanded into Byzantine
lands, capturing Jerusalem in 612 and Alexandria in 619, while placing
Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, under siege. The Byzantines responded by
staging a surprise attack through the Caucasus into the northern Sassanid
Empire. They sacked Ctesiphon in 627, and Khusrau II was killed while fleeing
the city. There were 11 more rulers in the following 10 last years of the
Empire, but after Khusrau II the Sassanids grew weaker and more inefficient. The
Empire collapsed under a rapid military assault by the invading Arabs between
636 and 642. Although the Arabs, seeking to spread their new religion, Islam,
had fewer numbers and a simpler military structure than the Persians, the
Sassanid Empire was weak from fighting the Byzantines. By remaining highly
mobile and not relying on long supply lines, the Arabs rode in on horses and
camels and defeated the Persians first at the Battle of Qadisiyya in 636. By 638
they had occupied the Sassanid palace in Ctesiphon, forcing the young king,
Yazdegard III, to flee. Continuing through the Zagros Mountains, the Arabs won
two more decisive battles, at Jalula and Nihavand in 642, to take over the
entire Iranian plateau.
After 400 years,
the quick collapse of the Sassanid Empire was a bit of a surprise. There are
several possible reasons behind it, however. Not only had the Persians and
Byzantines mutually wearied each other, but each regarded themselves as superior
to the rest of the world, which was seen as somewhat barbarian. They therefore
focussed their energies on fighting each other, while virtually ignoring other
threats. The Arabs were particularly underestimated; the Persians gave more
credence to the threat from raiding groups from the east than to the Arabs,
possibly due to the Persian victory in southern Arabia that helped the Sassanids
maintain control of the Red Sea trading route in the early 6th century. By the
time of the invasion, however, the Arabs were able to take advantage of Persian
weaknesses, such as disunity among the provinces and a lack of allegiance among
the people to the Sassanid central administration. Many Persians submitted to
the invaders when the Arabs demanded less taxes than the Sassanids had, and did
not force conversion to Islam. Later, Islam did spread to non-Arab groups, most
notably the Persians, who began to convert in significant numbers as Islamic
rule over Persia strengthened in the centuries after the initial conquest.
However, the Sassanid Empire played a major role in developing a distinct
Persian nationalism, which survived the Islamic conquest and mass conversion of
Persians to Islam. The Persians and the Arabs would become the leading ethnic
groups in the Islamic world, and each soon realised that their cooperation was
fundamental to the survival of the empire.
About 224 CE, the
Parthian governor of the province of Fars (which still exists as a province in
present-day Iran), brought down the central government in Ctesiphon and
established the Sassanid Empire, taking the throne as Ardashir I. The Sassanid
Empire would last over 400 years, and would be the last Persian Empire before
the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century brought the region under Arab
rule. For this reason the Sassanid Empire is important to our understanding of
Islamic history, because it was instrumental in promoting Persian nationalism,
and creating a Persian identity that remained strong even after the Islamic
conquest and attempted Arabisation of the region.
The Sassanid Empire
was almost constantly at war with the neighbouring Roman Empire to the west;
Ardashir's son, Shapur I, even captured the Roman Emperor, Valerian, for a time
in 260. The animosity between the two empires was exacerbated in the 4th
century, when the Roman Emperor, Constantine I, converted to Christianity, and
later, Theodosius I made Christianity the official state religion. After that,
relations between the two empires took on an increased religious aspect, as the
Roman Empire sought to protect all Christians outside its borders, including
those under Sassanid rule. The Christians in the Sassanid Empire had not
previously faced persecution for their religion, since they were mostly
Nestorian Christians, a different branch of Christianity than that practiced in
the Roman Empire. For that reason the Sassanids viewed their Christians not as
following the religion of the enemy, but rather another Persian religion. Still,
the Sassanid Christians were the first to be suspected of political disloyalty
whenever the empire came into conflict with the Romans after Constantine's time.
While Christianity
had become the state religion of the Roman Empire, Zoroastrianism had been the
official religion of the Sassanids since the beginning of their empire in the
3rd century. The Zoroastrian church became very powerful, and its head, the
mobadan mobad, joined the military and bureaucratic leaders as one of the
most important men in the empire. Zoroastrianism is also said to have influenced
Judeo-Christian theology, such as that pertaining to the dualism between good
and evil, or light and darkness; the belief in angels and archangels; Satan as
the epitome of evil and the adversary of God; the idea of paradise and hell; the
idea of the continued existence of the soul past that of the body; reward and
punishment by divine justice; the resurrection of the dead; the Last Judgement;
beliefs in millennial periods and the end of the world; and the coming of a
Saviour at the end of the world. Many of these ideas would also appear in
Islamic theology. Zoroastrianism, which itself might have absorbed some of these
ideas from Buddhism and Hinduism, was thus an important influence on several
religions that followed it.
Politically,
Khusrau I (r. 531-579) is considered the most influential Sassanid ruler. He has
been compared to the 16th century Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I for instituting
reforms that changed the empire. He reformed the army by providing soldiers with
salaries and equipment, thus earning their loyalty and decreasing the power of
nobles with private armies. He also improved efficiency in the tax system, by
changing the method of assessment and collection. This was perhaps his most
significant reform, because the Sassanid tax system later became a model for tax
collection in the Islamic caliphate. The Muslims were also influenced by the
office of the Sassanid prime minister, which became a prototype for the Islamic
grand vizier.
After 50 years of
peace, Khusrau II (r. 590-628) resumed hostilities with the neighbouring
Byzantine Empire, the successor to the Roman. He rapidly expanded into Byzantine
lands, capturing Jerusalem in 612 and Alexandria in 619, while placing
Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, under siege. The Byzantines responded by
staging a surprise attack through the Caucasus into the northern Sassanid
Empire. They sacked Ctesiphon in 627, and Khusrau II was killed while fleeing
the city. There were 11 more rulers in the following 10 last years of the
Empire, but after Khusrau II the Sassanids grew weaker and more inefficient. The
Empire collapsed under a rapid military assault by the invading Arabs between
636 and 642. Although the Arabs, seeking to spread their new religion, Islam,
had fewer numbers and a simpler military structure than the Persians, the
Sassanid Empire was weak from fighting the Byzantines. By remaining highly
mobile and not relying on long supply lines, the Arabs rode in on horses and
camels and defeated the Persians first at the Battle of Qadisiyya in 636. By 638
they had occupied the Sassanid palace in Ctesiphon, forcing the young king,
Yazdegard III, to flee. Continuing through the Zagros Mountains, the Arabs won
two more decisive battles, at Jalula and Nihavand in 642, to take over the
entire Iranian plateau.
After 400 years,
the quick collapse of the Sassanid Empire was a bit of a surprise. There are
several possible reasons behind it, however. Not only had the Persians and
Byzantines mutually wearied each other, but each regarded themselves as superior
to the rest of the world, which was seen as somewhat barbarian. They therefore
focussed their energies on fighting each other, while virtually ignoring other
threats. The Arabs were particularly underestimated; the Persians gave more
credence to the threat from raiding groups from the east than to the Arabs,
possibly due to the Persian victory in southern Arabia that helped the Sassanids
maintain control of the Red Sea trading route in the early 6th century. By the
time of the invasion, however, the Arabs were able to take advantage of Persian
weaknesses, such as disunity among the provinces and a lack of allegiance among
the people to the Sassanid central administration. Many Persians submitted to
the invaders when the Arabs demanded less taxes than the Sassanids had, and did
not force conversion to Islam. Later, Islam did spread to non-Arab groups, most
notably the Persians, who began to convert in significant numbers as Islamic
rule over Persia strengthened in the centuries after the initial conquest.
However, the Sassanid Empire played a major role in developing a distinct
Persian nationalism, which survived the Islamic conquest and mass conversion of
Persians to Islam. The Persians and the Arabs would become the leading ethnic
groups in the Islamic world, and each soon realised that their cooperation was
fundamental to the survival of the empire.
