Civilization · Classical antiquity · Sassanian Empire

Sassanian Empire

224–651

The Sassanian Empire was the last great Persian empire before Islam. It ruled from Mesopotamia to central Asia for four centuries, fighting Rome and Byzantium to exhaustion. Arab armies destroyed it in 651.

Facts

Founded: 224 CE, Ardashir I overthrew the Parthians.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sasanian Empire
Ended: 651 CE, the last king killed; Persia became Muslim.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sasanian Empire
Heartland: Persia and Mesopotamia, capital Ctesiphon.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sasanian Empire
Major rulers: Shapur I, who captured a Roman emperor; Khosrow I, the philosopher king; Khosrow II, who nearly took Constantinople.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sasanian Empire

Images

Taq Kasra, the great vaulted palace of the Sassanian kings at Ctesiphon. (Wikimedia Commons)

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