412 Sassanid Empire “Sargon Legend” his mother, a priestess not allowed to have children, abandons him in a basket in the Euphrates in order to hide his birth From this humble beginning, Sargon establishes himself as the king of the first Mesopotamian empire The “King of Battle” is another tale that tells of how Sargon traveled to Purushkhanda in central Turkey in order to save the merchants there who were being oppressed After defeating the king of the city, Nur-Daggal, the local ruler is allowed to continue to govern as long as he acknowledges Sargon as king The version of the story that we have comes from 1,000 years after Sargon’s reign and shows the difficulty we have in reconstructing Sargon’s reign with texts that are not contemporaneous Because of all the successes of this king, Sargon’s name was adopted by a Neo-Assyrian king of the eighth century b.c.e See also Assyria; Babylon, early period; Moses Further reading: Gadd, C J “The Reign of Sargon,” pp 417–434 In I E S Edwards, C J Gadd, and N G L Hammond, eds The Cambridge Ancient History Vol 1, Part 3d ed Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971 He expanded his kingdom by conquering the east of Persia, invading Sistan, Khurasan, Marw, Khwarazm, and Balkh Kushan’s kings, who ruled over Punjab and Kabul, sent envoys to announce their obedience to him To expand his territory Artaxerxes moved toward the west and was involved in a war with the Roman Empire in 228, in which he defeated the Romans several times Through these wars he invaded Carrhae and Nisibis and then conquered Arminiya and annexed it to Persia Following Artaxerxes, 34 Sassanid kings ruled over Persia Amalgamation of clerical institutions with the monarchy provided the Sassanid monarchs a divine legitimacy, which led to the interference of Zoroastrian priests in the social and political affairs of the country, especially when less powerful kings were ruling This mix of state and Zoroastrian religion threatened the lives of followers of other religions when religious and biased kings ruled the country The Sassanid Empire was the last pre-Islamic Iranian dynasty that ruled over a large part of western Asia Following the Achaemenid dynasty, the Sassanids are considered one of the most powerful and famous Iranian dynasties that positively influenced the evolution of Iranian nationality and culture during their 400-year sovereignty (224–651 c.e.) The dynastic name, Sassanid or Sassanian, is derived from Sasan, said to have been father or grandfather of Ardashir I, also called Artaxerxes SHAPUR I During the reign of Shapur I, Armenia, which had gone undisciplined, was brought under control Gordian III, the Roman emperor who had attacked Nisibis and Mesopotamia, was defeated and killed, while his successor, Philip the Arab, established peace with Shapur in return for submitting a heavy indemnity to Shapur, as well as a free hand in Armenia In a war between Rome and Persia near Edessa, the Roman army was defeated, and Valerian was taken captive The event increased the Sassanids’ self-confidence and dignity Shapur used tens of thousands of captives to advance economic development of his empire The fall of the Kushan Empire by Shapur was one of the most influential events of his kingdom, because it caused the civilized world to be divided between the two empires of Persia and Rome This new Persia was no longer a partner with Rome but a more powerful rival ARTAXERXES Founder of the Sassanid dynasty, Artaxerxes was first appointed as the governer of Darabgard because of his firm familial relationship with the local royal families of Fars He took advantage of the weakness of the Parthian (Arsacide) kings and expanded his realm Having achieved a successful supremacy over Fars, he conquered Isfahan and Kirman and won a face-to-face battle with Arsacid Artabanus V, the last Parthian king, defeating and killing him in 224 c.e., leading to the invasion of Ctesiphon, the Parthian’s capital, in 226 He was crowned as the “king of kings of Iran,” according to the fire temple of Anahita at Istakhr HURMUZ I, BAHRAM I, BAHRAM II, AND BAHRAM III Shapur’s successor, Hurmuz I (272–273) was called “brave” for his couragous actions in wars with Rome and Armenia By allowing the freedom of various religions and limiting the power of clergies and nobles, he followed his father’s lead These activites brought him an early dismissal from the throne In Manichaean literature Hurmuz has been mentioned as the “good king.” Following Hurmuz I , his brother Bahram I (273– 276) took the throne In his reign the policy of tolerance toward non-Zoroastrians was discontinued Limiting other religions, the clergies of the time gained more James Roames Sassanid Empire