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THE SASANIAN EMPIRE
ARDASHIR PAPAKIAN 261-241 CE
The family of Papak were the ruling princes in Pars under the Parthian emperors. To this family was born a prince Ardashir (old Persian name Artakshir, Artaxerxes). His father’s name was Sasan. Ardashir grew up in the court of the Parthian emperor Ardavan but he rebelled against Ardavan. He fled to Pars and raised an army and challenged Ardavan to battle. After some reluctance Ardavan decided to suppress this rebellious prince and in the battle that followed Ardavan was killed. Ardashir proclaimed himself emperor of all Iran. His army conquered all the parts of the Parthian empire within a few years and he started the Sasanian dynasty.
Ardashir was a religious person and probably came from a priestly family, he was also ambitious and a strong administrator. He was determined to make Zoroastrianism the state religion of Iran. Since there were many forms of Zoroastrian beliefs and practice at this time in Iran, he chose the practice and beliefs that were followed in his home province Pars as the standard form of Zoroastrianism. In this task he was helped by a brilliant priest, Tansar, who he made the high-priest of the empire. Tansar and his successor high-priests were comparable in authority and power to the Christian popes. Ardashir and Tansar gathered all the scattered teachings of the religion, all the books, the oral traditions, the different practices and ceremonies. From these Tansar selected one tradition and one set of scriptures as the true one and this Ardashir tried to enforce all over Iran. This was not well accepted by the Zoroastrians of other provinces who had their own old traditions and practices. Ardashir, even ordered the destruction of Zoroastrian temples which did not confirm to the version that Tansar had decided on. New temples were built in their place. History records considerable fighting between Zoroastrians of other areas and the armies of Ardashir. In the end Ardashir and Tansar prevailed, partly by force and partly by Tansar’s power of persuasion and an uniform Zoroastrianism became the state religion of the land. Ardashir introduced a new 365 day calendar in place of the old 360 day calendar adding the 5 Gatha days at the end of the calendar year. This also caused great confusion and anger amongst Zoroastrians.
Ardashir’s reign of 15 years seems to have been very busy. He had not only to bring about the unification of Iran under his rule but also simultaneously fight the Romans. He sent a delegation of Persian nobles to Rome to demand the return of all Iranian territory and the withdrawal of Romans back to Europe. The Romans regarded this as a declaration of war. The Roman emperor Alexander Servus took to battle. The years of fighting that followed changed the boundary between Rome and Iran very little and both sides gave up on the fighting for the time being.
Ardashir organized the empire along traditional lines following the Hakhamanian and Parthian tradition of forming Satrapies governed by a Satrap, who now was a Persian noble. There was also a military governor in each Satrapy directly responsible to Ardashir. He tried his best to claim descent from the Hakhamanian kings who were also Persian (i.e. from Pars). Not far from Persepolis, near the tombs of the Hakhamanian kings at a place that is now called Naksh-i-Rustom, Ardashir had a huge carving made. Here he is shown receiving the divine glory (Khwaraneh) from Ahura-Mazda. He is also shown stepping on the dead body of Ardavan, the last Parthian king, while Ahura-Mazda is shown stepping on Ahriman. This carving has a great similarity to that of Darius the Great at Behistun. On Ardashir’s carving the three languages used are Middle Persian, Parthian and Greek. These were the common languages of the empire. Ardashir died in 241 CE.
SHAPUR I 241-271 CE
On the death of Ardashir his son Shahpur became king. His reign was marked by continuous fighting with Rome.. From 235 CE to 254 CE, seven Roman emperors were proclaimed and murdered. Shapur took advantage of the instability in Rome and drove the Romans from the Tigris to the Euphrates. He also put down rebellion in Armenia and Asia Minor and conquered Syria.
Valerian became Roman emperor in 254 CE and tried to regain territory lost to the Iranians. In the battle with Shahpur, Valerian and much of his army was captured at Edessa. This great victory of Shahpur is recorded in a monument near Persepolis. In honor of this victory, Shahpur built many Atash Behrams all over Iran.
Shapur’s high priest was Kirder (Kartir), probably the most powerful priest in Zoroastrian history. He was allowed to have his own inscriptions like royalty and after Shapur’s death was also king-maker. In his inscription at Sar Mashed he says” Through my actions, religious activities were increased, many Vahram fires (Atash Behrams) were founded and many priests became happy and prosperous, much benefit accrued to Hormazd and the Yazads and there was much harm to Ahriman and the Devs and the doctrine of Ahriman and the Devs departed the land and was no more believed. And Jews, Buddhists, Brahmans, Mandeans, Christians and Manichaeans are being defeated in the land.”
At this time there seems to have been controversies between Zoroastrianism and the minority religions of the land and Kirder played an important role in defending the doctrines and practices of Zoroastrianism against the priests and missionaries of other religions.
One particular off-shoot of Zoroastrianism was Manichaeism which was started by an Iranian prophet Mani. He kept some of the basic teachings of Zoroastrianism, such as belief in one God, the devil, existence of the soul after death, the individual judgment after death and the final victory of good over evil. However instead of teaching men to fight evil and work for the good he taught that mankind would be best off, if they gave up earthly duties and became hermits. Much to the unhappiness of Kirder, Shahpur invited Mani to his court, where he spent many years. Shapur had a great religious curiosity and liked to hear about the different religions of his empire. He died in 271 CE.
EMPERORS AFTER SHAHPUR I
After Shahpur I’s death, there was a rapid succession of kings, Hormazd I (271-272 CE), Bahram (Vahram) I (272-275 CE), Bahram II (275-292 CE) and Bahram III (292-293 CE). During this time, the Romans took advantage of the instability in Iran and won back some of the territories that Shapur had won from them. On the religious front, Kirder was still in charge. He was at the height of his power and was able to play an important role in choosing the succession of kings. He managed to have Mani tried and killed in the reign of Bahram I.
After these kings, Narseh the youngest son of Shapur became king and ruled from 292-302 CE. During his reign the Romans managed to push the boundary to the Tigris river. Narseh abdicated the throne in shame and Hormazd II became king, ruling from 302-309 CE. He died in 309 CE. His queen was expecting and the nobles chose this unborn child as the next ruler. Luckily the child was a boy and as we shall see he turned out to be one of the greatest Sasanian kings.
SHAPUR II THE GREAT 309-379 CE
Shahpur II was crowned king when he was only 40 days old. A wise counselor ran the country for 16 years until Shapur took the reigns of power at the age of 16. The early part of his long reign was spent in fighting the Romans who had again occupied some territories east of the Tigris. In a war of 27 years Shahpur II managed to drive the Romans back to the Euphrates. He also won back Armenia from the Romans.
It was during Shapur II’s reign that the Roman emperor Constantine became a Christian and Christianity became the state religion of the Roman empire. Now to be a Christian in Iran or a Zoroastrian in Rome was almost like being a traitor because one was following the religion of the enemy.
Though both religions worshipped one God, their approach was quite different. Zoroastrians showed great respect for nature and worshipped Ahura Mazda through the worship of his creations. Physical cleanliness and maintaining the purity of the elements was of great importance to them. The Christians paid no attention to their personal cleanliness and did not respect nature. Zoroastrians considered life to be a blessing to be enjoyed while one performed good deeds and fought evil. Many Christians believed
asceticism and a life of poverty and suffering insured them a place in heaven. Many Christians believed in celibacy. These conflicting views and the fact that the Christians were always trying to convert people to their religion, caused considerable enmity between the two and Christians were often persecuted in Iran.
During the reign of Shapur II, a great Zoroastrian High Priest by the name of Adurbad Marespand, reinterpreted the old Avestan prayers and made many free translations from Avestan into the then current language, Pahlavi. Avesta, by now was a dead language, understood only by a few learned priests. Zoroastrians could now pray in a language they could understand. To prove the world that his translations were authentic, Adurbad Marespand underwent and survived the ancient ordeal of having molten metal poured on his chest. To this day, we honor this great priest by remembering his name in our prayers of remembrance for the dead.
In spite of the conflict with Rome and the internal conflicts with Christians (mostly in western Iran), Shapur’s long reign was a prosperous and happy time for Zoroastrian Iran. The initial conflicts created by the unification of the Zoroastrian church were in the past. A great rejuvenation and understanding of the faith among its followers was taking place. The power of the church was supreme but not yet oppressive. Shahpur II died in 379 CE.
After Shahpur II, three kings ruled for short periods.
Aratakshir (Ardashir)II, Shapur’s brother, 379-383 CE, was deposed by the ruling council.
Shahpur III, Shahpur II’s son, 383-399 CE, died in an accident.
Bahram IV, son of Shahpur III, 389-399 was killed by assassins.
YAZDEGARD I 399-420 CE
Shahpur II’s son, Yazdegard became king in 399 CE and ruled for 21 years. Initially he was kind to the Christians and Jews in Iran. He even allowed them to bury their dead (pollute the earth, from the Zoroastrian point of view). For this, he is known in Zoroastrian liIterature as Yazdegard the sinner. Because of his leniency towards the Christians, the Christians became quite bold. There are records of Christians in Iran destroying fire-temples, extinguishing sacred fires and celebrating mass in those temples. Incidents like these turned Yazdegard against the Christians and in the end he took stern measures against them.
Around this time two great national fires were started. Adur Faranbag in Pars was the special fire of the priestly class and Adur Gushnasp in Media was the special fire of the kings and warrior class. These two fires now rivaled the ancient fire Burzin-Mihr, which had been started by the Parthian kings in eastern Iran and which had been their kingly fire. Adur Burzin-Mihr now became the special fire of the farmers.
The ruins of Adur Gushnasp can still be seen in Azerbaijan province of Iran. Adur Gushnasp was built on a very beautiful location. It was on the top of a flat mountain, where there was a natural lake. The temple was built on the side of the lake and was surrounded by brick walls on three sides. From the gates of this wall a magnificent roadway took the pilgrims to the entrance of the temple. The Sasanian kings made pilgrimages to this temple on many important occasions and sent large gifts to the temple on the birth of royal children, on the occasion of a great victory, etc.
These three fires are still remembered at the end of the Atash-Ni-Niyaesh.
BAHRAM V 420-439 CE
Yazdegard’s son Bahram V became king on his death. It seems that the royal council wanted Khusrow, another royal family member, to become king. There was danger of a war between the two factions. Instead, it was decided that the royal crown be placed on the throne, to which two wild lions were tied and whoever was able to subdue the lions and sit on the throne would be crowned king. Bahram V, won this contest.
Bahram V was also known as Bahramgur, because he was fond of hunting wild asses (onagers). This king was religious minded but he loved riding, hunting and wrote poetry. His rule seems to have been kind and benevolent, he reduced taxes and ruled justly and he was a very popular king. During his reign the Romans again started a war, Bahramgur successfully fought them and in the end signed a treaty which granted religious freedom for Zoroastrians in Rome and Christians in Iran.
Bahramgur is said to have journeyed to India, disguised as his own ambassador to the court of king Vasudeva of Kanoj in western India (north of Bombay).
YAZDEGARD II 439-457 CE
During the reign of Yazdegard II, there was a threat to Iran from nomadic tribes in the north east and Yazdegard had to move his court to the north eastern part of Iran for seven years, to be closer to the action. He was influenced during this time by the more ancient customs and names of the north east and these were introduced into the Iranian court.
HORMAZD II (457-459 CE) was followed by PEROZ (459-483 CE).
Peroz introduced a calendar reform to bring Nowruz back to spring. It had moved away from spring because the Iranian calendar had no correction for the leap year. However it resulted in two Nowruz days. One on the first day of spring and one on the traditional first day of the month Farvardin (the first month).
VALASH 483-487 CE succeeded Peroz and was followed by KOBAD I 487-531 CE
For a period of 100 years, from Shahpur II’s death to the reign of Kobad I, the Zoroastrian church grew steadily in size and in power. Iranian Zoroastrian society became a feudal system in which most of the land was owned by the church or the nobility and the common man was left to pay the taxes. Neither the priesthood nor the nobility was subjected to taxes. The judicial system was also in the hands of the priesthood, so that in conflicts with the church, justice favored the church. The same combination of church and state which had worked to unify and rejuvenate Zoroastrianism was now working to oppress the masses, often in the name of religion.
During Kobad I’s reign a new religion, an off shoot of Zoroastrianism was started by Mazdak. He taught that men should not kill animals and eat flesh. He taught that asceticism and withdrawal from worldly attachments was a good thing because it reduced greed. He taught that all men should share everything equally, food, property and even wives! He was the first to teach a communistic way of life, where no one owned anything. To the oppressed masses whose share in the riches of Iran was negligible, Mazdakism made sense and he had many followers.
Kobad liked his teachings and supported Mazdak. The noble and priests opposed this movement and after a few years Kobad was deposed and his brother Zamasp became king. Kobad fled to the nomads of the north east and with their help he regained his throne. However, he gave up his support for Mazdak. His eldest son had become a Mazdakite and he made his third son Khusrow heir to the throne. In 528 CE, Khusrow invited all the Mazdakites to a royal banquet and while they were there he had them massacred, including Mazdak their leader. That was the end of the Mazdakite movement. Kobad died soon after and Khusrow became king.
KHUSROW I (ANOSHIRAWAN) 531-579 CE
Khusrow ruled for 50 years. He was a strong king and his rule is well documented and historically he is one of the best known Sasanian kings.
Having destroyed the Mazdakite movement, he introduced far reaching reforms that benefited the common man and the farmers. He lowered the tax on the common man, including the land tax on farmers and reformed the judicial system. He made reforms that benefited the farmers and increased agricultural production, which brought prosperity to Iran.
He was a religious king and worked closely with the priests. In a document called the Karnamag-I-Anoshirvan, he says, “ I give thanks to Ahura Mazda for the favors he has shown me. These favors require in return a deep sense of obligation on my part, which I express in both words and deeds. I, therefore, choose a course of action, which will support the Law of Asha, which is the great cosmic moral principle that governs life and sustains all the good creation of Ahura Mazda.” Guided by these feelings Khusrow earned the title Anoshirwan (of immortal soul) by his kind and just rule.
He had to fight the Romans and also nomadic tribes in the north. After subjugating the nomads he made them defenders of his northern borders. He sent priests to teach them Zoroastrianism and built fire-temples in these areas.
A major event that happened during Khosrow I’s reign or some time before that, was the invention of the new Avestan alphabet. Up to this time there always had been a difficulty in the writing of the Avestan language. There was no alphabet available that would guarantee the correct pronunciation of the words. The Avesta therefore depended on a oral transmission from generation to generation, with the written word used only as a rough guide. An unknown genius priest, invented the Avestan alphabet by expanding the 20 letter Pahlavi alphabet to a 46 letter completely phonetic alphabet. With this tool the priests started to write down the entire Avesta, the 24 Nasks. Along with this the Pahlavi commentary was also written down using this alphabet. This written Avesta and the commentary, which is called the Zand is still available to us in part. Much of it was destroyed or lost, after the Arab invasion of Iran.
Another major event was the birth of the prophet Mohammed in Arabia, who started Islam, which was soon to invade and destroy Zoroastrian Iran.
HORMAZD IV 570-590 CE
Hormazd succeeded his father in 579 CE. He was tolerant to Christians and to other religions in Iran. In a war with Rome, the Iranian army under the general Bahram Chobin, was defeated. Hormazd heaped insults on the general. In anger against his unfair treatment, Bahram attacked the capital Ctesiphon, defeated Hormazd and put him to death. However, the Persian nobles did not regard Bahram to be the rightful heir and supported Hormazd’s son Khusrow. The new Roman emperor Maurice also supported Khusrow and with his help, Khusrow was able to regain the throne. Bahram fled east and died soon after.
KHUSROW II (PERVEZ, THE VICTORIOUS) 590-628 CE
Khusrow II’s reign was the last long reign of a Zoroastrian king in Iran. The beginning of his reign saw his armies conquering Palestine and Egypt from the Romans. The Iranian army was at the gates of Constantinople, the capital of Byzantine Rome. The treasure of the Roman emperor was captured by the Iranians and with it the Cross on which Jesus had been crucified. These early victories earned Khusrow II the title “Pervez” (the victorious).
His victories were short lived. The Romans rallied and invaded Iran, captured Ctesiphon and also destroyed the great fire temple, Adur-Gushnasp. Now the Iranians fought back and recaptured their capital and the Romans were driven out of Iran and Adur Gushnasp was rebuilt. In all this fighting, Khusrow II ignored the danger in the south. The Arab tribes were uniting under the banner of Islam and starting to conquer the world.
Khusrow II lived in great splendor and made large gifts to various fire-temples. Near Hamadan in a grotto called Taq-I-Bastan, in today’s Iran, Khusrow had a huge carving made which depicted his coming to the throne of Iran. During his reign the Zoroastrian church became very powerful, controlling the lives of the ordinary Zoroastrian. Zoroastrians were expected to have large number of ceremonies performed on every occasion and observe the strict rules of cleanliness and ritual purity.
Like his father Khusrow blamed his generals for the defeats he suffered against Rome. They were insulted and rebelled and killed him. His son Kobad became king in 628 CE.
END OF THE SASANIAN DYNASTY AND ZOROASTRIAN IRAN.
With the death of Khusrow II we enter a terrible time in our history. Just when Iran needed a strong king to keep it together and stand up against the Arab forces which were moving north, there was none. The Sasanian royal family was divided and struggling for power amongst themselves. The royal council and the generals could not agree on who should be king. Iran now had a succession of eight kings and two queens within five years. Their names are: Kobad (628), Ardashir III (628-629), Shahrbaraz (629-630), Queen Purandokht (630-631), Zurvanshah Gushnabad (631), Queen Azarmidokht (631), Farrokhzad (631), Peroz II (631), Khurzad Khusrow (631-632) and Hormazd V (632).
After five disastrous years in which the affairs of the country were neglected and the confidence of the Iranians in the Sasanian royal family destroyed, the last Sasanian king Yazdegard III came to the throne at the age of 21, in 632 CE. Since this was the last Zoroastrian king we still follow the calendar which starts with the first year of his reign as year 1. Thus 632 CE is year 1 in the Zoroastrian calendar, whether it is Shanshahi, Kadimi or Fasli. The prophet Mohammed died in the same year.
Four years after the death of their prophet, the Arab armies having conquered Egypt, and Syria, were at the gates of the Iranian empire. Yazdegard now had to defend Iran, his army under Rustom Farrokhzad met the Arab army under Saad-ibn-Waqqas at Qadisiyya and after a fierce battle the Iranians were defeated. The Arabs entered Ctesiphon and plundered it. Yazdegard retreated east and in 641CE with another army fought the Arabs at Nihavand. The Iranians, even though they fought fiercely, were defeated again. Yazdegard fled further east. He moved from place to place trying unsuccessfully to raise another army while being pursued by the Arabs. In 652 CE, he was betrayed and killed by a miller named Khusrow, at whose place he had taken refuge, in the city of Merv. This was the end of the Sasanian dynasty.
The Arabs continued their conquest of Iran eastward. Individual provinces and cities held out against the Arabs, for a while. Many local Zoroastrian princes ruled for a considerable time, especially in the mountainous regions of Iran and it was almost three hundred years before all of Iran came under Moslem rule. For a time there were small Zoroastrian kingdoms in western China, Tabaristan, Mazendaran, Khurasan and Kerman.
The Sassanian period of Zoroastrianism was unique. It was the only time that a major unification of the church took place. Sometimes it was bloody and politically motivated, yet it was an honest attempt to rid the faith of heresies, foreign modes of worship and differences in religious practice that had accumulated over nearly 2000 years. It was also the only time that the rituals and practice underwent a controlled change resulting in a faith that suddenly became alive, as its rituals, ceremonies and prayers became understandable in the language of the day. Under the Sassanians the literature of the faith was written down in an alphabet that did not require oral transmission. Finally it was Sassanian Zoroastrianism that stood up to the missionary zeal of Christianity and Buddhism and later was able to survive the holocaust of the Islamic invasion. Perhaps without the unification imposed on it by Sassanian monarchs, Zoroastrianism may well have disappeared under the onslaught of Christianity, and Islam.
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