archaicwonder:Sassanid Gold Horse Head Rhyton, 6th-7th Century ADThe Sassanid Empire, which succeede
archaicwonder:Sassanid Gold Horse Head Rhyton, 6th-7th Century ADThe Sassanid Empire, which succeeded the Parthian Empire, was recognized as one of the two main powers in Western Asia, alongside the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire, for more than 400 years. The Sassanid dynasty was founded by Ardashir I when he had defeated the last Parthian (Arsacid) king, Artabanus IV, and ended when the last Sassanid Shahanshah (King of Kings), Yazdegerd III (632–651), lost a 14-year struggle to drive out the early Arab Caliphate, the first of the Islamic empires. The Empire’s traditional territory included all of today’s Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Afghanistan, eastern parts of Turkey, and parts of Syria, Pakistan, Caucasia, Central Asia and Arabia. The Sassanid era is considered to be one of the most important and influential historical periods in Iran. In many ways the Sassanid period saw the highest achievement of Persian civilization, and constituted the last great Iranian Empire before the Muslim conquest and adoption of Islam. -- source link