The House of Sasan

The Sasanian Empire (224–651 AD) represents one of the high points in the history of Iranian civilisation, with Sasanian cultural influence spreading far beyond the territory that it controlled, influencing regions as distant as Western Europe, Eastern Africa, China and India. 

Following the defeat of the Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD), Ardashir I of the House of Sasan established an empire that would swiftly become a regional superpower and would continue Roman-Persian rivalry for the next 400 years. At its zenith, the Sasanian Empire controlled all of modern-day Iran and Iraq and parts of the Arabian Peninsula, in particular Eastern Arabia and South Arabia, the Caucasus, the Levant and parts of Central Asia, as well as parts of the Indian subcontinent.

In this podcast Dr Eve MacDonald (Cardiff University) reflects on this fascinatingly diverse civilisation, discussing some of the key figures and stories that emerged during its long history, and the explosion of ideas that were cultivated and flowed through its central position on the Silk Routes. The Sasanian Empire was eventually defeated during the early Islamic conquests and became absorbed into subsequent caliphates, but its influence was profound and endures to this day.

1. What were the origins of the Sasanian Empire?
2. The government and society of the Sassanids.
3. Ctesiphon and central control. Constructing a Sasanian identity.
4. Constructing orthodox Zoroastrianism.
5. Manicheans and the explosion of ideas and religions during this period.
6. Sasanians and the management of a vastly culturally diverse empire.
7. A centre for learning, literature, engineering and the development of games.
8. The Sassanids and the Silk Routes. Palmyra and the Romans.
9. Superpower conflict and negotiation: The Romans and the Sassanids. Armenia and the Huns.
10. How do relations change with the emergence of the Byzantines?
11. Pre-Islamic Arabia: Christian, Jewish and Pagan Arabs, Romans and Sassanids. The Aksumite-Persian wars.
12. Decline and fall of the Sasanians: White Huns, Byzantines, and Khosrow II.
13. Enduring Sasanian influence on the early Islamic Caliphates, Western literature and modern Iran.
14. Suggested reading.

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