Ardashir I

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Ardashir I

King of Kings of Iranians

Coin of Ardashir I, minted at Ctesiphonbetween 228-239

Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire

Reign 224–242 AD

Predecessor Artabanus V (Parthian Empire)

Successor Shapur I

Co-ruler Shapur I (240–242)

Born 180 AD

Tiruda, Istakhr, Pars[1]

Died February 242 AD[2]

(aged 62)

Spouse Denag

Issue Shapur I

House House of Sasan

Father Papak

Mother Rodag

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Ardashir I or Ardeshir I (Middle Persian , New Persian: ‫اردﺷﯾر ﺑﺎﺑﮑﺎن‬, Ardashir-e

Bābakān), also known as Ardashir the Unifier[3] (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian
Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the dynasty of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new
empire. After defeating the last Parthian shahanshah Artabanus V on the Hormozdgan plain in 224,
he overthrew the Parthian dynasty and established the Sasanian dynasty. Afterwards, Ardashir
called himself "shahanshah" and began conquering the land that he called Iran.[4][5]
There are various historical reports about Ardashir's lineage and ancestry. According to Al-
Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings, Ardashir was son of Papak, son of Sasan. Another
narrative that exists in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan and Ferdowsi's Shahnamehalso states it
says that Ardashir was born from the marriage of Sasan, a descendant of Darius III, with the
daughter of Papak, a local governor in Pars.
According to Al-Tabari's report, Ardashir was born in the outskirts of Istakhr, Pars. Al-Tabari adds
that Ardashir was sent to the lord of Fort Darabgard when he was seven years old. After the lord's
death, Ardashir succeeded him and became the commander of Fort Darabgard. Al-Tabari continues
that afterward, Papak overthrew the local Persian shah named Gochihr and appointed his
son, Shapur, instead of him. According to Al-Tabari's report, Shapur and his father, Papak, suddenly
died and Ardashir became the ruler of Pars. Tension rose between Ardashir and the Parthian empire
and eventually on April 28, 224, Ardashir faced the army of Artabanus V in the Hormozdgan plain
and Artabanus, the Parthian shahanshah, was killed during the battle.
According to the royal reports, it was Papak who overthrew Gochihr, the local Persian shah, and
appointed his son, Shapur, instead of him; Ardashir refused to accept Shapur's appointment and
removed his brother and whosoever stood against him and then minted coins with his face drawn on
and his father, Papak's behind. It is probable that the determining role that is stated about Ardashir in
leading the rebellion against the central government is the product of the later historical studies.
Papak had probably united most of Pars under his rule by then.
Ardashir had an outstanding role in developing the royal ideology. He tried to show himself as a
worshiper of Mazda related to god and possessing khvarenah. The claim of the legitimacy of his
reign as a rightful newcomer from the line of the mythical Iranian shahs and the propagations
attributed to Ardashir against the legitimacy and role of the Parthians in the Iranian history sequence
show the valuable place that the Achaemenid legacy had in the minds of the first Sasanian
shahanshahs; though the current belief is that the Sasanians did not know much about the
Achaemenids and their status. On the other hand, some historians believe that the first Sasanian
shahanshahs were familiar with the Achaemenids and their succeeding shahanshahs deliberately
turned to the Kayanians. They knowingly ignored the Achaemenids in order to attribute their past to
the Kayanians; and that was where they applied holy historiography.
 In order to remark his victories, Ardashir carved petroglyphs in Firuzabad (the city of Gor or
Ardashir-Khwarrah), Naqsh-e Rajab and Naqsh-e Rustam. In his petroglyph in Naqsh-e Rustam,
Ardashir and Ahura Mazda are opposite to each other on horsebacks and the corpses of Artabanus
and Ahriman are visualized under the nails of the horses of Ardashir and Ahura Mazda. It can be
deduced from the picture that Ardashir assumed or wished for others to assume that his rule over
the land that was called "Iran" in the inscriptionswas designated by the lord. The word "Iran" was
previously used in Avesta and as "the name of the mythical land of the Aryans". In Ardashir's period,
the title "Iran" was chosen for the region under the Sasanian rule. The idea of "Iran" was accepted
for both the Zoroastrian and non-Zoroastrian societies in the whole kingdom and the Iranians'
collective memory continued and lived on in the various stages and different layers of the Iranian
society until the modern period today. What is clear is that the concept of "Iran" previously had a
religious application and then ended up creating its political face and the concept of a geographical
collection of lands.

Contents

 1Etymology
 2Historiography
o 2.1Text remnants
o 2.2Reports
 2.2.1Greek-Roman
 2.2.2Armenian
 2.2.3Syriac
 2.2.4Middle Persian
 2.2.5New Persian
 2.2.6Arabic
 3Lineage and ancestry
 4Iran before rise of the Sasanians
 5State of the Parthian Empire before its demise
 6Biography
o 6.1Early years until his uprising and gaining power
o 6.2After coronation
o 6.3War with Rome
o 6.4Final years and succession
o 6.5Timeline of life
 7Reign infrastructure
o 7.1The procedure of centralization of power
 7.1.1Urbanization
o 7.2Government ideology and Iranian thought
o 7.3Religious policy
o 7.4Court and government posts
 8Ardashir in the narrative-mythical Iranian history
 9Ardashir's petroglyphs
 10Numismatics
 11Legacy
o 11.1Ardashir's Testament
o 11.2Ardashir's Testament to His Son Shapur
o 11.3Ardashir's Book in Government Principles
o 11.4Ardashir-Khwarrah
 12See also
 13References
 14Sources
 15External links

Etymology[edit]
"Ardashir" is the New Persian form of the Middle Persian name , which is ultimately
from Old Iranian *Artaxšaθra-, equivalent to Greek Artaxérxēs (Αρταξέρξης),
and Armenian Artašēs ( ).[6] Literally, Ardashir means "the one whose reign is based on
honesty and justice". The first part of *Artaxšaθra- is adapted from the religious concept of justice
[7]

known as Ṛta or Asha and the second part is related to the concept "city".[6]
Three of Achaemenid kings of kings and four of the local Shahs of Pars - known
as Frataraka and Kings of Persis - were named Ardashir, and Ardashir I has been Ardashir V in the
chain of local Shahs.[8][9]

Historiography[edit]
The primary references of the Sassanian era can be divided to the two categories "text remnants"
and "reports":
Text remnants[edit]
Text remnants include inscriptions, leather writings, papyri and crockeries written in multiple
languages and scripts.[10] Examples of text remnants related to Ardashir I include his short inscription
in Nagsh-e Rajab and also Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht.[10]
Reports[edit]
Reports are texts that are written in various languages and periods.[10] It should be noted that the
basis of the writings of all Muslim historians (Arabic and Persian histories), has been the
official Khwaday-Namag of the Sassanian court that have utilized the recorded diaries in the official
calendars of the court as references. Khwaday-Namag was prepared at the ends of the Sassanian
era in Middle Persian language. The title of the Arabic translation of the book was Seir-ol Moluk-el
Ajam and the Persian version was Shahnameh. Today, none of the direct translations of Khwaday-
Namag or its original Persian text are available.[11]
Greek-Roman[edit]
Cassius Dio is one of the famous resources of Parthian history that has given a report about the
downfall of the Parthians and the rise of Ardashir I.[10]
Herodian's History has also extensively explained the procedure of the change of monarchy from
Parthian to Sassanian.[11]
Although Agathias lived during the time of Khosrow I, due to his access to the royal yearbooks
in Ctesiphon archives, his history book is one of the main sources. However, he has used colloquial
statements in reporting the story of Ardashir's youth.[10]