Skip to content
Ardashir I

File:Dinar_of_Ardashir_I_(cropped).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ371319· pop 67· linked from 428 articles

Ardashir I

Sign in to save

Also known as Ardashīr ī Pābagān, Artaxerxes IV

founder of the Sassanid Empire (224–242)

AI overview

Ardashir I was a Persian ruler who founded the Sassanid Empire in 224 CE, establishing one of the ancient world's most powerful dynasties that would last for over 400 years. He matters historically because the Sassanid Empire he created became a major rival to Rome and shaped the politics and culture of the Middle East for centuries.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, romanized: Arda(x)šēr), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire, the last empire of ancient Iran. After defeating Artabanus IV, the last King of Kings of Parthia, on the Hormozdgan plain in 224, he overthrew the Arsacid dynasty and established the Sasanian dynasty. Afterwards, Ardashir called himself King of Kings (Šâhân Šâh) and began conquering the land that he called Ērānšahr, the realm of the Iranians.

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 recorded in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan and Ferdowsi's Shahnameh states that Ardashir was born from the marriage of Sasan, a descendant of Darius III, with the daughter of Papak, a local governor in Pars.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ardashir I” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (12)