- Ardashir I
- (reigned a.d. 226-241)The founder and first ruler of the Sassanian Empire, a Neo-Persian realm that supplanted the Parthian Empire. Like cyrus II, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, Ardashir was born in the old Persian heartland of Fars, north of the Persian Gulf, then a small vassal kingdom within the greater Parthian realm. In 208 Ardashir deposed his brother, Sapur, then the ruler of the kingdom. The new leader of Fars proceeded to expand his power by obtaining the loyalty of the rulers of the surrounding regions. Hoping to stop him, the Parthian king, Artabanus IV, assembled an army and attacked, but Ardashir defeated and killed him in 224. Two years later Ardashir was crowned king of what he viewed as a reborn Persian Empire. He began to create a strong centralized government and oversaw a resurgence of Zoroastrian worship, which had declined under the Parthians. Ardashir also twice invaded western Mesopotamia, then part of the Roman province of that name. In the first campaign he defeated a Roman army but suffered heavy losses and temporarily withdrew. He returned in 237 and captured a number of towns in the area, including Hatra, located southwest of Nineveh. At his death in 241, Ardashir left a firm national and imperial foundation for his son and successor, Shapur I, to build on.
Ancient Mesopotamia dictioary. Don Nardo Robert B. Kebric. 2015.