Sasanian

The Sasanian Empire, also called the Sassanian Empire, was the last pre-Islamic Persian empire, ruling from 224 to 651 CE. It was established by Ardashir I after his defeat of the Parthian Arsacid dynasty; the dynasty takes its name from Sasan, an ancestor of Ardashir, and the term Sasanian is used for the dynasty and its realm. At its height it controlled Mesopotamia, parts of Anatolia, the Caucasus, and the eastern Iranian plateau, with the capital at Ctesiphon near modern Baghdad.

Society was highly centralized under the king, who headed a bureaucratic apparatus and a religious establishment led by Zoroastrian clergy. The state promoted Zoroastrianism as its official faith, while often tolerating other communities; development included codified laws, a system of taxation, and a network of royal palaces and forts. The economy relied on agriculture, long-distance trade along the Silk Road, and a coinage system that circulated across the empire.

Military conflicts with the Byzantine Empire defined much of its history, with notable successes and costly wars under rulers such as Shapur I and during the later reign of Khosrow II. The late 6th and early 7th centuries saw internal dynastic struggles and fatigue from protracted warfare, followed by the Muslim Arab conquests. By 651, the empire had fallen, its last ruler Yazdegerd III murdered, and Sasanian political structures collapsed.

Legacy: Sasanian art and architecture, material culture, and administrative practices influenced later Islamic societies; elements of Sasanian culture persisted in Persian and Central Asian traditions, and the empire is often remembered for its role as a cultural and political bridge between late antiquity and the medieval Middle East.