SASSANID EMPIREBy: Kevin Baker

Location and Time

-location, middle Persia/ modern day Iran

-Time, 224 A.D. to 641 A.D.

Centralized Government

-Government is centralized around a god appointed governing body known as the Shahanshah or King of Kings.

-smaller territories were ruled by lesser members of the royal family, known as Shahrdar

Bureaucracies

-There is a group of bureaucrats below the king that handle the government, consisting :- The Vuzorg Farmadar

(Vice Chancellor)- The Mobadan (Head

Priest)- Iran Spahbod

(commander in chief)- Ho Tokhshan Bod

(head of trader syndicate)

- Vastrioshansalar (minister of agriculture)

Military Recruitment

-Paighan, light infantry units drawn from Sassanid peasant population to be used as meat shields-Cataphract, elite cavalry unit drawn from noble population and trained from birth for their position.

Diplomacy andDeveloping supply lines

-The Sassanid empire , with the aid of china kept the silk road supply lines operational and supplied convoys to protect traders.-The Sassanid also had alliances with china to protect central Asia for their own purposes, against Turkish advances.

Trade Infrastructure

-The Sassanid's trade was based around the sales of these items; -silk -textiles -carpets/rugs -leather -pearls-They also bought silk, paper, and spices from China and India and resold them to Europe at an upcharge.-Sassanid trade was so successful because of their excellent protection of trade routes

Currency

-The Sassanid currency was called the Drachm-The coin has a picture of Great King Bahram V -The back of the coin features 2 priests around a fire altar

Major cities

-Nishapur, occupies an import position on the silk road, and defined the border between the Iranian peninsula and the rest of Asia-Ctesiphon, capital city of the Sassanid empire, seat of power for the empire-Gundeshapur, One of the most innovative cities in the Sassanid empire. Captured Greek philosophers fleeing byzantine rule and had them translate texts.

Social Hierarchy

4 Classes-Priests (Atorbanan)-Warriors (Arteshtaran)-Secretaries (Dabiran)-Commoners (Vasteryoshan-Hootkheshan)3 Classifications-Bozorgan (nobles)-Azatan (freemen)-Peasants

Nobles Freemen Peasants

Priests Secretaries Peasants

Warriors Commoners Slaves

Corvee

-men in the Sassanid empire had to pay tribute to their state by participating in the military for a given amount of time.-simple peasants were used as infantry “meat shields”-Freemen (Azadan) were in the cavalry as clibanarii, spear using armored cavalry

Patriarchy

-Head of all of the state was always preferred to be male-all official positions were held by men-men could have multiple wives

Collapse

-Constant fighting with the Byzantine empire left the empire with a bad economy-Over taxation caused civil disputes and further hurt the economy-Arabs, recently united by Islam saw the weakness and overtook the Sassanid empire.

Bibliography Conzett, Jurg. money museum, 2002. Google. Web. 8 Sept. 2011.

<http://www.moneymuseum.com/moneymuseum/library/coins/coin.jsp?lang=en&aid=9&ix=26&i=13>. Shapur Shahbazi, A. (2005), "Sassanian Dynasty", Encyclopedia Iranica (Columbia University Press) Frye, R.N. (1993), "The Political History of Iran under the Sassanians", in William Bayne Fisher, Ilya

Gershevitch, Ehsan Yarshater, R. N. Frye, J. A. Boyle, Peter Jackson, Laurence Lockhart, Peter Avery, Gavin Hambly, Charles Melville, The Cambridge History of Iran, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-20092-X

Kröger, Jens (1993), "Ctesiphon", Encyclopedia Iranica, 6, Costa Mesa: Mazda Information |Description=Fresco from Qizil. 6th century. "Tocharian donors", with light hair and light eye

color, dressed in Sassanian style, 6th century CE fresco, Qizil, Tarim Basin, China. |Source=Originally from [http://en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia)

Depiction of Queen Scheherazade telling her stories to King Shahryar in The Arabian Nights. {{PD-old}} ) more realistic borders & corrections as regards maximum extent in the 7th century, per

http://ecai.org/sasanianweb/sasanianmapmenu.html) (This picture is originally from english Wikipedia. The creator of this work released it into the public domain, please watch the page at english WP: en:Image:Sassanid empire map.PNG)

{{Information |Description = Historical re-enactment of a [[Sassanid]] era cataphract in [[Oxford]]. (Rider: Chris Winstanley Mount: Uther) |Source = [http://www.remountdepot.com/] |Date = 21/06/2003 |Author = John Tremell

(Source http://www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/ugp/ == Licensing == {{PD-old}} from en wp (del) (cur) 03:32, 13 December 2005 . . Amir85 (Talk) . . 452x297 (33753 bytes))

({{Information |Description={{en|1=Genealogic tree of the sasanid dinasty of Persia.}} {{es|1=Árbol genealógico de la dinastía sasánida de Persia.}} |Source=trabajo propio (own work) |Author=Nachoseli |Date=15/3/2009 |Permission= |ot)

TimeRime. TimeRime, 2003. Google. Web. 11 Sept. 2011. <http://timerime.com/en/timeline/321645/Islam/>.