Who Was When

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Sasanian Empire

Middle East & Central AsiaHeartland today: Iran and Iraq

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Ardashir I founded the Sasanian Empire in 224 CE after defeating the last Parthian king. Its kings promoted Zoroastrianism and fought Rome, then Byzantium, for four centuries. It was the last native dynasty of Persia before the Arab conquest, which ended it by 651.

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Key events

  1. – Ardashir I defeats the last Parthian king, takes Ctesiphon and founds the Sasanian dynastyDisputed
  2. Shapur I takes the Roman emperor Valerian prisoner
  3. Khosrow I becomes king and reforms taxation and the army
  4. Khosrow I takes Antioch from the Byzantines and settles its people in a new city near Ctesiphon
  5. Sasanian forces under Shahrbaraz take Jerusalem and carry off the relic of the True Cross
  6. Arab forces defeat the Sasanian army at al-Qadisiyyah and kill its commander, RostamDisputed
  7. Yazdegerd III's army is destroyed at Nahavand and he retreats north-east
  8. Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanian king, is killed at Merv