Ardashir I

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Ardashir I
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King of Kings of Iran

Gold dinar of Ardashir I, 230 A.D.

King of Persis

Reign 211/2–224

Predecessor Shapur

Successor Office abolished

Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire

Reign 224–242

Coronation 226

Ctesiphon
 Predecessor Artabanus IV (Parthian Empire)

Successor Shapur I

Co-ruler Shapur I (240–242)

Born Unknown

Tiruda, Khir, Pars

Died February 242

Spouse Denag

Issue Shapur I

House House of Sasan

Father Pabag or Sasan

Religion Zoroastrianism

Ardashir I or Ardeshir I (Middle Persian: �������, Modern Persian: ‫اردشیر‬

‫بابکان‬, Ardašire Bâbakân), also known as Ardashir the Unifier[1] (180 – 242 AD), was the
founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he
founded the new empire. After defeating the last Parthian shahanshah Artabanus IV on
the Hormozdgan plain in 224, he overthrew the Parthian dynasty and established the
Sasanian dynasty. Afterwards, Ardashir called himself "shahanshah" and began
conquering the land that he called Iran.[2][3]
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 that exists in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i
Pabagan and Ferdowsi's Shahnameh also states it says that Ardashir was born from
the marriage of Sasan, a descendant of Darius III, with the daughter of Papak, a local
governor in Pars.
According to Al-Tabari's report, Ardashir was born in the outskirts of Istakhr, Pars. Al-
Tabari adds that Ardashir was sent to the lord of Fort Darabgard when he was seven
years old. After the lord's death, Ardashir succeeded him and became the commander
of Fort Darabgard. Al-Tabari continues that afterward, Papak overthrew the local
Persian shah named Gochihr and appointed his son, Shapur, instead of him. According
to Al-Tabari's report, Shapur and his father, Papak, suddenly died and Ardashir became
the ruler of Pars. Tension rose between Ardashir and the Parthian empire and
eventually on April 28, 224, Ardashir faced the army of Artabanus IV in the Hormozdgan
plain and Artabanus, the Parthian shahanshah, was killed during the battle.
According to the royal reports, it was Papak who overthrew Gochihr, the local Persian
shah, and appointed his son, Shapur, instead of him; Ardashir refused to accept
Shapur's appointment and removed his brother and whosoever stood against him and
then minted coins with his face drawn on and his father, Papak's behind. It is probable
that the determining role that is stated about Ardashir in leading the rebellion against the
central government is the product of the later historical studies. Papak had probably
united most of Pars under his rule by then.
Ardashir had an outstanding role in developing the royal ideology. He tried to show
himself as a worshiper of Mazda related to god and possessing khvarenah. The claim of
the legitimacy of his reign as a rightful newcomer from the line of the mythical Iranian
shahs and the propagations attributed to Ardashir against the legitimacy and role of the
Parthians in the Iranian history sequence show the valuable place that
the Achaemenid legacy had in the minds of the first Sasanian shahanshahs; though the
current belief is that the Sasanians did not know much about the Achaemenids and their
status. On the other hand, some historians believe that the first Sasanian shahanshahs
were familiar with the Achaemenids and their succeeding shahanshahs deliberately
turned to the Kayanians. They knowingly ignored the Achaemenids in order to attribute
their past to the Kayanians; and that was where they applied holy historiography.
In order to remark his victories, Ardashir carved petroglyphs in Firuzabad (the city of
Gor or Ardashir-Khwarrah), Naqsh-e Rajab and Naqsh-e Rustam. In his petroglyph in
Naqsh-e Rustam, Ardashir and Ahura Mazda are opposite to each other on horsebacks
and the corpses of Artabanus and Ahriman are visualized under the hooves of the
horses of Ardashir and Ahura Mazda. It can be deduced from the picture that Ardashir
assumed or wished for others to assume that his rule over the land that was called
"Iran" in the inscriptions was designated by the lord. The word "Iran" was previously
used in Avesta and as "the name of the mythical land of the Aryans". In Ardashir's
period, the title "Iran" was chosen for the region under the Sasanian rule. The idea of
"Iran" was accepted for both the Zoroastrian and non-Zoroastrian societies in the whole
kingdom and the Iranians' collective memory continued and lived on in the various
stages and different layers of the Iranian society until the modern period today. What is
clear is that the concept of "Iran" previously had a religious and ethnic application and
then ended up creating its pol