Sasanid Empire I

  General Description   The Sassanids came from the Parthian province of Persis near the Zagros mountains of western Iran. Ardashir I defeated the last Parthian ruler Ardawan (Artabanus IV) in 224 CE and claimed the title "King of Kings" in imitation of the ancient Archaemenids. The early Sassanid rulers claimed a divine descent until powerful Zoroastrian priests ended this by the 4th century. The long reign of Shapur II (309-379 CE) saw the peak of peace and security within the empire ^[1] that had a total population of perhaps 5 million people.
In the early period royal cities were built and administered by shahrabs who ruled as petty kings. ^[2] Centralization occurred in the later Sassanid period when the empire was split into four parts each ruled by a spahbad who had civil and military powers. ^[2]
The size of Persian court and bureaucracy notability increases between Ardashir I and Shapur I (240-270 CE). ^[3] Institutions of administration continued to evolve from those present in the Parthian era ^[2] a grand vizier now present at the central government in the capital Ctesiphon whose remit encompassed control of the diwans, diplomatic affairs as well as occasional stints as commander of the army. ^[4] By the fifth century the centralized bureaucracy was sophisticated enough that "the death of a king would not bring the empire down." ^[5]
Rise of Zoroastrian Church under Kerdir 274 CE had monumental impact on Persia with the persecution of religious minorities (Christians, Manichaeans, Mandeans, Jews and Buddhists) ^[6] . The Zoroastrian priests had initially tolerated rival religious such as Manichaeism until Shapur I (240-270 CE) but Mani was eventually executed. ^[3] By the time of Bahram II (274-293 CE) the Sasanian kings themselves had lost their own religious freedom as caretakers of the Anahid fire temple to a priest called Kerdir "who became the judge of the whole empire. ... from this point on, the priests acted as judges throughout the empire, and court cases were probably based on Zoroastrian law except when members of other religious minorities had disputes with each other." ^[6]

[1]: (Daryaee 2009, 2-20, 200) Touraj Daryaee. 2009. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B. Tauris. London.

[2]: (Chegini 1996, 45) N N Chegini. Political History, Economy and Society. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf

[3]: (Daryaee 2009, 2-20) Touraj Daryaee. 2009. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B. Tauris. London.

[4]: (Wilcox 1986, 24) P Wilcox. 1986. Rome’s Enemies (3): Parthians and Sassanid Persians. Osprey Publishing.

[5]: (Daryaee 2012, 196) Daryaee, Touraj. The Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE). in Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

[6]: (Daryaee 2012, 191) Touraj Daryaee. The Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE). in Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. Oxford.