Ardashir I defeats the Parthians at Hormozdgan and founds the Sasanian Empire
- Date
- 28 April 224 CE
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Iran (Fars / Hormozdgan plain)
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
On 28 April 224 CE Ardashir I, a ruler from Persis (Fars) descended from the line of Sasan, defeated and killed Artabanus IV, the last Arsacid king of kings, on the plain of Hormozdgan.
The victory ended nearly five centuries of Parthian rule and inaugurated the Sasanian Empire, the last great pre-Islamic Iranian state, which would endure for more than four centuries. Ardashir assumed the title shahanshah, King of Kings, and set about welding the loosely federated Parthian domains into a more centralised monarchy with its heartland in Fars and capital at Ctesiphon. He explicitly cast his dynasty as heir to the Achaemenids, reviving the ideology of a unified Iran, Eranshahr. Closely allied with the Zoroastrian priesthood, the Sasanians promoted Zoroastrianism as the favoured religion of the state and a pillar of royal legitimacy. The new empire renewed Iran's role as Rome's, and later Byzantium's, great eastern rival in a rivalry that lasted until the Arab conquests of the seventh century.
One piece of history in your inbox, weekly
New empires, events and features as they land — one good email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Empires active in 28 April 224 CE
- Roman Empire27 BCE – 476 CE
- Kingdom of Funan50 CE – 550 CE
- Sassanid Empire224 CE – 651 CE
- Kushan Empire30 CE – 375 CE
- Zapotec State of Monte Albán500 BCE – 800 CE
- Teotihuacan100 BCE – 750 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Abdication of Emperor Xian ends the Han; Three Kingdoms begin220 CE
- Diocletian establishes the Tetrarchy293 CE (system begun 284–286)
- Chandragupta I founds the Gupta Empire and inaugurates the Gupta erac. 319–320 CE
- Constantine dedicates Constantinople as a new capital11 May 330 CE
- Augustus founds the Principate (First Settlement)16 January 27 BCE
- Deposition of Romulus Augustulus ends the Western Roman Empire4 September 476 CE
Further reading
The wider story
Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
The standard accessible introduction to Sasanian Iran.
Get it on Amazon →As an Amazon Associate, Human Saga earns from qualifying purchases.