Parthian Empire The Arsacids of Parthia, initially Seleucid vassals, originated as leaders of the Iranian Parni tribe in the northeastern steppes. The Parthians gradually challenged Seleucid rule over Iran. Parthian control of Iran was secured through the c. 142 BC conquest of Babylonia. The Parthians presented themselves as heirs of the Achaemenids, early Parthian rulers used the name of their dynastic founder (Arsaces) as a title. Sasanian Empire The Sasanian dynasty originated as kings of Persis, a Parthian vassal kingdom, and claimed Achaemenid descent. In 224–226, the Sasanian dynast Ardashir I led a revolt against the Parthians, weakened in a recent civil war, and took control of the empire. Ardashir presented himself as a restorer of both regional unity and Achaemenid glory. Rashidun Caliphate The Rashidun Caliphate attacked parts of Sasanian Asoristan in 633. In 638, the Sasanians lost Mesopotamia, by the time of Yazdegerd III's death in 651, the Sasanians only retained Bactria. Following the Muslim victory, the Sasanian Empire was dissolved and Persia became part of the Rashidun Caliphate.

... into the Sasanian aristocracy. According to the author, it was not an abrupt implosion or sudden collapse, but rather a transformation by the ... the Parthian Arsacid Empire The End of Ērānsahar: The Decline of the Sasanian Empire. The articles of this comprehensive edited volume offer a multidisciplinary, global and comparative approach to the history of empires. They analyze their ends over a long spectrum of humankind’s history, ranging from Ancient History through Modern Times. As the main guiding question, every author of this volume scrutinizes the reasons for the decline, the erosion, and the implosion of individual empires. All contributions locate and highlight different factors that triggered or at least supported the ending or the implosion of empires. This overall question makes all the contributions to this volume comparable and allows to detect similarities, differences as well as inconsistencies of historical processes.

The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c The Parthian Empire, being culturally and politically heterogeneous, had a variety of religious systems and beliefs, the most widespread being those dedicated to Greek and Iranian cults. Aside from a minority of Jews and early Christians, most Parthians were polytheistic. Greek and Iranian deities were often blended together as one. For example, Zeus was often equated with Ahura Mazda, Hades with Angra Mainyu, Aphrodite and Hera with Anahita, Apollo with Mithra, and Hermes with Shamash. Aside from the main gods and goddesses, each ethnic group and city had their own designated deities. As with Seleucid rulers,… Parthian art, with its distinct use of frontality in portraiture, was lost and abandoned with the profound cultural and political changes brought by the Sasanian Empire. However, even after the Roman occupation of Dura-Europos in 165 AD, the use of Parthian frontality in portraiture continued to flourish there. This is exemplified by the early 3rd-century AD wall murals of the Dura-Europos synagogue, a temple in the same city dedicated to Palmyrene gods, and the local Mithraeum. Parthian architecture adopted elements of Achaemenid and Greek architecture, but remained distinct from the two. The style is first attested at Mithridatkert/Nisa. The Round Hall of Nisa is similar to Hellenistic palaces, but different in that it forms a circle and vault inside a square space. However, the artwork of Nisa, including marble statues and the carved scenes on ivory rhyton vessels, is unquestionably influenced by Greek art. A signature feature of Parthian architecture was the iwan, an audience hall supported by arches or barrel vaults and open on one side. Use of the barrel vault replaced the Hellenic use of columns to support roofs. Although the iwan was known during the Achaemenid period and earlier in smaller and subterranean structures, it was the Parthians who first built them on a monumental scale. The earliest Parthian iwans are found at Seleucia, built in the early 1st century AD. Monumental iwans are also commonly found in the ancient temples of Hatra and perhaps modeled on the Parthian style. The largest Parthian iwans at that site have a span of 15 m (50 ft).

Etymology: It is sometimes taken more loosely to refer to the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian states taken together (so Encyclopædia Britannica 2009: "historical empire from about 550 – 640 ").

the correct moment and so retained their position. The name Pahlavan, moreover, which denoted the Parthian magnates, passed over into the new empire .