ABSTRACT
In AD 224 the Sasanian dynasty rose in Persis under Ardashir I (AD 224-239/40). Defeating the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, in battle, Ardashir, the ruler of Istakhr, now claimed the royal title of ‘King of Kings’. Ardashir was the son of Papak, who had seized power in Istakhr in 205/6 and had ruled as king under Parthian suzerainty. Their dynasty, however, took their name from Sasan, the guardian of the Anahita sanctuary at Istakhr. His familial relationship to Ardashir is disputed in the sources. According to the Arab historian Tabarı¯, Sasan was Ardashir’s paternal grandfather, who had married a daughter of the noble Bazrangi family, while another source, the Karnamak-e Ardashir, claims that Sasan was Ardashir’s maternal grandfather and Papak’s father-in-law. The Sasanian dynasty was to rule for over four centuries until the collapse of the empire following the Arab invasions and the death of the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III, in 651.
