Introduction to Ardeshir Babakan
Ardashir was the youngest son, the greatest priest of the Anahita temple in the pool. Babak, who asked the 5th Parthian king Ardavan for the position of king for his first son Shapur, was opposed by the fifth Ardavan. However, after the death of his father, Shapur proclaimed himself king. Ardashir, as an ambitious man, did not accept his brother’s rule and intended to fight him. But historical evidence says that Shapur died by the collapse of a building before this conflict through which, Ardashir became the king of Istakhr City. The city which was built instead of Persepolis after the destruction of Alexander the Great.
The name of Ardeshir in Middle Persian is (Artaxerxes) and means the holy prince. Her mother was named Rudag, and she was the daughter of the local ruler of Persia. Ardeshir Babakan was previously the ruler of Persia (Persia, Kerman, and Sistan) and the guardian of the fire temple of that land.
Since Ardashir had the idea of a great empire in mind, he started campaigning around the country in 223 AD. First, he captured Kerman, and then Khuzestan and Oman became his subjects. The Parthian Empire was in great turmoil. Some cities and provinces supported Ardashir, so the Parthian king Ardavan V tried to suppress Ardeshir and ordered the king of Khuzestan to capture Ardashir and send him to Ctesiphon. But Ardeshir cleverly overtook them. Eventually, a great battle broke out between Ardeshir and the Parthian king, which also commanded the forces in the Khuzestan Plain, which led to the defeat of the Parthian forces, and the killing of Ardavan.
Two years after the death of Ardavan, Ardashir was able to capture Ctesiphon and then Khorasan, Bakhtar, Khwarezm, and Makran. He went to India and took Punjab and reached near Sindh, and after taking ransom from the Shah, he returned to Persia and built many temples in Persian cities. Then he went to war with the Romans because the Roman government, hearing of the fall of the Parthians, seized the opportunity and interfered in the affairs of Armenia. Ardashir crossed the Euphrates River in 228 AD to fight the Romans. The Roman emperor sent three armies to attack Persia, but Ardashir defeated all three armies and went to Armenia, where he defeated and killed Khosrow, the king.
Ardashir held his coronation ceremony at the Anahita Temple in the city of Istakhr and chose the title of Emperor of Persia for himself. After the end of the four hundred year rule of the Parthians, he began the four hundred year period of the Sassanids. Queen Ardashir was named Azar and was crowned queen of queens on the same day. At the coronation ceremony, Ardashir, like Darius the Great, said that at the request of Ahuramazda, he would become the king of the Persians, who are noble and noble people and do not lie.
The Sassanid dynasty was Persian and spoke a dialect of Persian that was slightly different from the Parthian language. After coming to power, Ardeshir Babakan dismissed the seven most potent Parthian families to create continuity in the affairs of the country. One of the first things that Ardeshir did was to build a fortress in the city of Gore. He called this fort Far Ardeshir, which is located today as the city of Firozabad in the southeast of Shiraz. One of his main actions was to formalize the religion of Zoroaster. He was in charge not only of administrative and military power but also of religious affairs, to the point that at Mehregan Ceremony, he gave new clothes to the people. Ardeshir Babakan started minting unique coins for himself in 205-206 AD.
Ardashir established a dynasty that ruled Persia for about fourteen centuries until it fell to the Arabs in 651.
Ardeshir’s great works can be summarized as follows:
The construction of Dokhtar Castle in Fars which was built in 209 AD before the complete defeat of the Parthians
Creating centrality and turning local kings into court nobles.
Assemble the Avesta, which began from the time of Parthian Blash I.
Formalizing the religion of Zoroaster
Divide people into classes
Create peace and security
Re-formation of the eternal army of Darius the Great
Discounts on penalties
Ardeshir Papkan revived Persian nationalism based on the teachings of Zoroaster