The
Sassanian Empire or
Sassanid Persian Empire (sæˈseɪniənpron, ˈsæsənɪd; also spelled
Sasanid or
Sasanian), known to its inhabitants as
Ērānshahr and
Ērān in
Middle Persian and resulting in the
New Persian terms
Iranshahr and
Iran, was the last pre-
Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 CE to 651 CE. The Sassanid Empire, which succeeded the
Parthian Empire, was recognized as one of the main powers in
Western and
Central Asia, alongside the Roman-Byzantine Empire, for a period of more than 400 years.
The Sassanid Empire was founded by
Ardashir I, after the fall of the
Arsacid Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus V. According to the
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania , "at its largest point in the seventh century the Sassanid Empire included territory in contemporary Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Oman, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and parts of Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Kyrgyzstan. and Tajikistan. " The native name for the Sassanid Empire in
Middle Persian is
Eran Shahr which means
Aryan Empire. According to legend, the
vexilloid of the Sassanid Empire was the
Derafsh Kaviani. It was also hypothesized that the transition toward the Sassanid Empire represents the end of struggle of ethnic proto-Persians with their close migrant ethnic relatives, the
Parthians, whose original homeland was in modern-day
Central Asia.
The Sassanid empire, during
Late Antiquity, is considered to have been one of Persia's/Iran's most important and influential historical periods, and constituted the last great Iranian empire before the
Muslim conquest and the adoption of Islam. In many ways, the Sassanid period witnessed the peak of ancient
Persian civilization. Persia influenced Roman civilization considerably during the Sassanid period. The Sassanids' cultural influence extended far beyond the empire's territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe,
Africa,
China and
India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art.