The great change in relations between Rome and the former Parthian Empire, which was to be necessitated by the rise to power of the Sassanians, became evident to the Romans within a short space of time. Gone was the loose, controlled federation of states, cities and semi-independent kingdoms of the Arsacids; a highly centralised and increasingly aggressive expansionist state was imposing itself in their wake. The aggressive policies adopted by Ardashir I were to be continued with varying degrees of success by his successors.

The adoption and active promotion/imposition of a state religion was one of the most important factors employed by Ardashir in establishing and binding together his new state. Though the detail below may seem less than relevant to wargamers, it provides useful background to those who wish to understand the psyche of the Sassanians, who believed that their supremacy within the known world was preordained and justified.

Originating in the province of Pars, as the Achaemenid dynasty had done in the sixth century BC, the Sassanians attempted to legitimise their actions by establishing a direct link with their predecessors. Besides bolstering his new position as King of Kings with a degree of moral authority over the other leading noble families of the old Arsacid state, these purported links between his own dynasty and that of the Acbaemenids provided Ardashir with apparent historical justificatior, for his expansionist ambitions.

They were first recorded from the Roman viewpoint by Dio Cassius and in the History of Herodian. Writing of a communication between the governors of the eastern Roman provinces and the Emperor Alexander Severus, in 230, the latter states (VI.2.2): "Believing that the entire mainland facing Europe contained by the Aegean Sea and the Propontis Gulf (the whole of what is called Asia) belonged to him by ancestral right, he was intending to recover it for the Persian empire.

He alleged that from the rule of Cyrus, who first transferred the kingdom from the Medes to the Persians, up to Darius, the last of the Persian kings, whose kingdom Alexander of Macedon had destroyed, the whole country as far as Ionia and Caria had been under the government of Persian satraps. So it was his right to restore and reunite the whole empire as it had once been."

According to Achaemenid Zoroastrian tradition the world was to last for a limited period of time: this being divided into three periods - Creation, Mixture and Separation, which was regarded as a single world year.The length of time believed to constitute this world year is disputed, though a figure of six thousand is generally favoured. The first three millenia of this were assigned to the process of creation and the early history of mankind.

For the first millenium Ahura Mazda, representing all that was good, was not engaged in conflict with Ahriman, the embodiment of evil; the world existed in a purely spiritual form. For the second millenium it took material form, but this was still combined with the spiritual. This material world was created as a battleground over which the two adversaries would do battle. Ahriman's assault on the world produced all of the evil elements which manifest themselves.

Despite this attention Ahriman was unable to overcome life, and as the first man died he emitted seed which gave rise to the first human couple. This couple were in turn the subject of all kinds of assaults and temptations but succeeded in resisting them; mankind continued to increase during the third millenium. Zoroaster himself was believed to have been bom towards the end of this period, and to have received his revelation in the year 3000. This third period; during which the Good Religion was revealed to the prophet, is symbolised by the metal gold.

The following three millenia were also to be symbolised by metals: silver for the period when his Royal patron accepted the Good Religion, steel and iron. Though this period was to witness the defeat of Ahriman the battle was not a long success story; instead it is a series of pendulum swings when first good and then evil gained the upper hand. Scince, towards the end of each millenium, mankind began to forget the word of Ahura Mazda and the teachings of Zoroaster, saviours (Saoshyant) would appear to reinvigorate the faith. After Zoroaster, in the year 4000, his brother Ukhshyat-ereta (the developer of righteousness) would appear; in the year 5000 another brother Ukhshyatnemah (the developer of reverence) would appear; and in the year 6000 the greatest Saoshyant, Astvat-ereta, would apear and usher in Frasho-kereti (Healing or Renovation). At this point history would cease and the eternal period of Separation would begin, evil having been completely destroyed. Throughout this period Ahura Mazda, the Sons and Daughters of God (Amesha Spentas), the Worshipful Ones (Yazatas), and all of the men and women would live together for ever in perfect, untroubled peace.

According to tradition Zoroaster lived 629-551 BC (though modem historians place his life at a much earlier date), and by defeating the Medes in 549 BC the Persian follower of Zoroaster, Cyrus, ushered in the period of Royal patronage for his religion; during which the Persians would rule.

By the time that Ardashir I ascended the throne in c.224 AD the silver period was drawing towards its end. Therefore, in furtherance of their claims to a direct link with the Zoroastrian house of Cyrus and Darius, and to maintain the millenary eschatology of their religion, a false chronology was constructed according to the Arab historian Maqoudi, presumably by both the religious and secular authorities of the new state.

By conveniently reducing the historical profile, and perhaps not coincidentally the reputation, of their Arsacid predecessors the Sassanians were thus able to reinforce the supposed link between their own house and that of Cyrus and Darius, while effectively creating an extended period of time in which their dynasty could prosper.

The Sassanians were so successful in legitimising their new chronology that as late as the tenth century their successors were still virtually ignoring the Parthians and denying them their rightful place in Persian history. Writing in his Shah-Nama (Epic of the Kings), Firdausi is dismissive of them: "...since their [the Parthiang] roots and branches were short one cannot say that their past was illustrious. I have heard nought but their names and have not seen them in the chronicle of Kings."

As mentioned above, not all Arab authors were ignorant of the Sassanian chronology's construction, indicating that they deliberately falsified it by reducing the period between Alexander the Great and Ardashir I by approximately half. Other sources confirm the discrepancies between the Sassanian and other chronologies. The Bundahisn, a collection of translations of Avestan texts on the act, nature and goal of the creation, gives the length of Parthian domination as 284 years. Employing this figure it is possible to reveal a cruel irony of fate which seems to have afflicted the Sassanian dynasty.

Although a somewhat contrived situation is reflected above, and although the dates surrounding the life of Zoroaster are contentious, the question begs to be asked. Did the Sassanians preordain the approximate date of their downfall and thus create a self fulfilling prophecy?

More Sassanians Part One

Introduction
Heirs of the Achaemenids or a Question of Timing?
The Foundation Upon Which the Sassanians Built