1. PERSIA Parthians - Sassanids
Challenges to Rome, India, and Ptolemaic Egypt

2. Parthia – in northeast modern Iran
Controlled by the Persians/Achaemenids, the area came under the control of Alexander the Great when he defeated Darius II at the Battle of Guagamela in 331 B.C.E.

3. The Diadochi – the successors

4. Greatest Extent
After the PARTITION OF BABYLON 323 B.C.E., Parthia came under the control of the Selucids.
Seleucus I Nicator had been one of the military successors of Alexander who jostled for power after his death. In 312 B.C.E. he established an empire at Babylon and conquered the nearby states.

5. Mithridates I r B.C.E.
The Arsacids took control of most of Parthia and Iran from the Selucids.
Internal revolts, wars with Rome, nomadic invasions, vassalaries weakened Arsacid control.
The empire was eventually conquered by the Persian Sassanids.

6. 1 C.E.

7. Sassanid Empire C.E.

8. Under the Sassanids, Persia experienced periods known as “Golden Ages” with advances in the arts and sciences.
Trade between Byzantine Rome, India, and China led to great prosperity.
The Sassanids were eventually defeated when the first armies of Islam moved across the Middle East.

9. Legacy and Importance
The influence of the Sassanid Empire continued long after it ceased to exist. The empire through the guidance of several able emperors prior to it's fall had achieved a renaissance that became a driving force behind the civilization of the newly established religion of Islam. In modern Iran the Sassanid period is regarded as one of the high points of Iranian civilization.

10. Sassanid culture and military structure had a significant influence on Roman civilization. The structure and character of the Roman army was affected by the methods of Persian warfare. In a modified form, the Roman Imperial autocracy imitated the royal ceremonies of the court of the Sassanids, and those in turn had an influence on the ceremonial traditions of the courts of modern Europe. The origin of the formalities of European diplomacy is attributed to the diplomatic relations between the Persian governments and Roman Empire. Through the late Roman Empire’s cavalry, the principles of the European knighthood - heavily armored cavalry- of the Middle Ages can be traced to the Sassanid.
In Jewish history, the Sassanid Empire is a very important chapter in the expansion of the Judaism. The Sassanid period saw major developments such as the construction of the Babylonian TALMUD and the establishment of several Jewish orientated schools which were for centuries the most influential in Jewish scholarship. Several individuals of the Imperial family significantly contributed to the close relations between the Jews of the empire and the government in the capital Ctesiphon.

11. The collapse of the Sassanid Empire caused the state religion to be switched from Zoroastrianism to Islam. Zoroastrianism slowly became the religion of most in Iran, to a persecuted minority. For the survival of their faith and their lives, a large number of Zoroastrians chose to immigrate. According to the Qissa-i Sanjan, one group of those refugees landed in what is now Gujarat, India, where they were allowed greater freedom to observe their old customs and to preserve their faith. The descendants of those Zoroastrians, now known as the Parsis, would play a significant role in the development of India. Today there are around 70,000 Parsis in India.
The Parsis, as Zoroastrians, still use a variant of the religious calendar instituted under the Sassanids.

12. Sassanid Trade Routes