SASSANIDS. - The progenitor of the dynasty of Persia or Īrān is said to have been a certain Sassan, of whom nothing is known with certainty, while the true founder may be considered Ardashir (Artakhashatr) in the year 208 A.D.
I. ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE
The advent of the S. was assessed in different ways. For the Roman historians they represented nothing more than an enemy more powerful than the Romans. In reality, with the S. a new spirit appears in the Iranian body politic. The principal characteristics of the Iranian-Sassanid state system are a strong centralization of power and the creation of a state religion.
Society was divided into four classes: 1) those devoted to worship (āsračān); 2) the warriors (artēšthārān); 3) the bureaucracy (dibhērān); 4) the common people (peasants, eāstryōshān, and artisans, hutukhshān). Each class comprised various subdivisions, over which was placed a head, assisted by a clerk for the census of his class, by an inspector to check revenues or punish transgressors and, finally, by an instructor "to instruct each one from infancy in a trade or in a science and put him in a position to earn his living in peace" (Letter of Tansar).
II. THE STATE RELIGION
The state religion of the Sassanid Empire was Zoroastrianism. Ardashir I ordered that the scattered remains of the Avesta from the time of the Arsacids be collected and arranged, and these were then made canonical and obligatory. The primitive Sassanid Avesta subsequently underwent various amplifications: the Hellenistic influence and especially the Indian one are of recent date. The rest of the Avesta largely disappeared at the time of the Islamic conquest, and only a few fragments of it remain. In the Sassanid Empire there were also other religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Manichaeism, which suffered, at various intervals, more or less violent persecutions in the attempt to reduce them to the state religion. For the anti-Christian persecutions: v. PERSIA.
III. ART
In the architectural field the S. left notable traces. The buildings are constructed of bricks covered with carved or painted stuccoes. Sassanid sculpture, like the architecture, glorifies the divine power of royal majesty ("king of kings, companion of the stars, brother of the sun and moon," or "immortal man among the gods and a most illustrious god among men"). Rock reliefs carved into the cliffs still remain today. It suffices to recall the reliefs ordered by King Shapur at Naqsh-e Rustam north of Persepolis, beneath one of the Achaemenid tombs, to commemorate the victory over the Romans (260). The balance of the composition, the nobility of the attitudes and the suppleness of the models constitute the artistic merit of this strange rock art. The industrial arts are also well represented. These are chiselings of vases and plates, paintings on fabrics, etc., which reproduce, with fine artistry, scenes of hunting, of country life and other motifs of varied decoration. Numismatics likewise has a considerable artistic value.
IV. LITERATURE
Sassanid Iran certainly produced much in the literary field as well, but relatively little has come down to us. Most are religious treatises and inscriptions, while Persian literature in the Pahlavi or Middle Persian language is less represented. Of particular interest is a short prose work that narrates the birth and adventures of the hearth of the Sassanid dynasty, Ardashir.
Bibliography9 works
Martiniano Roncaglia