Empire224 CE – 651 CE · 427 years
Sassanid Empire
Rome's eastern peer for four centuries — and the last Persian empire before Islam.
What it was
The Sassanids ruled Iran, Mesopotamia, and at times Egypt and Syria from 224 to 651 CE, fighting Rome to a standstill across what is today Iraq and Anatolia. Exhausted by the long Roman wars of the early 600s, they collapsed within a single generation under the Arab conquests.
Why it mattered
Sassanid administration, court ceremony, and bureaucracy were absorbed wholesale by the Caliphate that destroyed them, and shaped Islamic governance for centuries.
From Wikipedia
The Sasanian Empire, officially Eranshahr, was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651 AD. Lasting for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign over ancient Iran was second only to that of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia which immediately preceded it.
Wikipedia: Sasanian Empire·CC BY-SA 4.0
Borders & accuracy
Solid borders are reconstructed from canonical historical-basemap data or hand-crafted from scholarly atlases.
- SOURCEhand-crafted from scholarly atlases
- DETAILhand-crafted-from-atlases
- SNAPSHOT620 CE
- POLITY TYPEstate
Wars of this empire59
Conflicts whose belligerents name this polity, best-documented first.
- Aksumite invasion of Himyar (Kaleb)518–525 CEWorld-changing
- Arab Conquest of Persia633–656 CEMajor conflict · 200K dead
- Battle of al-Qadisiyyah636 CEMajor conflict · 60K dead
- Major conflict · 30K dead
- Shapur I's Roman Wars241–262 CEMajor conflict
- Battle of Edessa260 CEMajor conflict
- Byzantine–Sasanian wars502–628 CEMajor conflict
- Axumite-Persian Wars522–570 CEMajor conflict
- Sasanian Conquest of Egypt618–621 CEMajor conflict
- Battle of Nahavand642 CEMajor conflict
- Roman–Sasanian wars224–363 CESignificant
- Avar–Byzantine wars568–626 CESignificant
- Battle of Jalula637 CESignificant
- Battle of Resaena243 CERegional
- Battle of Misiche244 CERegional
- Battle of Callinicum297 CERegional
- Battle of Erzurum298 CERegional
- Battle of Nisibis338 CERegional
- Battle of Singara348 CERegional
- Battle of Nisibis350 CERegional
- Battle of Amida359 CERegional
- Battle of Ctesiphon363 CERegional
- Battle of Maiozamalcha363 CERegional
- Battle of Pirisabora363 CERegional
+ 35 more in the atlas.
Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 224 CE and fits the map to these borders.
Cite as: Sassanid Empire (224 CE – 651 CE). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/e/sassanid-empire · Sources & methodology