The Acceptance of Christianity
The Sasanid Seizure of Power in Persia (224-228)
Something happened in AD 224 in Persia which came to impact heavily on the position of Armenia in the region and its attitude towards its neighbours and which later became the reason why the country lost its independence for several centuries. In order to understand this issue we must first know a bit more about the Sasanids.
The Arsacid dynasty, that had ruled Persia for more than 400 years and upon whom Armenia was dependent on because of several close ties (among others their common political goal of fighting against the Romans and the blood ties between their kings ), was dissolved and was replaced by the Sasanid dynasty as the new masters of Persia.
One of the Persian princes by the name of Ardashir (Artaxeres) led a revolt and after three wars managed to conquer all of Persia and put an end to the reign of the last Arsacid king Artabanos (AD 224).
Ardashir I (224.241) became the founder of the Sasanid dynasty, which ruled Persia until year 640, i.e. when the Arabs began to rule Persia and some parts of Mesopotamia. In contrast to the Arsacids, who were western influenced, the Sasanids showed strong reactionionism and revived the traditions of their Achaemenidian forefathers which meant a return to their eastern and Asian culture. They reintroduced the old religion, Zoroastrism, and began to implement an aggressive foreign policy and expansion of their borders.
Unlike their predecessors, the Arsacids, the Sasanids initiated a policy which was extremely nationalistic.. Instead of the decentralisation of the Arsacids, which had given a high degree of self government to the different parts of Persia, the Sasanids concentrated on centralising power. 2
Moreover, Persia during the reign of the Sasanids, especially in comparison with Europe, reached a high degree of development and experienced great success. It could efficiently strike down the savage tribes in the north who tried to destroy their ancient culture. The Sasanid court glittered with luxury and elegance and Persia (Iran) has the Sasanids to thank for the historical valuable items and jewels that the country can boast of today. The influence of this dynasty on the Arabic world was even greater and we can say that the Caliphate in Baghdad was itself a kind of an heir to the Sasanids since much of their administrative organisation was based on that of the Sasanids.
In the field of economics the Sasanids dedicated their efforts with great success to building and preserving the system of irrigation channels that were in use for watering the farms in the Middle East.
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