page_title: Ardashir I
section_title: Government ideology and Iranian thought
hierarchical_section_title: Ardashir I / Reign infrastructure / Government ideology and Iranian thought
caption_attribution_description: English: Ahura Mazda (right, with high crown) presents Ardashir I (left) with the ring of kingship. (Naqsh-e Rustam, 3rd c. CE) [2.40 . 6.45] m فارسی: سنگ‌نگاره اهورامزدا و اردشیر بابکان که یکی از زیباترین و سالم‌ترین نقوش بازمانده از دورهٔ ساسانی است، در گوشهٔ شرقی محوطهٔ نقش رستم، بر سینهٔ صخره‌ای تراشیده شده که ۲ متر از سطح زمین، فاصله دارد و دارای ۶٫۶۵ متر پهنا و ۲٫۴۰ متر بلندا است.
context_page_description: Ardashir I or Ardeshir I, also known as Ardashir the Unifier, was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new empire. After defeating the last Parthian shahanshah Artabanus IV on the Hormozdgan plain in 224, he overthrew the Parthian dynasty and established the Sasanian dynasty. Afterwards, Ardashir called himself "shahanshah" and began conquering the land that he called Iran.
  There are various historical reports about Ardashir's lineage and ancestry. According to Al-Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings, Ardashir was son of Papak, son of Sasan. Another narrative that exists in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan and Ferdowsi's Shahnameh also states it says that Ardashir was born from the marriage of Sasan, a descendant of Darius III, with the daughter of Papak, a local governor in Pars.
  According to Al-Tabari's report, Ardashir was born in the outskirts of Istakhr, Pars. Al-Tabari adds that Ardashir was sent to the lord of Fort Darabgard when he was seven years old. After the lord's death, Ardashir succeeded him and became the commander of Fort Darabgard.
context_section_description: The remnants of the ruins of Pasargadae and Takht-e Jamshid could be permanent memorials of the previous magnificence of Pars; though the knowledge about the existence of a great empire was almost forgotten. According to the information from the coins of local Persian governors before the Sasanian uprising, at least one local king ruled in Persian land almost slightly after the demise of Alexander III of Macedon. The first local Persian shahs were known as "Frataraka", meaning mayors or governors. They carved the title "Lord of the Gods" (Ferehtorkeh of Baghs) on their coins; this carving was the subject of important studies. Panaino believes that by the phrase "gods" (baghs), deities like "Ahura Mazda", "Mitra" and "Anahita" are meant that were supported by Achaemenid shahs. Daryaee believes that "gods" indicates Achaemenid shahs and not "the deities they supported". He adds that the "gods" (baghs) mentioned on the coins were the Achaemenid shahs that were worshiped by the Seleucids after death. This is probably why the fact that "bagh" is translated as "god" on the coins of Ardashir and other succeeding shahs today is originated from Greek concepts.
  It is deduced from onomastic and physiognomic findings that the remark of the Achaemenids and adoring fire, one of the principles of Zoroastrianism, still existed in Pars. The similarity of Ardashir I's coins with the remaining coins of local Persian shahs shows a Persian tradition and the adoring of local shahs toward it. On the coin of Hubarz, one of local Persian shahs, it is written: "Hubarz, a governor from the gods, son of a Persian". The importance of this writing is that it shows the title on Ardashir's coins "Worshiper of Mazda, Lord Ardashir, the shahanshah of Iran that has a face from the gods" is the continuation of the tradition of Fratarakas. On the other hand, with the existence of the names of kings like Darius and Artaxerxes on the coins of local shahs of the land, if it is not assumed that a subsidiary house of the Achaemenids still ruled in Pars, it at least testifies for the continuation of a part of the Achaemenid traditions. After all, the rise of the Parthians to power meant the domination of nomadic and degenerate Iranians on urban Iranians; the second faction, which was more original and nationally authentic than the first faction, looked at the Parthians with a grudge, considered them usurpers who had violated their right and Pars was the head of those regions.
  Ardashir had a remarkable role in developing the royal ideology. He tried to announce himself as a Mazda worshiper connected to god and owner of divine khvarenah. The claim of his royal eligibility as a rightful newcomer from the line of mythical Iranian shahs and the propagations attributed to Ardashir against the eligibility and the role of the Parthians in the Iranian history sequence confirms the excellent place that the Achaemenid legacy had in the minds of the first Sasanian shahanshahs; though the consensus is that the Sasanians probably did not know much about the Achaemenids and the status. On the other hand, Shahbazi believes that the first Sasanian shahanshahs were familiar with the Achaemenids and their succeeding shahanshahs turned to the Kayanians deliberately. About that, Daryee adds that the Sasanians knowingly ignored the Achaemenids in order to be able to attribute their origins to the Kayanians; and that is why they applied the holy historiography. In that method, the social familiarity and bureaucracy did not matter and the court propagated its custom history by the help of the religious system. In order to remark his victories, Ardashir carved pictures in Firuzabad, Naqsh-e Rustam and Naqsh-e Rajab; on his picture in Naqsh-e Rustam, Ardashir and Ahura Mazda are opposite to each other on horsebacks and the bodies of Artabanus IV and Ahriman are visualized under the nails of Ardashir and Mazda's horses. It can be deduced from the picture that Ardashir believed or wanted others to believe that his reign over the land that is called "Iran" in inscriptions is designated by th
caption: The third carving of "coronation" and the fourth carving of Ahura Mazda by Ardashir, carved in Naqsh-e Rustam. Ardashir and Ahura Mazda on horsebacks in front of each other, with the corpses of Artabanus and Ahriman under the nails of their horses, and Ardashir taking the ring of reign from Ahura Mazda
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