Ardashir I, founder of the Sasanian house, rises from Persis with the priest Tansar at his side and binds throne and altar together: the new empire is founded, in the tradition's phrase, on religion and kingship as brothers. The great fires, including Adur Farnbag, are enthroned under his house.
Tagged: Iranian Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism
The Event
- Date
- c. 226-241 (exact)
- Era
- Sasanian Age; Standard periodization of Zoroastrian history
- Location
- Persis; today Iran
- Traditions
- Zoroastrianism
- Streams
- Iranian Zoroastrian
- Key figures
- Ardashir I, Tansar
Primary Sources
- The Letter of Tansar.
Secondary Sources
- Boyce, Mary. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge, 1979.
- Choksy, Jamsheed K. Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, entries on the Avesta, the Sasanians, and the Parsi calendar disputes.
- Hinnells, John R. The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Rose, Jenny. Zoroastrianism: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.
Provenance: HIST-1007; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-28.
Related on This Site
History Event
Avesta composed
c. 1000-600 BCE
History Event
Cyrus the Great
559-530 BCE
History Event
Darius I
522-486 BCE
History Event
Demographic decline
2000s
History Event
Iranian Revolution
1979
History Event
Parthian Empire
c. 247 BCE-224 CE
History Event
Sasanian Empire
224-651
History Event
Zarathustra
c. 1500-1000 BCE