Sep 11

The battle of Hormozgan and coming to power of the Sassanid dynasty

Ardeshir Papakan Some historians have indicated September 11th, 226 AD (Shahrivar) as the memorial day of Hormozgan war (near Behbahan) and have named it the Iranian’s civil war. In this war, Ardeshir Papakan, the ruler of Pars, won over Ardavan the 5th, the Parthian king, and with the murder of this king the 476 years rule of the Parthian dynasty ended.     Despite his interest in Kerman, and though it was expected that he would make this city as the capital of his government, Ardeshir did not shift the capital from Ctesiphon (on the coast of Tigris river and 35 km to the south of today’s Baghdad). During the four centuries of their kingdom the Sassanians (Sassanids) prevented the penetration of the semi-yellow race from eastern Central Asia to Iran territories, in Transoxania; their intention was to prevent fusion of this race in Iran. They also prevented the progress of the Roman Empire into Asia. They made the Zoroastrian religion the official religion of Iran and forced the Romans to tolerate followers of Zarathushtra in their territory, especially in Balkan. The Sassanians, whose first king was Ardeshir Papakan, founded an extreme nationalism in Iran.     The Sassanian government of Iran, who was interested in uniting Iranian clans, settled in the east of the country, under one flag, assigned some of the noble Persians, with their families, and an army, to the other side of Indus river, and as written by Royzadeh Donichand Bali’, in his book “The History of Gakhar Written in 1725”, it was this same Sassanian mission that settled in part of today’s Panjab, which goes up to Rawalpindi and gave themselves the title of “Kiyani” or “Kay”, which in those days was a very distinguished title and only the Persian princes could use it. They continued their profession as military men and some of the best Sassanian officers stemmed from this group. After collapse of the Sassanian Empire, these Kiyanians, who were proud of their Persian origin, founded a local government in part of Panjab. During the second military expedition of Mahmoud Qaznavid to India, in 1008 AD, this government united with him (who had great interest in Persian poems and literature) and gradually become Moslems. In the present time, General Ashfaq Parviz Kiyani, Commander in Chief of Pakistan, is probably from this Kiyanian group.     Towards the end of the Sassanian era, when the country suffered from class difference, Mazdak introduced his socialist doctrine which attracted attention at the beginning.          Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour (AmordadNews writer)