State · 224 – 651

Sasanian Empire

A state of 224 – 651 — 427 years in the Middle East and North Africa. It replaced Parthian Empire, Elymais and Kingdom of Persia. It was followed by Rashidun Caliphate, Dabuyid dynasty and Qarinvand dynasty and 3 more. The atlas records 83 things within it — wars and battles 39 · unrest and atrocity 1 · treaties 1 · people 42. Its line of rulers holds 32 people, 31 with dated terms. Its own article says it was conquered.

Held with the record of Sasanian dynasty, merged into this one.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 427 years; 224 – 651
Rulers: 32; the emperor of the Sasanian Empire
Most ground: 5.00 million km²; in 623
Within it: 83; recorded rows
Symbols: 2; on record, with years

Map: Sasanian Empire in 623, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Sasanian Empire in 623, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 5.00 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Sasanian Empire in 224, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Sasanian Empire in 623, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Elymais · replaces · 147 BCE – 224 CE
Parthian Empire · replaces · 247 BCE – 224 CE
Kingdom of Persia · replaces

After it

Rashidun Caliphate · followed by · 632 – 661
Masmughans of Damavand · followed by
Zarmihrids · followed by · 600 – 785
Qarinvand dynasty · followed by · 550 – 1100
Bavand dynasty · followed by
Dabuyid dynasty · followed by · 642 – 760

How it ended, as its article says

Conquered. Read from the article's section “lead” by its grammar; the claim is only that the article says so.

Following the rise of Islam in Arabia, and a devastating war with the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire, the Sasanian Empire fell to the early Muslim conquests, which were initiated by Muhammad and continued under the Rashidun Caliphate.

One sentence of the English Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Rulers

The line of emperor of the Sasanian Empire - the office this state names as its head of state.

killed, executed or dead in battledeposed, abdicated, exiled or removeddied in officeleft alive by a regular roadending not on recorda second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Ardashir I	224 – 242	18 years	the term ends after the recorded deathread off the dates alone
Shapur I	240 – 270	30 years	ending not on record	child
Hormizd I	270 – 271	1 year	left office aliveread off the dates alone	child
Bahram I	271 – 274	3 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone	sibling
Bahram II	274 – 293	19 years	deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	child
Bahram III	293 – 293	under a year	ending not on record	child
Narseh	293 – 302	9 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Hormizd II	302 – 309	7 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Adur Narseh	309 – 309	under a year	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Shapur II	309 – 379	70 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	sibling
Ardashir II	379 – 383	4 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	sibling
Shapur III	383 – 388	5 years	ending not on record
Bahram IV	388 – 399	11 years	killed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	child
Yazdegerd I	399 – 420	21 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone	sibling
Shapur IV	420 – 420	under a year	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Khosrau the Usurper	420 – 420	under a year	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Bahram V	420 – 438	18 years	died by accidentWikidata's manner of death
Yazdegerd II	438 – 457	19 years	ending not on record	child
Hormizd III	457 – 459	2 years	ending not on record	child
Peroz I	459 – 484	25 years	ending not on record	sibling
Balash	484 – 488	4 years	ending not on record	sibling
Kavad I	488 – 496	8 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone	nephew or niece
Kavad I	498 – 531	33 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Khosrow I	531 – 579	48 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Hormizd IV	579 – 590	11 years	killedWikidata's manner of death	child
Khosrow II	590 – —	no end recorded	deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	child
Kavad II	628 – 628	under a year	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
Ardashir III	628 – 630	2 years	killedWikidata's manner of death	child
Shahrbaraz	630 – 630	under a year	killedWikidata's manner of death
Azarmidokht	630 – 631	1 year	killedWikidata's manner of death
Farrukh Hormizd	630 – 631	1 year	killedWikidata's manner of death
Yazdegerd III	632 – 651	19 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone

32 rulers, 31 with terms dated as terms, covering 224 – 651. Median reign 7 years. 10 of 31 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

639,400 km² in 224, 5.00 million km² in 624; at its largest 5.00 million km² in 624. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flags and arms, in order

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

flag, undatedDerafsh kaviani · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original: Azarmidoxt Vector: ReneeWrites
coat of arms, undatedSenmurv · Public domain

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

200 – 29910 rows · 4 wars and battles

Shapur I · ruler · 201 – 272
Hormizd I · ruler · 250 – 273
Bahram I · ruler · 250 – 276
Bahram II · ruler · 250 – 293
Bahram III · ruler · 201 – 293
Battle of Edessa · battle · 260
Adur Narseh · ruler · 250 – 309
Byzantine–Sasanian wars · war · 285 – 628

and 2 more in the atlas.

300 – 39911 rows · 5 wars and battles

Shapur II · ruler · 310 – 379
Hormizd II · ruler · 300 – 309
Narseh · ruler · 300 – 302
Ardashir II · ruler · 315 – 383
Shapur III · ruler · 301 – 388
Bahram IV · ruler · 301 – 399
Battle of Samarra · battle · 363
Battle of Ctesiphon · battle · 363

and 3 more in the atlas.

400 – 49911 rows · 2 wars and battles

Bahram V · ruler · 406 – 438
Yazdegerd I · ruler · 400 – 421
Peroz I · ruler · 401 – 484
Kavad I · ruler · 473 – 531
Yazdegerd II · ruler · 401 – 457
Balash · ruler · 401 – 488
Hormizd III · ruler · 401 – 459
Battle of Avarayr · battle · 451

and 3 more in the atlas.

500 – 59916 rows · 5 wars and battles · 1 risings, regime changes and massacres

Khosrow I · ruler · 501 – 579
Khosrow II · ruler · 570 – 628
Salman the Persian · commander · 568 – 657
Bahram Chobin · ruler · 501 – 592
Ammar ibn Yasir · commander · 570 – 657
Hormizd IV · ruler · 540 – 590
Kavad II · ruler · 590 – 628
Farrukh Hormizd · ruler · 550 – 631

and 8 more in the atlas.

600 – 69934 rows · 23 wars and battles

Early Muslim conquests · battle · 622 – 750
Muslim conquest of Persia · battle · 633 – 654
Yazdegerd III · ruler · 624 – 652
Battle of al-Qadisiyyah · battle · 636
Ardashir III · ruler · 621 – 630
Shahrbaraz · ruler · 600 – 630
Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 · war · 602 – 628
Battle of Nineveh · battle · 627

and 26 more in the atlas.

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood427 years
stood longer than 82% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held5,002,000 km²
held more ground at its peak than 97% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per century0.9
had more wars on record per century than 93% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median7 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 26% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record32
has more rulers on record than 95% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 8 causes the record names and 4 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linkedcoincidence

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 181 – 694, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 623, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q83891 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · one sentence of the English Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA 4.0 · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.