Editing Ardashir I (section)

== Pars before rise of the Sasanians ==
{{Main|Frataraka|Kings of Persis}}
[[File:KINGS_of_PERSIS._Vādfradād_(Autophradates)_I._3rd_century_BC.jpg|thumb|Drachma of [[Vadfradad I]]; the picture behind it is a structure similar to [[Ka'ba-ye Zartosht]].]]
Persis, the state in which the movement of establishing the new [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] government began, had lost its fame by third century AD. Since old times, a new city named [[Istakhr]] had risen beside the ruins of [[Persepolis]], an [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] capital which was burnt by troops of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander III of Macedon]]. Although the land's local [[shah]]s picked themselves Achaemenid names like Dara (Darius) and Ardashir in order to preserve old traditions, that was almost the only remaining instance of the ancient magnificence and greatness.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|title=Sasanian Persian Civilization|last=Lokonin}}</ref> The local governors of Pars that considered themselves the rightful heirs of the Achaemenids, had accepted submitting to the [[Parthian Empire|Arsacids]] during the four and a half century of the latters' reign and always waited for a chance to retake their old glory.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book|title=Parthian Dusk and Sasanian Dawn|last=Bayani}}</ref> They considered the Parthians primordial usurpers who had taken the formers' right by force.<ref name=":42"/>

The remnants of [[Pasargadae]] and Persepolis could be permanent memorials of the past magnificence of Pars; though the knowledge about the existence of a large empire was almost forgotten.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book|title=Political Persian History During the Sasanian Era|last=Frye}}</ref>

As of now, not much knowledge is gained about the four hundred-year history of that state, which was once part of the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] Kingdom and then of Parthian Empire, and almost all the knowledge about the political status of Pars—before the rise of Ardashir, depends on the coins which were minted by the local semi-dependent kings; based on the existent information on the Persian coins, at least one local king ruled in Persian lands slightly after the demise of Alexander III. Even if the existence of the names of kings like Dara and Ardashir on the coins of local shahs of the land does not prove that a subsidiary house of the Achaemenids still ruled in Pars, it at least shows the continuance of some of Achaemenid traditions in that land.<ref name=":33"/><ref name=":13" />

During the Seleucid era, the Frataraka (local Persian shahs) ruled Pars at the time of the rebellion of [[Alexander (satrap)|Alexander]], [[Molon|Molon's]] brother, against [[Antiochus III the Great|Antiochus III]]. That shows those local shahs shared power with Seleucid satraps or each of them ruled part of Pars separately.<ref name="Frye">{{Cite book|title=Ancient Persian Legacy|last=Frye}}</ref> Also in the Parthian era, the local Persian shahs were entitled to mint coins with their own names like some other semi-dependent shahs of the Parthian Empire. During the time, the Persian governors called themselves "Frataraka", which probably meant "governor" based on its synonym achieved from the [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] documents of the Achaemenid era. Afterwards, the titles of local governors altered and they named themselves "Shahs". There have been royal crowns and symbols, temple pictures, fireboxes with aflame fires, and symbols of the moon, stars and the portrait of [[Ahura Mazda]] minted on coins of the Frataraka that shows the holy fire was adored and the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] gods were worshiped and the old creed was permanent in Pars in contrast to other regions.<ref name=":13" />

In a portrait of Papak and his son [[Shapur (Frataraka)|Shapur]] carved on Takht-e Jamshid, Papak, while dressed as a priest, squeezes the hilt of his sword by one hand and manipulates the fire of the hearth and adds more firewood to it by the other hand, with his son Shapur taking the royal ring from him. In other pictures of granting the royal medal during the time, meaning granting [[Khwasak]], the mayor of Susa, which is discovered there, and the picture of granting the medal to the governor of Elymais, discovered in Bardneshandeh, the Parthian emperor is granting the royal medal to local shahs; while in the mentioned picture of Papak and his son Shapur in Takht-e Jamshid, it is Papak who is granting the royal ring to Shapur wearing like priests. Lokonin believed that the carving of Papak granting the royal medal to his sone shows that the Sasanians took the power by force in Pars and wished to show their independence from the Parthian emperors; that was why Papak personally grants the royal medal to his son in the mentioned picture.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Zoroastrianism|last=Guillemin}}</ref> Lokonin also believes that the religious clothes and medals of Papak on the pictures and cois of Shapur (his son), show the separation of religious and royal rule -at the time; Papak was the grand priest and his son Shapur was the land's shah.<ref name=":13" /> Daryaee believes that the picture shows multiple things; first that the House of Sasan had both the religious and irreligious powers together in Pars; second that the fire creed, related to Zoroastrianism, lived on before the rise of Ardashir; third that the carved picture of Shapur and Papak in Takht-e Jamshid shows the importance of the Achaemenid structure for the Sasanians.<ref name="Daryaee">{{Cite book|title=Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire|last=Daryaee}}</ref>