Editing Ardashir I (section)

=== Government ideology and Iranian thought ===
[[File:Ardashir_i's_relief_at_Firuzabad,_Fars,_Iran.JPG|thumb|The first carving of "[[coronation]]" and the second carving of [[Ahura Mazda]] by Ardashir, Ardashir standing against his henchmen, city of Gur (current [[Firuzabad County|Firuzabad]])]]
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 Empire|Sasanian]] uprising, at least one local king ruled in Persian land almost slightly after the demise of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander III of Macedon]].<ref name=":42"/><ref name=":33"/> The first local Persian [[shah]]s were known as "Frataraka", meaning mayors or governors.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Sasanian Empire Untold|last=Daryaee}}</ref> 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 Empire|Achaemenid]] shahs. [[Touraj Daryaee|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 [[Seleucid Empire|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.<ref name=":03"/>

It is deduced from [[Onomastics|onomastic]] and [[Physiognomy|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.<ref name=":2" /> 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 [[King of Kings|shahanshah]] of Iran that ''has a face from the gods''" is the continuation of the tradition of Fratarakas.<ref name=":2" /> On the other hand, with the existence of the names of kings like [[Darius I|Darius]] and [[Artaxerxes I of Persia|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.<ref name=":42" /><ref name=":33" /> After all, the rise of the [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]] to power meant the domination of nomadic and degenerate [[Iranian peoples|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.<ref name=":42" />

Ardashir had a remarkable role in developing the royal ideology.<ref name=":52"/> 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.<ref name=":08"/> On the other hand, [[Alireza Shapour Shahbazi|Shahbazi]] believes that the first Sasanian shahanshahs were familiar with the Achaemenids and their succeeding shahanshahs turned to the [[Kayanian dynasty|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.<ref name=":2" /> In order to remark his victories, Ardashir carved pictures in [[Firuzabad County|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 of Parthia|Artabanus IV]] and [[Angra Mainyu|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 (word)|Iran]]" in inscriptions is designated by the Lord. The word "Iran" was previously used in [[Avesta]] and as "the name of the mythical [[Indo-Iranians|Aryan]] land". In Ardashir's period, the title "Iran" was applied to the geography under Sasanian rule. The thought of "Iran" was accepted by both Zoroastrian and non-Zoroastrian societies in the whole empire and the collective memory of the Iranians has continued and survived until the [[Modern history|modern period]] today in different stages and various layers of the Iranian society. What is clear is that the concept "Iran" has had a religious application too and has later ended in the formation of its political face meaning a collection of lands.<ref name=":52" /><ref name="Daryaee"/>
[[File:Ardeshir_Babakan_and_Ahuramazda_Photo_From_Sahand_Ace.jpg|thumb|The second carving of "coronation" and the third carving of Ahura Mazda by Ardashir, carved in [[Naqsh-e Rajab]]]]
Choosing a place like Naqsh-e Rustam, which is mausoleum of Achaemenid shahs, for carving and inscribing, the site of the temple of Anahita in [[Istakhr]] and the existence of the names of some Achaemenid shahs as ancestors in the legendary Sasanian [[family tree]] show the existence of an inclination toward the Achaemenids in the early Sasanian period. There are many proofs in [[Middle Persian]] and [[Arabic]]-[[Persian language|Persian]] writings that show the Sasanians' aggressive confrontation with [[Roman Empire|Rome]] in order to return to the magnificent past status in the west and it had been assumed that the glory was taken by the Romans. About that, [[Al-Tabari]] has mentioned that Ardashir claimed and announced that he had risen to take the revenge of [[Darius III]], who had been defeated and killed by [[Alexander the Great|Alexander III of Macedon]]. Roman historians like [[Herodian]] and [[Cassius Dio]] have also mentioned reports about "the Sasanians' desire to return to the magnificence and kingdom of the Achaemenids"; these reports of Roman historians show that the Romans had understood the goals of the Sasanian foreign policy well; though they did not have a decent understanding of the change and transformation in the royal Iranian continuum. The place of Alexander, who was known as a nemesis of Iran, in the thought of the Sasanians' desire for return at the time was simultaneous and aligned with the idea of "following and honoring Alexander" in the Roman emperors; [[Caracalla]] called himself "the second Alexander" and "[[Severus Alexander]]" honored him.<ref name=":08"/> Kettenhofen, Robin and Heuse believe that the class of Greek-Roman sources that have reported the Sasanians' familiarity with the Achaemenids and their desire for return to and extension of the Achaemenid lands had propagative applications and should be interpreted in the frame of the Roman empire thoughts.<ref name=":2" /> But what is clear is Ardashir's and later his son [[Shapur I|Shapur]]'s claim of Roman lands. Daryee believes that the cause of Ardashir and Shapur's wars with Rome was to accommodate their territorial ideals with traditions; he believes that the Sasanians' claim of Asian lands as their fathers' legacy had a mythical basis and originated from the mythical story of [[Fereydun]] dividing the world between his sons ([[Salm (Shahnameh)|Salm]], [[Tur (mythology)|Tur]] and [[Iraj (son of Freydun)|Iraj]]); in that myth, Fereydun grants the reign of [[Turan]] to Tur and Rome to Salm and Iran, which is the best land in the world, to Iraj; the brothers become envious of the latter and the world goes under war. Thus, the Sasanians considered themselves Iraj's children and the Romans Salm's heirs by a mythical view. Daryee adds that only by that way the Sasanians' territorial claims, which are mentioned in Cassius Dio and Herodian's works, can be understood. He believes that the Sasanians' territorial claims were basically different from those of the Achaemenids.<ref name=":2" />
[[File:Irnp105-Grobowce Naqsh-E Rustam.jpg|thumb|[[Ahura Mazda and Ardashir I|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 IV of Parthia|Artabanus]] and [[Angra Mainyu|Ahriman]] under the nails of their horses, and Ardashir taking the ring of reign from Ahura Mazda]]
In the Sasanians' legendary [[genealogy]] that has appeared in [[Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan]], the relation between the Sasanians and the Achaemenids is mentioned. In the book, the thought that has been reflected is the relation of [[Sasan]], the ancestor of the Sasanian house, with Darius's descendants on one hand and the local Persian kings on the other hand; though in the fifth century, the Sasanians attributed their lineage to the mythical kings of [[Avesta]] or Kayanians; and its proof is the addition of the prefix "Kay" to the aliases of the Sasanian shahanshahs.<ref name=":16" />

The question whether those claims and schemes and avengings, in the same way as mentioned in the historical sources, were actually proposed by Ardashir himself or were later attributed to him as the founder of the empire has still remained without answer due to the lack of sufficient sources; though the attribution of these claims to Ardashir after his lifetime seems more logical. According to these, it is undoubtedly true that Ardashir's grandiose views about policy and relations with the outside world had formed based on rebooting and repeating the Achaemenids' successes. However, the Sasanians' knowledge of the Achaemenids were superficial and vague information and did not have a regular and historical basis.<ref name=":08"/> About that, [[Richard N. Frye|Richard Frye]] and Daryee believe that the section of the Arabic-Persian sources (like Al-Tabari) that contain the Sasanian history since the beginning until the age of [[Khosrow I]] should be looked at suspiciously; they consider this suspicious look at texts like Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan too. The suspicious look has been due to that most of the Iranian history sources were edited in the age of Khosrow I and by the royal writers and clerics in order to accommodate their predecessors' history with then [[world view]] of the Sasanian empire and draw a picture of Ardashir idealistic and aligning with Khosrow's ideals in the best way.<ref name=":2" />