Editing Iran (section)

====The Parthian and Sasanian Empires====
The Arsacids of [[Parthia]],{{Sfn|Venning|2023|p=118}} initially Seleucid vassals,{{Sfn|Strootman|2020|p=151}} originated as leaders of the Iranian{{efn|The Parni was an eastern Iranian tribe established on the Amu Darya in the conferedation of [[Dahae]].{{sfn|Lecoq|2011|p=151}} To Yarshater, they were a [[Sakas|Saka]] tribe, who penetrated Parthia, adopted its language, and eventually challenged the Seleucids' power in Parthia.{{sfn|Yarshater|2012|p=212–225}}{{full citation needed|date=May 2025}}}} [[Parni]] tribe in the northeastern steppes.{{Sfn|Venning|2023|p=162}} The Parthians gradually challenged Seleucid rule over Iran.{{Sfn|Strootman|2020|p=150}} Parthian control of Iran was secured through the {{Circa}} 142 BC conquest of [[Babylonia]].{{Sfn|Venning|2023|p=118}}{{Sfn|Strootman|2020|p=150}} Although fighting continued for years, the death of [[Antiochus VII Sidetes]] in 129 BC effectively marked the collapse of the Seleucid Empire,{{Sfn|Strootman|2020|p=150}} which then lingered on as a [[rump state]] in Syria until conquered by the [[Roman Empire]] in the 60s BC.{{Sfn|Venning|2023|p=118}}

[[File:The Sasanian Empire at its apex under Khosrow II.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent {{Circa|620}}, under the reign of [[Khosrow II]]]]

The Parthian empire endured for five centuries, but frequent civil wars destabilized it. Parthian power evaporated when [[Ardashir I]], ruler of [[Istakhr]] in [[Persis]], revolted against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, [[Artabanus IV of Parthia|Artabanus IV]], in 224 AD. Ardashir established the [[Sasanian Empire]], which ruled Iran and much of the Near East until the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]] of the 7th century AD. 

At their zenith, the Sasanians controlled all of modern-day Iran and [[Iraq]] and parts of the [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|Arabian Peninsula]] (particularly [[Eastern Arabia]] and [[South Arabia]]), as well as the [[Caucasus]], the [[Levant]], and parts of [[Central Asia]] and [[South Asia]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Khosrow II (590–628 CE) |url=https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/23003#:~:text=It%20was%20under%20Khosrow%20II,the%20early%20seventh%20century%20CE. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240619204859/https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/23003#:~:text=It%20was%20under%20Khosrow%20II,the%20early%20seventh%20century%20CE. |archive-date=19 June 2024 |access-date=2025-02-27 |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>  One of the high points in the history of Iranian civilization,<ref>Hourani, p. 87.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2025}} the Sasanian Empire was characterized by a complex and centralized government bureaucracy and the revitalization of [[Zoroastrianism]] as a legitimizing and unifying ideal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eiland |first=Murray |title=Atlas of World Art |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0195215830 |editor-last=Onians |editor-first=John |pages=80–81 |chapter=West Asia 300 BC–AD 600 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/36355586 |archive-date=8 November 2023 |access-date=2 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108000000/https://web.archive.org/web/20231108192221/https://www.academia.edu/36355586 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This period saw the construction of many grand monuments, public works, and patronized cultural and educational institutions. Under the Sasanians, Iran's cultural influence spread far beyond the physical territory that it controlled, impacting regions as distant as [[Western Europe]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Durant |first1=Will |author1-link=Will Durant |title=The Age of Faith |date=1950 |page=150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=axQVzwEACAAJ |language=en |quote=Repaying its debt, Sasanian art exported its forms and motives eastward into India, Turkestan, and China, westward into Syria, Asia Minor, Constantinople, the Balkans, Egypt, and Spain. |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=16 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531154215/https://books.google.com/books?id=axQVzwEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[East Africa|Eastern Africa]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.transoxiana.com.ar/0104/sasanians.html |title=Transoxiana 04: Sasanians in Africa |publisher=Transoxiana.com.ar |access-date=2013-12-16 |archive-date=19 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419105935/http://www.transoxiana.com.ar/0104/sasanians.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[History of China|China]] and [[History of India|India]].<ref>Sarfaraz, pp. 329–330</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2025}}