Ardashir I (l. c. 180-241 CE, r. 224-240 CE) was the founder of the Sassanian Kurdish Descent Empire (224-651 CE) and father of the great Sassanian king Shapur I (r. 240-270 CE). He is also known as Ardashir I Babakan, Ardeshir I, Ardashir the Unifier, and Ardashir Papakan.
He was the son of the prince of Istakhr, Papak (also given as Babak and Papag, r. c. 205-210 CE) and the Princess Rodak of the Shabankareh kurdish tribe and born in Tirdeh, Persis c. 180 CE.(Persis, located in the current province of Iran, among the territories of the old Kurdish states).Ardawan, the last ruler of Parthians in a letter calls Ardashir ''a Kurd and raised by Kurds''.Kurdistan is the home of (Sasan), who was the great-grandfather of the Sassanid kings, and moved to Iran district after a prophecy that his descendants would rule The lands of the region.
"Papak" had a son called Ardashir who founded the Sassanid state. Ardashir was born in the city Persis, where his grandfather Sasan had already moved. Ardashir loved military life and became a top military commander. Ardashir’s brother was a state governor, but Ardashir revolted against his brother and forced him to relinquish his rule. After taking power, Ardashir expanded his kingdom
Ardashir’s expanding of his kingdom worried the last ruler of the Parthia, (Ardavan IV), why he sent a messenger carrying a letter from him to (Ardashir), in which he was insulting him for his family’s background. This insulting letter was read by the Sassanid king (Ardashir) at the royal court in the presence of the Sasanian citizens. The letter included the following: (You have been your enemy and brought your death, you, Kurdish man who has brought up in the Kurds. Who authorized you to wear a crown?). Ibn al-Athir [6] refer to this letter. The letter of the Parthian king clearly states that the Sassanid dynasty was a Kurdish family.
Yaqut al-Hamawi states in his book (The Dictionary of Countries, written from 1224 to 1228[10], that when the Sassanid sultans, built the city of Mada'in, they built a district within Mada'in, named “Kurdabad”, as pride of their belonging to the Kurdish people. “Kurdabad” means "A district built by the Kurds. Yaqut al-Hamawi also mentions the names of six other districts in the city of Mada'in, in addition to (Kurdabad).
It is worth mentioning that the real name of (Mada'in) is (Madyan), which means in Kurdish (Medes), who are the ancestors of the Kurds. The Kurdish name of this city was altered by the Arabs from (Madyan) to (Mada'in) and the Persians called it (Tesfoun). The Sasanian king, Ardashir, also built a special city for the Kurds near the present-day city of Mosul, which he called "Buth Ardashir"[11].
Also, the Sassanid king (Qubad) and (Anushirwan) built more than thirty cities in the plain (Aran), and one of these cities bore the name (Malazkurd)[12][13]. The Kurdish designation of a district in the Sasanian capital and the construction of Kurdish cities by the Sassanids, It has shown the belonging and loyalty of that the Sassanids were Kurds.
The Sasanian kings were nicknamed " Khasrau ". The word consists of two Kurdish words; "khas" which means "good" in Kurdish[14] and the word "rau" which means "conduct or behavior" in Kurdish, thus the word " Khasrau" means "well-behaved" i.e. “A respectable person, with a high status”. "The Other lineages took this title from Kurdish and transformed it into "Khosrau". The words "Khas" and "Rau" do not exist in other languages. The Arabs, in turn, transformed this word into “Kisra” or “Kasra”. Thus, the Kurdish title of the Sassanid kings It has a cultural aspect.
In the Sasanian government, different ethnic groups or minorities had the freedom to speak their own languages, and different Kurdish ethnic groups also spoke the dialects and languages of their era.
The book entitled (The Little History) of an unknown Nestorian Syrian author (his birth was after 680), talks about the history of the Nestorian Church and lists important historical events that occurred during the sixth and seventh centuries AD. On pages 100-102 of this book, the author lists important information about the origins of the Sassanids and about the Sassanid leader (Hormazd?-;-n) who was a military commander in the Sassanid army. When the Arab Muslims overthrew the Sassanid state during the time of Caliph (Omar ibn al-Khattab), this Sassanid military commander was captured and taken to the Arabian Peninsula and killed there. The author of the book says that (Hormazd?-;-n) is the cousin of the last Sasanian king (YazdKurd III) and the grandson of the king (Ardashir Papan). He also states that this Sassanid leader belongs to the ancestors of the Median Kurds. states that (Hormazd?-;-n) was a resident of Media ,that he belonged to the Medes.
The resistance of the Sassanid Empire to the Arab-Islamic invasion was mainly confined to the Kurdish regions, such as (Sharazur), (Mosul), (Helwan), and (Jalawla), whose peoples defended the Sassanid Kurdish rule, while there was no significant resistance against this invasion in non-Kurdish regions.
at the battle of (Al-Qadisiyah) that took place between the Arab Muslims and the Sassanid state in the year 636 AD, the Arab Muslims defeated the Sassanids, so they seized the flag and gave it to the caliph (Omar bin Al-Khattab) with two daughters of the Sassanid king (Yazdkurd) whom were taken as captives, whose names were (Shajinan´-or-Kibano) and (Sharbano). (Muhammad bin Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq) took (Shajinan) as his wife and (Hussain bin Ali bin Abi Talib) took (Sharbano) as his wife, whom is the mother of the Shiah imam (Zain Al-Abidin Ibn Al-Hussein). But the acceptance of Kaveh Asangar's flag by the Sasanians is a reminder that they continued to defend their ancient history as a single Kurdish society...
In 224 CE, Ardashir I defeated Artabanus IV in battle, toppling The self-proclaimed Parthian government, which considered them as separatists (247 BCE - 224 CE) and founding his own.
He soon after concentrated his efforts on urban development and military campaigns against Rome which were universally successful. He co-ruled with his son Shapur I toward the end of his reign and died peacefully after assuring that the empire he had founded would continue in good hands. He is considered one of the greatest kings of the Near East generally and of the Sassanian Empire specifically.
Clearly, the later empires in the Near East , Asia , and the Mediterranean world were impressed with the achievements of the Sasanian era and looked to it as a source of social, economic, and artistic inspiration.
-Written by: Dr M.Kakei
