Firouz-abad [Fīrūzābād]. Palais sassanide. Façade principale restaurée; Coupe sur la largeur.
Summary
Picryl description: Public domain image of a palace, villa, or large historic building, architecture, free to use, no copyright restrictions.
Iran, or Persia, is home to one of the world's oldest major civilizations, with first known urban settlements dating back to 7000 BC. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel names the Persians as the first Historical People. The Persian civilization begins in the Iron Age. The First Persian Empire was the only civilization in all of history to connect over 40% of the global population, accounting for approximately 49.4 million of the world's 112.4 million people in around 480 BC. They were succeeded by the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Empires, who successively governed Iran for almost 1000 years. The Muslim conquest of Persia (633–656) ended the Sasanian Empire of classical antiquity and was a turning point in Iranian history. Islamization of Iran took place during the eighth to tenth centuries and led to the eventual decline of Zoroastrianism in Iran as well as many of its dependencies. The achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic civilization. Persia's arch-rival was the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire.
The Sasanian Empire (224 – 651 CE, also given as Sassanian, Sasanid, or Sassanid) was the last pre-Islamic Persian empire, established in 224 CE by Ardeshir I, son of Papak, a descendant of Sasan. Zoroastrianism was the state religion, and at various times followers of other faiths suffered religious persecution. The Empire lasted until 651 CE when it was overthrown by the Arab Rashidun Caliphate. It is considered by the Iranian people to be a highlight of their civilization for, after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550 –330 BCE) at the hands of Alexander the Great in 330 BCE, Persian culture was sustained through the Parthian Empire (247 BCE – 224 CE) and reached its height in the Sassanian Period; there was not to be another state that truly felt ”Iranian" after its fall.