The Persian now assumed the title of Shahinshah, that is "King of Kings," which had usually been affected by the potentates of all Iran, and established himself at the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon on the Tigris, a position more suitable for the seat of government than the remote Persepolis. The empire thus regenerated by the Sassanians, held its own among the surrounding powers for four hundred years, until the general irruption over Asia of the fanatical hosts of Islam.[1]
The dominions of Ardeshír and his successors covered an area almost equal to that of the Eastern Empire, but were probably much less populous. The table-land of Iran is far from being so well adapted for the sustentation of animal and vegetable life as the countries amalgamated into a single state by the Roman arms. More than a fourth of the surface is occupied by desert and salt swamps;[2] while the greater portion of the remainder is broken up by immense mountain ranges, some of which rise to a height of 18,000 feet. The prevailing population of this region within the historic period has always been a division of the Aryan race, of the great Indo-Germanic family of mankind, who at some early epoch spread themselves across two continents, from the frontiers of Burmah to the Atlantic seaboard
- ↑ Most information as to the rise, etc., of Ardeshír (Artakhshathr on coins, that is, Artaxerxes as adapted to their language by the Greeks), will be found in Tabari with Nöldeke's commentary; op. cit.; cf. Zotenberg, op. cit., ii, 40. The great value of Nöldeke's book consists not so much in the flimsy text as in his notes and excursuses which bring together all collateral information to be found in other writers of the period. Zotenberg's version is, of course, from the Persian, the translation of a translation.
- ↑ The Great Salt Desert in the interior of Persia is somewhat triangular, each of the sides measuring about 400 miles.
