Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire was the last pre-Islamic Persian empire, established in 224 CE by Ardeshir I, son of Papak, descendant of Sasan. The Empire lasted until 651 CE when it was overthrown by the Arab Caliphate. It is considered by the Iranian people to be a highlight of their civilization, after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire at the hands of Alexander the Great in 330 BCE until the fall of the Parthian Empire, there was not be another state that truly felt ”Iranian".
After Alexander's death in 323 B.C.E., the Iranian Plateau fell into the hands of Seleucus I Nicator, one Alexander's generals. He established a Hellenistic state known as the Seleucid Empire, mainly on what is today Iran, but at its height the Empire extended from modern-day Turkey to modern-day Pakistan. The Seleucids(Sassanid people) , although influenced by the Iranian people over whom they ruled, still kept true to their Greco-Macedonian origins and were not seen as native rulers by their subjects.
For 400 years the Sasanian Empire was the major power in the Near East as the rival of the Late Roman Empire. Not only that, but they had relations with the Tang Dynasty of China and several Indian Kingdoms where their products and culture were in high demand.
http://www.worldology.com/Iraq/persian_sassanid_empire.htm
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/glossaryps/g/GlosSassanid.htm
After Alexander's death in 323 B.C.E., the Iranian Plateau fell into the hands of Seleucus I Nicator, one Alexander's generals. He established a Hellenistic state known as the Seleucid Empire, mainly on what is today Iran, but at its height the Empire extended from modern-day Turkey to modern-day Pakistan. The Seleucids(Sassanid people) , although influenced by the Iranian people over whom they ruled, still kept true to their Greco-Macedonian origins and were not seen as native rulers by their subjects.
For 400 years the Sasanian Empire was the major power in the Near East as the rival of the Late Roman Empire. Not only that, but they had relations with the Tang Dynasty of China and several Indian Kingdoms where their products and culture were in high demand.
http://www.worldology.com/Iraq/persian_sassanid_empire.htm
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/glossaryps/g/GlosSassanid.htm