By Sasha Alex Lessin, Ph.D. (Anthropology, UCLA) The Sasanian state was the last great pre-Islamic Persian empire. It ruled from 224 to 651 CE, centralized power more tightly than the Parthians had, elevated Zoroastrianism as the state religion, and fused throne, priesthood, law, and war into a single imperial machine. Under the Sasanians, Persia again …








