A Comparative Study of the Implications of Arabic and Persian Sources of the Islamic Period on the Foundations of Political Power and Legitimacyin the Parthian and Sassanid Eras

Abstract

It has been greatly considered about the foundations of political power and legitimacy in ancient Iran, especially in the Sassanid era. Moreover, the divinity of monarchy, descent, power and justice have often been mentioned as the four elements of power and gaining legitimacy in ancient Iran, but so far a comparative study has not been done related to Sassanid era and the other periods. Considering the difference in the elements of legitimacy in different governments of Iran before Islam, the present research took advantage of the comparative method of research and relied on the Persian and Arabic sources of the Islamic period including the Khoday Namag or kings’ books and other written sources left from the Sassanid period to compare these elements in Sassanid and Parthian eras. The result of this comparison illuminate that these sources have paid less attention to the legitimizing elements in introducing the Parthian government and have written more in the direction of delegitimizing the Parthians, while they strongly seek to introduce the legitimizing elements for the Sassanid government

Keywords

• historical sources of the islamic period
• sassanid
• parthians
• foundations of authority
• political legitimacy