Samanid Empire and Revival of Persian Kingdom

Among political and social movements of the 4th century, we can refer to various attempts made by many Iranian rulers for the revival of Persian kingdom. Similarly, Samanid Empire—in line with its intended aims and plans—made significant attempts in this case. The present study, adopting a descriptive-analytic research method, aims at probing into the scant existing data to elucidate the attempts made by the Samanids for the revival of Persian kingdom. The results of the study reveal that various factors including rivalry between Khorasan noblemen, competition with Buhiyans, and tensions in relationships with Abbasid Caliphate made the Samanids attempt for the revival of Persian kingdom in the beginning of the 4th century. Accordingly, to maintain their own right to rule, they acted both theoretically and practically to revive the Persian kingdom. Nonetheless, some obstacles like authority of Dinyar social class, widespread presence of Arabs and Turks, and large population of Ghaziyan and Sufis in their territory made Samanids adopt a different policy for the revival of Persian kingdom comparing with that of Buhiyans.