A Glance at Sasanid Ardshir's Guidelines in Fakhri's Historiography

The original version of Ardshir's of guidelines, book which is more voluminous than the one available, was special interest to Sasanid kings and, after translating it into Arabic, to other Muslim rulers. This book, known as “A’hd Ardshir", was very famous in the early centuries of Islam. Even at that time no trace of the complete version of this book was found. Most books of guidelines and books of ministry decrees which were written later on during the Islamic civilization belonged to the genre of didactic literature of Sasanid period. The books about governments are magnificent examples of didactic literature. Fakhri's historiography is one of the books which was designed as book of guidelines and recommendations for correct governance and administration. Its first chapter includes guidelines and the other chapters are about general history. However, the very first chapter which is concerned with the principles of governance and administration adds to the magnificence of the book. Using a library method and descriptive – analytical approach, the present paper focuses on the position which Ardshir's period has in Islamic history and points out to the similarities between “A’hd Ardshir”, which is attributed to Ardshir Babakan, and Fakhri's historiography which was written in 6-7 centuries ('AH (.