An Analysis of the Dual and Paradoxical View on the Parthians in the Sassanid Sources (National Narrations and Islamic Chronicles)

Khwadāy-Nāmags are the result of the Sassanid Empire chronicling during the last centuries of their government. Although the genuine Khwadāy-Nāmags have been demolished, but the resources derived from them, such as the Shahnameh and the Islamic chronicles, show the Sassanid approach to the Parthians. So, to obtain the latest reports of the Sassanid era about the Parthians' history, it can be said that the most important sources are the works of Islamic historians who lived between the third to the fifth Hijri centuries and used the Khwadāy-Nāmags and other historical records produced in the mentioned era. The dual and paradoxical view of the Sasanians about the Parthians is distinguishable in these sources; on the one hand, according to the ancient Iranian political thoughts and the kingdom traditions, the Parthians stood in the genealogic dynasty of Iran's mythical kings, who had deserved to take the political power due to the possession of power in central Iran, and, the type of their government and their religious attitude have been criticized and denounced in these resources, on the other hand. According to many evidences, however, in the late centuries of the Sassanid rule, the famous Parthian families were among the high-ranking civil and military officials who provided important services. Through a descriptive-analytic approach to remaining narratives, the present study is to analyze the dual and paradoxical viewpoint of the Sassanians about the Parthians. The results show that the falsification and distortion of the Parthian history events and what can be recognized as an exaggerated and extreme confrontation between the natures of these governmental systems in Sassanian history are because of the chronicling manners the Sassanians used during the last centuries of their rule.