Using the Conceptual Framework of "Limited Access Order" to Interpret the Changes in the Sassanid State

Interpreting trends in the Sassanid state, the practices of which have been the basis for subsequent Iranian states, can deepen the knowledge of Iran's history. Various interpretations have been presented for its rise, the great kings, the Mazdakian movement, and its fall. This paper supposed that using a theoretical framework for interpreting all the events could provide a more comprehensive and integrated interpretation.  Since the developers of the conceptual framework of the "natural state" have considered it a framework for interpreting the written history of humans, the main question of the current research was whether this conceptual framework could provide a satisfactory interpretation of trends in the Sassanid state. Therefore, this study was based on an analytical-descriptive method and a library approach. In the viewpoint of "natural state", a state incorporates a coalition of elites, who exercise their control over the society's political, military, economic, religious, and administrative activities to provide them the highest rent. Therefore, the state's changes are those occurring to the coalition members, who may be important due to changes in the situation. In this article, the satisfactory ability of this framework to interpret important events in the Sassanid state, regarding the roles of the coalition members in the production of rents and acts of violence, was shown in a 5-period classification, the characteristics of each of which were then presented.