Farn-Sasan

Biography

Farn-Sasan gained control of the Indo-Parthian throne sometime in 210. The identity of his predecessor is unknown; it may have been Pacores. Farn-Sasan is not mentioned in any literary sources, and is only solely known through his coins, which have the inscription; "Farn-Sasan, son of Adur-Sasan, grandson of Tirdat, son of the grandson of Sanabares, the King of Kings." With this inscription, Farn-Sasan tried to legitimize his rule by linking himself with his great-grandfather Sanabares, who was the last prominent Indo-Parthian king. Although the title of King of Kings is put after the name of Sanabares, Farn-Sasan in reality refers himself as King of Kings, which was the traditional titulature of the Achaemenid and Parthian rulers.

Neither Adur-Sasan nor Tirdat is known to have ruled, which implies that Farn-Sasan was seemingly from a cadet branch of the dynasty. On the obverse of his coins, he is portrayed with a cap. On the reverse, a fire altar is depicted, with an inscription circled around it. Farn-Sasan is the only king known to show a fire altar on coins originating from Sakastan. Around the same time, another king issued coins with a similar fire-altar depicted on it, which was the Sasanian ruler Ardashir I (r. 224–242), who around the same time was extending his domains into the east. It is uncertain if Farn-Sasan copied the iconography of Ardashir I's reverse coins, or vice versa. The resemblance of the coinage of Farn-Sasan and the Sasanian Ardashir I, including the shared name Sasan—a name popular in the Indo-Parthian realm—suggests that the Sasanians and Indo-Parthians possibly shared a common ancestry. Modern historians regard them as rivals and claimants to the title of King of Kings. The Iranologist Khodadad Rezakhani argues that Farn-Sasan was a superior of Ardashir I, and that the latter was only able to declare himself Kings of Kings after he defeated Farn-Sasan in 226, which marked the end of Indo-Parthian rule.