Ardashir I
Founder of the Sassanian Empire of Persia, born in the late second Century CE. Ardashir took the crown of Persia in 208. He rapidy extended his territory, defeating his Parthian overlords at Hormizdagan in 224, and occupying their capital Ctesiphon. He made Zoroastrianism again the state religion. Ardashir is the ancestor of Sassanid dynasty on the Persian throne. He claimed that he descended from ancient Persian Akhemenid Kings, Cyrus and Darius.