This work is an attempt to reconstruct the first years of political activity of the founder of the Sasanian dynasty, Ardashir I Papakan (before the fall of the Parthian state). A comprehensive study of sources allows us to correct the chronology of events, to understand the meaning of the actions of Ardashir and his contemporaries. Keywords: Middle East, Early Middle Ages, Sassanids. The study of the history of Ardashir I Papakan should begin with the restoration of its chronology. This is not easy, since the chronology of the Sassanids is extremely unclear. Numerous discrepancies in the dates were noted already in the Middle Ages [Hamzae Ispahanensis, 1844, p. 8, 9; Chronologic.., 1878, p. 118]. We see the same thing in modern literature, as shown by the comparative table of dates of S. H. Taqizadeh and W. B. Henning, included in the fundamental "Cambridge History of Iran" as an illustration of the insolubility of contradictions between different chronologies [Taqizadeh and Henning, 1957, p. 116; The Cambridge History of Iran..., 2006, p. 119] 1. The Sasanian annals have not come down to us, but even if they did, the problems with chronology would only be partially solved. The official chronology did not imply a reference to a single reference point; on the contrary, from one of Biruni's remarks, it can be concluded that the new tsar, when he ascended the throne, began the chronology from this moment, discarding the previous dates [Chronologie..., 1878, p.30]. Indeed, in the transmissions of Sasanian chronologies in later sources, we find only references to the terms of the kings ' reigns, but not to specific dates. At the same time, even in determining these terms, the sources differ greatly. Under these circumstances, references to the Sassanids in sources belonging to other political and cultural traditions become very important. Several valuable references go back to Mani, a contemporary of the first Sassanids. They have come down to us through the medium of Bi ... Читать далее