Conclusion

The kings of the Arsacid and Sasanian dynasties developed powerful and enduring responses to the changing demographic and political forces within their empires and external pressures from the Mediterranean and Central Asia.

The Arsacids took a more incremental approach compared to the Sasanians and were more successful in gaining support across an incredibly diverse array of powerbases, benefiting economically and militarily from the flexibility this system offered despite the volatility it injected. The Sasanians, on the other hand, appear to have made a decision early on to favour control and stability even if it meant momentarily forfeiting the trade or diplomatic networks that semi­independent cities could call on. While these networks could be quickly rebuilt (often more powerfully, albeit simultaneously with greater brittleness), dealing with the nobility proved more difficult. In order to ensure the preeminence of the Sasanian kings of kings, these monarchs created institutions that atomized the sources of the empire's political and economic capacities and made them more and more dependent on the king of kings for the system to be properly and effectively mobilized.

From a broader historical perspective, the Arsacid, Sasanian and Arab empires began just as those of the Achaemenids and Alexander- with a revolu­tion from or opportunism of a current or former province, rather than a truly external conquest like the Mongols or the European conquest of the New World. In effect they built their territorial, legal, political and cosmological powers and prerogatives before they had the capabilities to truly actualize them, but never­theless ultimately succeeded in reshaping the course of Mediterranean, Western, Central and South Asian history.^[930] They capitalized on instability, weakness or overreach within the previous order and succeeded first because of their in­sider knowledge of how to momentarily operate the old system, and then sub­sequently because of the vision and ability to presciently remake it to match current realities and shape future geopolitical possibilities.

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