Iranian history
Explore Iranian historical periods through short introductions, sources and thematic links.
Some states were contemporary and regional; this order does not imply direct succession between them all. Individual biographies of every ruler are not yet complete.
Elam
Several periods across the millennia BCE
The Medes
Mainly the seventh and sixth centuries BCE
The Achaemenids
About 550–330 BCE
The Seleucids
After Alexander; fourth to second centuries BCE in Iran
The Parthians
About 247 BCE–224 CE
The Sasanians
224–651 CE
The post-Sasanian transition
Mainly the seventh to ninth centuries
The Tahirids
Ninth century
The Saffarids
From the ninth century, with later branches
The Samanids
Ninth and tenth centuries, with early eleventh-century continuations
The Ziyarids
Tenth and eleventh centuries
The Buyids
Tenth and eleventh centuries
The Ghaznavids
977–1186, with changing territories
The Seljuqs
Mainly the eleventh and twelfth centuries
The Khwarazmshahs
The Anushtiginid line, eleventh to thirteenth centuries
The Ilkhanids
Mainly the later thirteenth century to 1335
Post-Ilkhanid dynasties
Mainly the fourteenth century
The Timurids
About 1370–1507
Qara Qoyunlu
Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
Aq Qoyunlu
Fourteenth to early sixteenth centuries
The Safavids
From 1501, with the main period ending in the early eighteenth century
The Afsharids
1736–1796, with changing territories
The Zand dynasty
Middle to late eighteenth century
The Qajars
Late eighteenth century to 1925
The Pahlavi dynasty
1925–1979