List of monarchs of Iran

The earliest securely historical Achaemenid ruler is Cyrus I, king of Anshan in the second half of the seventh century BC.

[48] The main Hellenistic successors of Alexander's empire in Iran were the Seleucids, descendants of the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator and the Iranian noblewoman Apama.

[52] Seleucus seized most of the east, including Babylonia, in the Wars of the Diadochi and was firmly in control in the region from 312 BC onwards.

[57] The Arsacids of Parthia,[54] initially Seleucid vassals,[59] originated as leaders of the Iranian Parni tribe in the northeastern steppes.

In 224–226, the Sasanian dynast Ardashir I led a revolt against the Parthians, weakened in a recent civil war, and took control of the empire.

Anti-Umayyad insurrections were to a large degree supported by non-Arab converts to Islam (especially Iranians) who were resentful over being relegated to lower social standing.

[138] The period between the collapse of Abbasid authority and the conquest of Iran by the Seljuk Turks in the eleventh century is referred to as the "Iranian Intermezzo".

[144] The Saffarids were a dynasty of Islamic Iranian rulers who at their height ruled much of Iran, and at times even reached into modern-day Iraq, from their base of power in Sistan.

[141] Although the dynastic founder Ya'qub (867–879) claimed Sasanian descent,[146] the Saffarid dynasty originated as local ruffians[145] and their power was attained solely through military might.

[141] The Samanids were a dynasty of Islamic Iranian rulers established by four brothers in 819, when they were granted four important cities and regions by the Abbasid Caliphate due to helping against the revolt of Rafi ibn al-Layth.

[147] In 875, the Samanids increased dramatically in power through investment as governors of Transoxiana[147][148] and in 892, all Samanid-held territories were united under a single ruler (Ismail).

[147] The Ziyarids were a dynasty of Iranian rulers established in northern Iran by Mardavij, a local mountain chief and mercenary who created an extensive kingdom in the late 920s and early 930s.

Mardavij claimed descent from local pre-Islamic nobility and aspired to capture Baghdad, overthrow the Abbasids, and restore both the pre-651 empire as well as the Zoroastrian religion.

[163] In the tenth century, Turkish slave commanders became increasingly prominent, and eventually effectively autonomous, in the southern parts of the Samanid realm.

[165] In 1040, the Seljuks conquered the Ghaznavid-held parts of Iran[163][164] and over the following decades they established control over most of the Middle East,[166] ending the Iranian Intermezzo.

[138] Though they were not of Iranian origin, the Seljuk rulers bolstered their legitimacy by claiming descent from Afrasiab, a legendary figure from the Shahnameh.

[146] From the empire's inception, the Seljuk rulers minted coins with the title šāhānšāh ('King of Kings') in its Persian form,[166] perhaps adopting it from the Buyids.

From 1118 onwards, the Seljuk regime became increasingle unstable and rival claimants used various bases of power, including Baghdad, Hamadan, and Merv.

[217] During his conquests, Timur made some effort to portray himself as the heir of the Ilkhanate, adopting the Ilkhanid title pādishāh-i Islām ("emperor of Islam").

The Qara Qoyunlu were a semi-nomadic Turkoman confederation that grew in power west of Iran following the collapse of the Ilkhanate.

[229] Through further conquests, the Safavids restored Iran as a single Iranian political unit and retransformed the tribal nomadic order of the land, established during its period under Turko-Mongol rule, into a sedentary society.

[229][233] The brief interlude between 1722 and the rise of the Qajar dynasty in 1789–1796 was marked by widespread political turmoil in Iran and several rival attempts to establish power over the country.

Although both of these founding figures established their rule over large parts of the former Safavid domain, the political influence of their dynasties swiftly collapsed under their successors.

[234] Tahmasp failed to assert his authority in the aftermath of the Hotak invasion and the effective ruler of Iran was instead the general Nader Khan.

[235] Safavid descendants continued to emerge for some time after 1736 as pretenders or as figurehead rulers put forward by warlords vying for power in Iran.

[236] The Afsharid dynasty was established by Nader Shah, a general under the Safavids who seized control of the empire in 1736 after the deposition of Abbas III.

[237] In the aftermath of Nader Shah's assassination, the Zand family grew to become the most powerful rivals of the Afsharids and seized control of much of Iran in the 1750s.

[241] The Qajars gradually increased in power as other families fought each other in Iran, culminating in Agha Mohammad Shah proclaiming himself ruler in 1789, in opposition to the Afsharids and Zands.

[247] Agha Mohammad's successor, Fath-Ali Shah, assumed both šâhanšâh and the Mongol khagan,[247] titles frequently used by later Qajar rulers.

[249] During the late Qajar dynasty, Iran became increasingly embroiled in internal political turmoil over the extent of the monarch's power, among other events leading to the Persian Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911).