The Sasanian Empire (also spelled Sassanian, Sasanid or Sassanid) was the last pre-Islamic Persian empire, established in 224 CE by Ardeshir I, son of Papak, descendant of Sasan. The Empire lasted until 651 CE when it was overthrown by the Arab Caliphate. It is considered by the Iranian people to be a highlight of their civilization, for after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire at the hands of Alexander the Great in 330 BCE until the fall of the Parthian Empire, there was not be another state that truly felt ”Iranian".