The battle was the culmination of rivalry between Ardashir son of Papag, Parthian vassal king of Persis and his overlord, Shahanshah Artabanus IV of Parthia.
In 224 AD, Ardashir I, the local ruler of Pars, deposed and replaced Artabanus IV, the last Parthian Emperor, and founded the fourth Iranian dynasty, and the second Persian dynasty, the Sassanian Empire.