The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran. At its height, the Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The earliest enemies of the Parthians were the Seleucids in the west and the Scythians in the north.
About Parthian Empire in brief
The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran. At its height, the Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce. The earliest enemies of the Parthians were the Seleucids in the west and the Scythians in the north. As Parthia expanded westward, they came into conflict with the Kingdom of Armenia, and eventually the late Roman Republic. Rome and Parthia competed with each other to establish the kings of Armenia as their subordinate clients. Various Roman emperors or their appointed generals invaded Mesopotamia in the course of the ensuing Roman–Parthian Wars of the next few centuries. Frequent civil wars between parthian contenders to the throne proved more dangerous to the Empire’s stability than foreign invasion. The last ruler of Istakhr in Persis, revolted against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, Artabanus IV, in 224 AD. Ardashir established the Sasanian Empire, which ruled Iran and much of the Near East until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century AD. The Arsacid dynasty lived on through the Ars Acid Dynasty of Armenia and the Ars acid dynasty of Iberia.
The seat of central government shifted from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Tigris, although several other sites also served as capitals. The rulers were titled the \”King of Kings\”, as a claim to be the heirs to the Achaemenid Empire. Aside from scattered cuneiform tablets, fragmentary ostraca, rock inscriptions, drachma coins, and the chance survival of some parchment documents, much of Parthia’s history is only known through external sources. Native ParTHian sources, written in Parthish, Greek and other languages, are scarce when compared to Sasanian and even earlier Achaemanid sources. The latter was a northeastern province under the first Persian, Aramaic, Sogdian, Babylonian, and Greek court, speaking it alongside Persian, Greek, and Sogaean languages. It was ruled by Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran’s northeast, then a satrapy under Andragoras, in rebellion against theSeleucid Empire, in the 3rd century BC. After conquering the area, he was chieftain of the Central-Asian tribe and one of several nomadic tribes within the Dahae confederation of several tribes. He was succeeded by Mithridates I, the first Arsacid Dynasty, and then the then Seleukid empires, after conquering Media and Mesopotamia.
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This page is based on the article Parthian Empire published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
