Parthian Empire

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"Arsacid dynasty" redirects here. For other uses, see Arsacid dynasty (disambiguation).

Parthian Empire

247 BC–224 AD

The Parthian Empire in 94 BC at its greatest extent, during the reign of Mithridates II (r. 124–
91 BC)

Capital Ctesiphon,[1] Ecbatana, Hecatompylos, Susa, Mithradatkirt, Asaak, Rhages

Common languages Greek (official),[2] Parthian (official),[3] Aramaic (lingua franca)[2][4]

 Zoroastrianism
Religion
 Babylonian religion[5]

Government Feudal monarchy[6]

Monarch

• 247–211 BC Arsaces I (first)

• 208–224 AD Artabanus IV (last)

Legislature Megisthanes

Historical era Classical antiquity

• Established 247 BC
• Disestablished 224 AD

Area
1 AD[7][8] 2,800,000 km2 (1,100,000 sq mi)
Currency Drachma

Preceded by Succeeded by
Seleucid Sasanian
Empire Empire

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The Parthian Empire (/ˈpɑːrθiən/; 247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid
Empire (/ˈɑːrsəsɪd/),[9] was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient
Iran.[10] Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I,[11] who led the Parni tribe in
conquering the region of Parthia[12] in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province)
under Andragoras, in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c. 171–
132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the
Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of
the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan. 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 Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia
of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and
regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted
elements of Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Iranian
traditions. The Arsacid rulers were titled the "King of Kings", as a claim to be the heirs to
the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals where the
Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps.
The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these
satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the
expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted
from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of modern Baghdad, Iraq), although
several other sites also served as capitals.
The earliest enemies of the Parthians were the Seleucids in the west and
the Scythians in the north. However, 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. The Parthians soundly defeated Marcus Licinius Crassus at
the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, and in 40–39 BC, Parthian forces captured the whole of
the Levant except Tyre from the Romans. However, Mark Antony led
a counterattack against Parthia, although his successes were generally achieved in his
absence, under the leadership of his lieutenant Ventidius. Various Roman emperors or
their appointed generals invaded Mesopotamia in the course of the ensuing Roman–
Parthian Wars of the next few centuries. The Romans captured the cities
of Seleucia and Ctesiphon on multiple occasions during these conflicts, but were never
able to hold on to them. Frequent civil wars between Parthian contenders to the throne
proved more dangerous to the Empire's stability than foreign invasion, and Parthian
power evaporated when Ardashir I, 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, although the Arsacid dynasty lived on through
the Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia, the Arsacid dynasty of Iberia, and the Arsacid Dynasty
of Caucasian Albania; all eponymous branches of the Parthian Arsacids.
 Native Parthian sources, written in Parthian, Greek and other languages, are scarce
when compared to Sasanian and even earlier Achaemenid sources. Aside from
scattered cuneiform tablets, fragmentary ostraca, rock inscriptions, drachma coins, and
the chance survival of some parchment documents, much of Parthian history is only
known through external sources. These include mainly Greek and Roman histories, but
also Chinese histories, prompted by the Han Chinese desire to form alliances against
the Xiongnu.[13] Parthian artwork is viewed by historians as a valid source for
understanding aspects of society and culture that are otherwise absent in textual
sources.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Origins and establishment
o 1.2Expansion and consolidation
o 1.3Rome and Armenia
o 1.4Peace with Rome, court intrigue and contact with Chinese generals
o 1.5Continuation of Roman hostilities and Parthian decline
o 1.6Native and external sources
 2Government and administration
o 2.1Central authority and semi-autonomous kings
o 2.2Nobility
o 2.3Military
o 2.4Currency
 3Society and culture
o 3.1Hellenism and the Iranian revival
o 3.2Religion
o 3.3Art and architecture
o 3.4Clothing and apparel
o 3.5Language
o 3.6Writing and literature
 4Chronological table of Parthian kings
 5See also
 6Notes
 7References
 8Further reading
 9External links

History[edit]
Origins and establishment[edit]
The silver drachma of Arsaces I (r. c. 247–211 BC) with the Greek language inscription ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ "of Arsaces"

Further information: Parni conquest of Parthia

Before Arsaces I founded the Arsacid Dynasty, he was chieftain of the Parni, an
ancient Central-Asian tribe of Iranian peoples and one of several nomadic tribes within
the confederation of the Dahae.[14] The Parni most likely spoke an eastern Iranian
language, in contrast to the northwestern Iranian language spoken at the time
in Parthia.[15] The latter was a northeastern province, first under the Achaemenid, and
then the Seleucid empires.[16] After conquering the region, the Parni adopted Parthian as
the official court language, speaking it alongside Middle
Persian, Aramaic, Greek, Babylonian, Sogdian and other languages in the multilingual
territories they would conquer.[17]
Why the Arsacid court retroactively chose 247 BC as the first year of the Arsacid era is
uncertain. A.D.H. Bivar concludes that this was the year the Seleucids lost control of
Parthia to Andragoras, the appointed satrap who rebelled against them. Hence, Arsaces
I "backdated his regnal years" to the moment when Seleucid control over Parthia
ceased.[18] However, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis asserts that this was simply the year
Arsaces was made chief of the Parni tribe.[19] Homa Katouzian[20] and Gene Ralph
Garthwaite[21] claim it was the year Arsaces conquered Parthia and expelled the
Seleucid authorities, yet Curtis[19] and Maria Brosius[22] state that Andragoras was
not overthrown by the Arsacids until 238 BC.
It is unclear who immediately succeeded Arsaces I. Bivar[23] and Katouzian[20] affirm that it
was his brother Tiridates I of Parthia, who in turn was succeeded by his son Arsaces II
of Parthia in 211 BC. Yet Curtis[24] and Brosius[25] state that Arsaces II was the immediate
successor of Arsaces I, with Curtis claiming the succession took place in 211 BC, and
Brosius in 217 BC. Bivar insists that 138 BC, the last regnal year of Mithridates I, is "the
first precisely established regnal date of Parthian history."[26] Due to these and other
discrepancies, Bivar outlines two distinct royal chronologies accepted by historians.[27] A
fictitious claim was later made from the 2nd-century BC onwards by the Parthians,
which represented them as descendants of the Achaemenid king of kings, Artaxerxes II
of Persia (r. 404 – 358 BC).[28]