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Parthian Empire
247 BC–226 AD
The Empire at its greatest extent under Mithridates II (123-88 BC)The Empire at its greatest extent under Mithridates II (123-88 BC)
Capital	Asaak, Hecatompylos, Ecbatana, Ctesiphon, Mithridatkird-Nisa
Common languages	Middle Iranian
Religion	Syncretic Helleno-Zoroastrianism
Government	Feudalist Monarchy
Historical era	Classical Antiquity
• Established	247 BC
• Disestablished	226 AD
Currency	drachm
Preceded by Succeeded by Seleucid Empire Sassanid Empire File:Sassanid empire map.PNG

The Arsacid Empire (247 BCE - 224 CE), was a significant political and cultural power in the ancient Near East, and a counterweight to the Roman Empire in the region. The Arsacid Empire is so called because its ruling dynasty was founded by Arsaces. The Arsacid dynasts were from Parthia ("roughly western Khurasan" in Iran's north-east), and the Empire is thus also referred to as the Parthian Empire.

The Arsacids were Hellenistic, and identified themselves on their coins as philhellenes "friend of Greeks." This Hellenization was subsequently portrayed by the Persians as a betrayal of Iranian values, and thus a justification to overthrow them. This portrayal as morally and culturally corrupt was followed by academia for decades, but there is today significant evidence that the Arsacids not only saw themselves as legitimate heirs of the "(divinely bestowed) Iranian glory", but were commited to the idea of an Iranian nation.

At the apex of their might, the Arsacids had subjugated most of Greater Iran, Mesopotamia, and Armenia. But unlike most other Iranian monarchies, the Arsacids followed a vassalary system, which they adopted from the Seleucids. The Arsacid Empire was thus not a single coherent state, but instead made up of numerous tributary (but otherwise independent) kingdoms.

The Arsacids were in an almost perpetual state of war, either to capture and hold territory from the Seleucids, or to prevent vassal states from breaking away, or defending themselves against the Roman Empire in the west and nomadic tribes in the east. Economically and militarily severely weakened by the incessant warring, and from the infighting among the Parthian nobility, the Parthian Arsacids were finally vanquished by the Persian Sassanids, a minor vassal from southwestern Iran, around 220 CE. In Armenia, a branch of the Arsacid dynasty continued to rule their kingdom until the 5th century.

History

Early period

Around 250 BCE, Arsaces I became the leader of the Parni, a north-eastern Iranian tribe. Under his command, the Parni established themselves in Astabene, the administrative capital of which was Kabuchan. In ca. 247 BCE, Arsaces was crowned king in "Asaak" (precise location unknown, probably near Kuchan), an event that in Arsacid chronology was understood to mark the beginning of the Arsacid epoch.

Meanwhile, Andragoras, the Seleucid governor of Parthia, proclaimed independence and established his own kingdom. Around 238 BCE, Arsaces and the Parni battled Andragoras, during the course of which Andragoras was killed, and Arsaces captured Andragoras' kingdom.

From the base in Parthia (and from then identified as Parthian), Arsaces then ventured westwards and seized Hyrancia. Around 230 BCE, the Seleucids mounted a counter-campaign to recapture Parthia, but failed. In 209 BCE, by which time Arsaces I had died and control had passed to Arsaces II, the Seleucids under Antiochus III attempted to recapture Parthia again. Antiochus occupied Parthia's capital at Hecatompylus, then pushed into Hyrcania before Arsaces II recognized Seleucid authority.

Soon afterwards Antiochus was defeated by the Romans, which severely weakened the Seleucids and allowed Parthia to maintain its freedom from the Seleucids. Arsaces II died in 191 BC and was succeeded by Phriapatius.

In 171 BC, Phraates I subdued the Mardi tribe, but was killed in battle against nomads. His brother Mithridates I survived the battle and ascended the throne, and ushered in the period when the Arsacids became a major power.

Rise to major power

Profiting from the continuing erosion of the Seleucid Empire, Mithridates captured Herat in 167 BC, which disrupted the trade routes to India and effectively split the Hellenistic world into two parts. The Seleucid monarchs resisted Arsacid expansion as best as they could; Antiochus IV Epiphanes spent his last years campaigning against the newly emerging Iranian states. After initial successes in Armenia, his sudden death in 164 BC allowed the Arsacids to take advantage of the ensuing dynastic squabbles to make even greater gains.

In the second half of 148 BCE, Mithridates I conquered Media. About 141 BCE, Arsacid troops overwhelmed Mesopotamia and seized the Seleucid capital of Seleucia. Mithridates I had himself crowned king of Seleucia.

Shortly thereafter, around 140 BCE, the Empire suffered the first of the eastern incursions by nomads, perhaps Sakas. Mithridates took command himself, even though the Seleucids were preparing to attempt to retake Seleucia. Mithridates repulsed the invasion in the northeast, and then returned to Mesopotamia, where Demetrius II Nicator, who had made some initial gains, was taken prisoner (Demetrius II would be held hostage for 10 years). Around 139/138 BCE, shortly before his death, Mithridates also conquered Elymais.

In 130 BCE, Antiochus VII Sidetes succeeded in making substantial gains in Babylonia and Media, but the inhabitants of the Seleucid garrison towns revolted and allied themselves with the Arsacids. In the battle that followed in 129 BCE against Mithridates I's son and successor Phraates II, the Seleucids suffered a crushing defeat and Antiochus VII was killed. From then on, the Seleucids ceased to be a serious rival to the Arsacids.

By then, the nomads on the eastern frontier had become a serious problem, and in battles with which Phraates II and Artabanus I were successively killed (in 127 BCE and in 124 BCE respectively). Simultaneously, a new kingdom was formed in Characene, and its king Hyspaosines, succeeded in conquering parts of Mesopotamia, reaching Babylon.

Artabanus I was succeeded by Mithridates II in 124/123 BCE. In quick succession, Mithridates II defeated Hyspaosines in ca. 122 BCE, subjugated the northern Mesopotamian kingdoms of Adiabene, Gordyene, and Osrhoene as vassal states, and conquered Dura-Europos in 113 BCE. In ca. 97 BCE, Mithridates II conquered Artavasdes of Armenia, and put Artavasdes' son (or nephew) Tigranes II on the throne in exchange for "70 valleys" (Strabo 11.14.15). The two countries would be in constant contact with each other from then on.

Around 115 BC, Mithridates II was visited by an embassy from the Chinese emperor Wu-ti, and the two agreed to open a trade route today known as the "Silk road". Around 109 BCE, Mithridates II assumed the title "King of Kings" (basileus tōn basiléōn), a title that his successors would also bear.

From ca. 105 BCE until his death in ca. 88 BCE, Mithridates II began to be crippled by a handful of Parthian noble families whose power and influence was such that they frequently opposed the monarch, and would eventually contribute to the downfall of the dynasty. A series of monarchs followed Mithridates II – Gotarzes, Orodes I, Sinatruces, Phraates III – but about whom little but their names is known. The disorder created by the Parthian nobility gave the Armenians the opportunity to reconquer the "seventy valleys" that they had previously ceded to Mithridates II. Phraates III was murdered by his sons Mithridates (III) and Orodes (II), who then began to fight with each other for control.

Conflict with Rome

In early 53 BCE, an ambitious Roman commander Crassus sought to invade Mesopotamia. He and his army walked into a trap set for them by the Parthian commander Surena, and in the resultant Battle of Carrhae roughly one half of the Roman army of about 40,000 men – including Crassus and his son – were killed. Of the remaining 20,000 men, 10,000 were made captive and only 10,000 were able to escape. The Arsacids did not capitalize on their victory, and Surena was himself executed by Orodes II.

In late 41 BCE or early 40 BCE, the Arsacid army under the command of Pacorus (son of Orodes II) and Quintus Labienus (who had defected to the Arsacids following the defeat of the Republicans in the Roman civil war) attacked the Romans. The expeditions were initially successful; Pacorus took Syria and Palestine, while Labienus occupied large parts of Asia Minor. In 39 BCE, the Romans counterattacked, defeating both Labienus and Pacorus and killing both.

Following Pacorus' death, Orodes appointed his eldest son Phraates IV as his successor. Phraates IV promptly murdered his father, and then his other brothers and even his own son. He also began a campaign against the nobility, many of whom left the country. Marc Antony took the opportunity to attack with 100,000 troops in 36 BCE. The Roman rear-guard (including provisions and siege engines) was destroyed by an Arsacid attack from the rear, but Anthony continued briefly, briefly laid siege to Phraata/Phraaspa (location uncertain), but had to retreat when supplies began to run low. Plutarch (Antonius 50) states 24,000 men were lost in the expedition.

In 32 BCE/31 BCE, civil war broke out when a certain Tiridates rebelled against Phraates IV, probably with the support of the nobility that Phraates had previously persecuted. The revolt was initially successful, but failed by 25 BCE. The Romans capitalized on the civil war and in 20 BCE marched on Armenia. They also renewed their demands for the standards of the legions that had been seized in battle. Phraates complied, and although the return of standards was seen as a great victory in Rome, there was no battle fought; the Romans recognized the Euphrates as a frontier, and the Arsacids accepted Roman suzerainty over Armenia.

Augustus also sent Phraates IV an Italian slave-girl named Musa, who became the Arsacid's favorite wife and bore him a son. Hoping to avoid any complications over the line of succession, Phraates sent his first four sons to Rome where they would be protected. But Musa had Phraates poisoned and put her son Phraataces on the throne.

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Fall

From about 220 CE onwards, a minor Parthian vassal in Persia named Ardashir began to subjugate territories around his city fief, reaching as far east as Kerman, on the margin of the great salt deserts.

Artabanus IV proceeded to take counter action in 224, meeting Ardashir in battle at Golpayegan on 28 April 224. Artabanus IV was killed, and the Arsacid Parthian Empire came to an end. The victor crowned himself 'King of Kings of Iran' in 226.

References

1. Bickerman 1983, p. 6.
2. Neusner 1963, pp. 45–59.

Bibliography

• Bickerman, Elias J. (1983), "The Seleucid Period", in Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3.1, London: Cambridge UP, pp. 3–20.
• Bivar, A.D.H. (1983), "The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids", in Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3.1, London: Cambridge UP, pp. 21–99
• Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh; Stewart, Sarah, eds. (2007), The Age of the Parthians, Ideas of Iran, vol. 2, London: I. B. Tauris.
• Neusner, J. (1963), "Parthian Political Ideology", Iranica Antiqua, 3: 40–59.
• Schippmann, Klaus (1987), "Arsacid ii. The Arsacid dynasty", Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 2, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 526–535.

• Parthian empire