The Persian Empire
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See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Darius II; Peoples: Achaemenid Empire
Further Reading
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002.
Cook, J. M. The Persian Empire. London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1983.
Teispes
Teispes (Old Persian: Chishpish) was the king of the small kingdom of Anshan in the southern Fars province of Iran sometime in the late seventh century BCE. He was also the great-grandfather of Cyrus II the Great (r. 558–530 BCE), founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. On his clay cylinder unearthed in Babylon, Cyrus the Great stated that he was the son of Kambujiya (Cambyses), a grandson of Kurush (Cyrus I), and a great-grandson of Chishpish (Teispes). Cyrus also claimed that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all kings of Anshan. In his inscription at Bisotun in western Iran, the Achaemenid monarch Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE) identified Vishtaspa (Hystaspes) as his father, Arshama (Arsames) as his grandfather, Ariyaramna (Ariaramnes) as his great-grandfather, Chishpish (Teispes) as his great-great-grandfather, and Hakhamanish (Achaemenes) as the founder of the Achaemenid royal house. He also claimed that there were eight kings in his family before he ascended the throne. Some scholars have questioned the validity of Darius’s lineage, especially when it claims direct descent from Teispes. They maintain that Teispes was added to Darius’s lineage to convert Darius into a close relative of Cyrus the Great and his son Cambyses, whose death in 522 BCE allowed Darius to stage a military coup and seize power.
See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Cambyses I; Cyrus II the Great; Darius I
Further Reading
Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt. New York: Penguin, 2003.
Kent, Roland G. Old Persian. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1950.
Vishtaspa (Father of Darius I)
Vishtaspa (Hystaspes) was the name of several important figures in the history of ancient Iran. One of these was the father of Darius I, the Persian Achaemenid monarch who ruled from 522 to 486 BCE. In his inscription at Bisotun in western Iran, Darius I identified Vishtaspa (Hystaspes) as his father, Arshama (Arsames) as his grandfather, Ariyaramna (Ariaramnes) as his great-grandfather, Chishpish (Teispes) as his great-great-grandfather, and Hakhamanish (Achaemenes) as the founder of the Achaemenid royal house. In the same inscription Darius stated that at the time he ascended the throne, his father was in Parthia (Old Persian: Parthava), the region corresponding with present-day northeastern Iran and parts of southern Turkmenistan.
When Darius I seized the Achaemenid throne, rebellions erupted throughout the empire. The rebels in Parthia joined the Median leader Fravartish (Phraortes), whose revolt was based in Media in western Iran. With support from army units that had remained loyal to him, Vishtaspa attacked the Parthian rebels and defeated them. This was not a total victory, however, because Darius was forced to send additional troops to his father, who used them to attack the rebels once again. This time the rebels were pacified, and Parthia was secured for Darius. The account presented by the Greek author Herodotus contradicts Darius’s inscription at Bisotun. Herodotus claimed that when Darius and six Persian officers plotted to seize power, Darius’s father was not the governor of Parthia but rather the governor of Persis (Parsa) in southern Iran.
See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Achaemenes; Arsames; Darius I; Teispes
Further Reading
Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt. New York: Penguin, 2003.
Kent, Roland G. Old Persian. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1950.
Xerxes I
Xerxes was a king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire who ruled from 486 to 465 BCE. He was the son of the Achaemenid monarch Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE) and Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus the Great. Xerxes was designated heir apparent over his older brother, Artabazanes. Before the death of his father, Xerxes served as the viceroy of Babylon. In an inscription at Persepolis in southern Iran, Xerxes introduced himself in the following manner: “My father was Darius; Darius’s father was Hystaspes by name; Hystaspes’s father was Arsames. … Other sons of Darius there were, [but] … Darius my father made me the greatest after himself. When my father Darius went away from the throne, by the will of Ahuramazda I became king on my father’s throne” (Kent: 149–150). The first challenge confronting Xerxes was a rebellion in Egypt, which the new king suppressed. The next target was Babylon, which had also revolted against the authority of the Persian state. Here, as in Egypt, the revolt was quickly put down.
In the sixth year of his reign, Xerxes embarked on a campaign against Greece. The exact reasons for the decision to invade Greece are unclear, since the country did not offer attractive economic and financial gains for the rich and powerful Achaemenid Empire. It has been suggested that a large group of prowar Athenian exiles at his court as well as his cousin and brother-in-law, Mardonius, may have encouraged Xerxes to exact revenge for the defeat that Darius I had suffered at Marathon. The Persian king raised an army and invaded mainland Greece in 480 BCE. After crossing the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, the Persian army seized Thessaly, Macedonia, and northern Greece. Athens was divided between those who advocated negotiations with the Persian king and those who favored a confrontation. The prowar party triumphed and formed a league under the leadership of Sparta, which tried to halt the Persian advance at a mountain pass called Thermopylae. Despite their dogged and courageous resistance, the Persians defeated the small Spartan force defending the pass and advanced on Athens, which was seized with little resistance. The confrontation between the Persian army and a small band of Athenian fighters, however, resulted in the burning and destruction of temples and homes on the Acropolis by the Persians. The next confrontation between the Persians and the Greeks took place at Salamis, where the Greek fleet destroyed the Persian naval forces.
In their accounts, Greek authors such as Herodotus celebrated the courage and self-sacrifice of the Spartans at Thermopylae and the victory at Salamis as momentous events in their history. Some in the West have also celebrated the Persian defeat as a unique and extraordinary event and a turning point in the history of Western civilization.
Xerxes did not remain in Greece. He returned to Asia and left an army under the command of Mardonius in Greece. In 479 BCE, a year after Xerxes had departed mainland Greece, the Persians were back on the offensive, attacking Attica, the region that contained the city of Athens. The Greeks managed to raise an army, which fought the Persians in an indecisive battle near Palatea in 479 BCE. Mardonius made the fatal mistake of participating in the fighting. The Persian commander was killed on the battlefield, and his army was forced to withdraw. The Greeks scored a victory against a Persian force under the command of Tigranes near Mount Mycale on the coast of Asia Minor. From these setbacks the Persians learned that a military attack on mainland Greece only unified the Greek city-states, which would otherwise be fighting among themselves. A much wiser strategy was to utilize diplomatic alliances and the enormous financial power of the Persian state to encourage backbiting, squabbling, and internal strife among various Greek states, which would then be forced to seek Persian support in their struggle against one another.
In 465 Xerxes was killed by Artabanus, a Hyrcanian who enjoyed the confidence of the king and served as the captain of the royal guard. Artabanus organized the assassination plot with the support and assistance of Mithridates, the eunuch “who was the king’s chamberlain and enjoyed his supreme confidence” (Diodorus Siculus: XI.69.1–6). After murdering Xerxes, Artabanus told the king’s second son, Artaxerxes, that his older brother Darius had killed their father. Artaxerxes, who trusted Artabanus, killed his brother to avenge the murder of his father. After Artaxerxes had ascended the throne, Artabanus planned to assassinate the new king and seize the throne, but the Persian king discovered the plot and killed Artabanus.
Rock-cut tomb of Xerxes I, the Persian king of kings, at Naqsh-e Rostam near Persepolis in southern Iran. In th
e writings of Greek historians, including Herodotus, Xerxes appears as the Persian monarch who assembled the ancient world’s largest army to invade Greece, but this son and successor of Darius I was also celebrated for sponsoring numerous building projects throughout his vast empire. (Christiaan Triebert)
The tomb of Xerxes I is located in Naqsh-e Rostam, a short distance from Persepolis in the southern Iranian province of Fars. Xerxes I left his successor a vast empire. According to his inscription at Persepolis, his empire incorporated “Media [western Iran], Elam [southwestern Iran], Arachosia [Qandahar in southern Afghanistan], Armenia, Drangiana [eastern Iran], Parthia [northeastern Iran], Aria [northwestern Afghanistan], Bactria [northern Afghanistan], Sogdiana [north of Bactria, Tajikistan/eastern Uzbekistan], Chorasmia [south of the Aral Sea/northwestern Uzbekistan and northern Turkmenistan], Babylonia [southern Iraq], Assyria [northern Iraq], Sattagydia [northern Pakistan], Sardis [western Turkey], Egypt, Ionians those who dwell by the sea [Aegean Sea] and those who dwell across the sea, men of Maka [southeastern Iran], Arabia, Gandara/Gandhara [Upper Indus River Valley], Sind [in present-day southeastern Pakistan], Cappadocia [central Turkey], Dahae, Amyrgian Scythians [Central Asia], Pointed-Cap Scythians [Central Asia], Skudra, men of Akaufaka, Libyans [North Africa], Carians [southwestern Turkey], Ethiopians” (Kent: 150–151).
See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Artaxerxes I; Darius I; Primary Documents: Document 14
Further Reading
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002.
Burn, A. R. “Persia and the Greeks.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 2, edited by Ilya Gershevitch, 292–391. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Curtis, John. Ancient Persia. London: British Museum Publications, 1989.
Diodorus Siculus. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London: William Heinemann, 1933.
Ghirshman, R. Iran. New York: Penguin, 1978.
Kent, Roland G. Old Persian. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1950.
Xerxes II
A king of the Achaemenid Persian Empire who ruled from 424 and 423 BCE. Xerxes II was the oldest son of the Achaemenid monarch Artaxerxes I. After the death of his father in 424 BCE, Xerxes ascended the throne. Forty-five days after he had assumed the reins of power, his brother Sogdianos revolted and killed Xerxes II and proclaimed himself the king. The actions of Sogdianos while on the throne quickly alienated the members of the royal court and the leaders of the army. He especially angered the elite palace guards by murdering their commander. Recognizing a golden opportunity to seize the throne, another son of Artaxerxes I, Ochos, who served as the governor of Hyrcania on the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea, raised an army, marched against his brother, and defeated Sogdianos. In his campaign against Sogdianos, Ochos enjoyed the support of Arshama, the Persian governor of Egypt and the head of the palace cavalry. Sogdianos was put to death after only six and a half months on the throne. Ochos then ascended the throne as Darius II and ruled from 423 to 404 BCE.
See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Artaxerxes I; Darius II; Ancient Provinces: Sogdiana
Further Reading
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002.
Cook, J. M. The Persian Empire. New York: Schocken, 1983.
Curtis, John. Ancient Persia. London: British Museum Publications, 1989.
Ghirshman, R. Iran. New York: Penguin, 1978.
Kent, Roland G. Old Persian. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1950.
KINGS AND QUEENS OF THE ARSACID/PARTHIAN DYNASTY
OVERVIEW ESSAY
The Arsacid or Parthian dynasty was the longest-ruling royal house of pre-Islamic Iran. The longest entries in this chapter cover the life and career of Arsaces I, the founder of the dynasty, as well as the reigns and accomplishments of Mithridates I, Phraates II, and Mithridates II, who transformed the Arsacid state from a kingdom confined to present-day northeastern Iran and southern Turkmenistan to a vast empire and a world power, which at the height of its power ruled a territory stretching from Central Asia in the east to Syria in the west. The abbreviated nature of the entries for other Arsacid monarchs reflects the fundamental fact that the history of Greater Iran during the long Arsacid period suffers from a paucity of reliable documents and written sources.
The Arsacid dynasty hailed from the Scythian groups who roamed the vast plains of Central Asia. At a yet undetermined date these groups moved into Transoxiana, a region lying between two great rivers, the Oxus (Persian: Amu Darya) and the Jaxartes (Persian: Syr Darya). From here the Arsacids later moved on to the region east of the Caspian Sea. They then pushed southward and settled in the region that today corresponds with southern Turkmenistan and the western part of the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan.
The entries on Arsaces I and his two immediate successors, Arsaces II and Priapatius, focus on the origins of the Arsacid dynasty and how early Arsacid kings struggled to maintain the independence of their fledgling kingdom against the threats posed by the neighboring Seleucid Empire, which ruled much of Iran and Mesopotamia after 305 BCE. The entries for Phraates I, Mithridates I, Phraates II, and Mithridates II focus on the growth and expansion of the Arsacid dynasty and how these four dynamic and charismatic Arsacid kings broke out of the isolation of northeastern Iran, defeated the local tribes, and eventually fought against and expelled Seleucid rule from Iran. The Arsacid monarch Phraates I (r. 176–171 BCE) recognized the growing decline of the Seleucid state, which was reflected in its defeat at the hands of the Romans. In 190 BCE the armies of Rome and its allies defeated the Seleucid monarch, Antiochus III (r. 223–187 BCE), in the Battle of Magnesia in Asia Minor. In the aftermath of the battle, the Seleucid king was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Apamea in 188 BCE. According to the terms of this treaty, Antiochus III renounced all his claims to territories north and west of the Taurus mountain range in southern Asia Minor. He also agreed to send to Rome a group of hostages, including his own son, the future Antiochus IV; to pay a heavy war indemnity; and to surrender his fleet and elephants. Sensing the growing weakness of the Seleucid state based in faraway Syria, Phraates I embarked on a campaign to break out of northeastern Iran and expand his territorial possessions to the regions south of the Alborz mountain range. He defeated the Mardi, a tribal group that inhabited the eastern region of the Alborz. He then settled the Mardi near Rhagae (present-day Ray, south of modern-day Tehran) in eastern Media, thus expanding the boundaries of the Arsacid state from northeastern Iran to the lands west of the Caspian Gates. The newly conquered territory provided the Arsacid king with a territorial base to attack central and western Iran.
Phraates I’s brother and successor Mithridates I (r. 171–139/138 BCE) built on Phraates’s military successes and expanded the territory of the Arsacid kingdom to present-day Afghanistan in the east and western and central Iran to the west. Mithridates I scored his first major victory against the Greco-Bactrian kingdom based in Bactria, in present-day northern Afghanistan. He then pushed west and seized Media in 148 or 147 BCE. The Arsacid armies used Media as an operational base to attack Mesopotamia and capture Babylonia, including the city of Seleucia by 141 BCE. Arsacid armies continued their military operations in southwestern Iran and southern Mesopotamia, defeating the Elymaeans in present-day southwestern Iran and seizing the important city of Susa, which had served for nearly two centuries as one of the capitals of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Mithridates crowned himself king in Seleucia, thus transferring the capital of his fledgling empire from Nisa in present-day southern Turkmenistan to Ctesiphon, south of today’s Baghdad in southern Iraq. The impressive victories of Mithridates I forced the Seleucid monarch Demetrius II (r. 145–141 BCE) to respond by raising an army and invading Mesopotamia and Iran. The campaigns of Demetrius II against Mithridates I proved to be disastrous for the Seleucid monarch, who was defeated and captured by an Arsacid army. The humiliated Demetrius was sent
to Mithridates I, who received the Seleucid monarch with kindness and generosity. After the defeat of the Seleucids, the Elymaeans, who had formed an alliance with Demetrius, paid a high price for their disloyalty when Parthian forces plundered their temples. Between 139 and 132 BCE, Parthian armies swept through southwestern Iran and southern Iraq, including the important city of Babylon. In the east, Mithridates I also extended the boundaries of his newfound empire, but the extent of these territorial gains is unclear.
Mithridates’s son, Phraates II (r. 139/138–128 BCE) inherited an empire from his father that it was threatened by enemies in the east as well as the west. Toward the end of Mithridates’s reign, the eastern frontiers of the Parthian (Arsacid) Empire had been breached by an Indo-European people known as Yüeh-chih (Yuezhi) in Chinese and as Tochari by Roman and Greek writers. The Yüeh-chih were pushed out of Central Asia and forced to seek new pasturelands for their animals. In 130 BCE, while Phraates II was quelling the threat posed by the invading nomadic groups in the east, the Seleucid king Antiochus VII (r. 138–129 BCE) attacked and seized Babylonia, defeating Arsacid armies in three separate military encounters. With winter arriving, Antiochus divided his army and scattered its units in several cities in western Iran. The high-handed and oppressive attitude of these army units, who demanded food and supplies, caused the populace to revolt against Antiochus VII. Wishing to feel out his enemy, Phraates II sent an envoy to negotiate a potential peace agreement. Antiochus responded that he was willing to consider a peace treaty if the Arsacid monarch would release his brother Demetrius from captivity, withdraw from the provinces he had seized, and pay tribute to the Seleucid king as his overlord. Phraates rejected these demands. He also placed an army in the field. Against the advice of his officials, who pleaded with him to avoid a hasty foray, Antiochus VII marched against the Arsacids. When the two armies joined in battle, Phraates II defeated Antiochus, who was killed on the battlefield. The victory of Phraates II over Antiochus VII ended Seleucid rule in Iran. After his impressive victory over the Seleucids, Phraates II intended to advance to Syria. He was diverted to the east, however, by the renewed threat posed by nomadic groups who had breached the eastern frontiers of his empire. In 128 BCE, accompanied by Greek prisoners whom he had captured in his battle against Antiochus, Phraates attacked the invaders from Central Asia. As the battle was joined, the Greek prisoners of war, who were supposedly fighting for Phraates, defected to the enemy, causing chaos among the Parthian forces. In the midst of the confusion and mayhem that followed, Phraates II was killed on the battlefield.