The brilliance of the Parthian cavalry on the battlefield and the defeats they inflicted on Rome at military encounters such as the one at Carrhae in 53 BCE forced some Roman writers and historians to admit grudgingly that the Iranian dynasty constituted a formidable adversary worthy of Rome’s respect and admiration. For example, the Roman consul and historian Cassius Dio wrote that “They [Parthians] are really formidable in warfare. … The Parthians make no use of a shield, but their forces consist of mounted archers and lancers, mostly in full armor. Their infantry is small, made up of weaker men; but even these are all archers. The land, being for the most part level, is excellent for raising horses and very suitable for riding about on horseback. … [E]ven in the war they lead about whole droves of horses, so that they can use different ones at different times, can ride up suddenly from a distance and also retire to a distance speedily” (Cassius Dio: XL.14–16).
Recognizing the devastation wrought by war and its destructive impact on their economy and population, Parthians displayed a genius for negotiating peace treaties. Contrary to their claims of superiority over the so-called barbarians, Romans who had suffered military defeats at the hands of the Parthian forces also strove to avoid dangerous wars, which only resulted in disgraceful peace treaties. The Parthian armies carried numerous colorful flags and banners onto the battlefield. These were often adorned with the figures of animals, including dragons and lions, but the ancient national emblem of Iran, the jewel-encrusted Derafsh-e Kavyan (Standard of Kaveh) served as their imperial flag (Shahbazi: “Army I”).
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Mithridates I; Mithridates II; Orodes II; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids; Primary Documents: Document 21; Document 22; Document 23; Document 29
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary. London: William Heinemann, 1928.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Julian. The Works of the Emperor Julian: The Caesars. Translated by Wilmer Cave Wright. London: William Heinemann, 1913.
Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London: Printed for S. Birt and B. Dod, 1746.
Plutarch. Fall of the Roman Republic. London: Penguin, 1972.
Plutarch. Lives. 2 vols. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2006.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Schippmann, K. “Arsacids.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-index#pt2.
Shahbazi, A. Sh. “Army I: Pre-Islamic Iran.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-i.
Strabo. The Geography of Strabo. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. London: William Heinemann, 1930.
Arsacid (Parthian) Empire
The Arsacid dynasty, founded by Arsaces I (Arshak I), created the third major Iranian empire after the Medes and the Persian Achaemenids. Iranian sources on the Arsacid dynasty are scant in the extreme, forcing historians to rely heavily on Roman and Greek sources, which are pronounced in their hostility and disdain toward these proud and powerful eastern neighbors, portraying them as treacherous barbarians engaged in unusual and distasteful customs. Such a negative image was intentionally manufactured and promoted by the Romans, who were masters of producing skillful political propaganda against an enemy who had successfully fought Rome’s expansionist policies.
The exact origins of the Arsacid dynasty remain a mystery. The founder of the Arsacid dynasty was Arsaces I (Arshak I), a leader of the Parni or Aparni, a Scythian or Saka group within the Dahae confederacy (Strabo: 11.9.2). In 247 BCE, Arsaces I crowned himself king at Asaac (Asaak). The location of Asaac is unknown, but some scholars have suggested that it was located near the present-day town of Quchan in the upper Atrek River Valley in northeastern Iran (Debevoise: 10–11). In 238 BCE, Arsaces invaded Parthia and defeated and killed its ruler, Andragoras (Justin: XLI.4.8–9). Not long after, Arsaces seized Hyrcania (modern-day Gorgan) on the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea (Justin: XLI.4.8–9). Using Parthia and Hyrcania as their base, the Arsacids expanded their territory to the region south of the Alborz mountain range during the reign of Phraates I (r. 176–171 BCE). The younger brother and successor of Phraates I, Mithridates I (r. 171–139/138 BCE), defeated the Greco-Bactrian kingdom based in present-day northern Afghanistan. He then moved west and seized Media and Mesopotamia. Arsacid forces also defeated the armies of Demetrius II (r. 145–141 BCE) and captured the Seleucid monarch who was sent as a prisoner to Mithridates I in Hyrcania. During the reign of Phraates II (r. 139/138–128 BCE), the Arsacids finally ended Seleucid rule in Iran after defeating and killing Antiochus VII (r. 138–129 BCE).
The first capital of the Parthian dynasty was the city of Nisa near Ashgabat in present-day Turkmenistan. As the Arsacids expanded their territory westward, the seat of power shifted first to Hecatompylos (Sad Darvazeh, or City of a Hundred Gates) near Shahr-e Qumis, near the city of Damghan in the northern Iranian province of Semnan, and then to the city of Seleucia-on-Tigris and Ctesiphon near today’s Baghdad in southern Iraq. Hamedan (ancient Hagmatana or Ecbatana) in western Iran served as the royal seat of the Arsacid kings but only during the summer. During the reigns of the kings Mithridates I (r. 171–139/138 BCE), Phraates II (r. 139/138–128 BCE), and Mithridates II (r. 124/123–88/87 BCE), the Arsacid state emerged as a world power. Situated between Central Asia and India to the east and the Roman Republic (later the Roman Empire) to the west, the Parthian Arsacid Empire controlled one of the most important trade links, which connected the economies of East and South Asia to those of the Near East, North Africa, and Europe. Precious commodities such as Chinese-made silk traveled through Parthian territory before reaching the western markets of Byzantium and Rome. The power and advanced civilization of the Arsacid Empire impressed foreign visitors, including the Chinese traveler Zhang Qian, who reported that the Parthians ruled “several hundred cities of various sizes,” each enclosed by high walls (Sima Qian: 235). According to the Chinese author Sima Qian, farmers in the Arsacid domains grew rice, wheat, and grapes for wine, and their merchants traveled far to trade with distant countries (Sima Qian: 235). The territory of the Arsacid (Parthian) Empire at the time of the traveler Zhang Qian extended to a hot and humid land he called Tiaozhi or T’iao-chih (i.e., Babylonia), where people lived “by cultivating the fields and planting rice” and where birds of enormous size laid eggs as large as pots (Sima Qian: 235). In Tiaozhi, all the local chiefs obeyed “the ruler of Anxi” or the king of Parthia, who regarded “them as his vassals” (Sima Qian: 235).
The Arsacid (Parthian) Empire was under constant pressure in the east from the nomadic groups bursting out of Central Asia and in the west from an aggressive and expansionist Rome. There were two major sources of conflict between Rome and Parthia: the first was Armenia, and the second was Mesopotamia. In 53 BCE, during the reign of the Arsacid king Orodes II, who ruled from 58/57 to 38 BCE, the Roman general Crassus invaded Mesopotamia, but the Arsacid commander, Surena, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Roman forces at Carrhae near present-day Harran in southeastern Turkey. Wars between Rome and the Parthians continued, with Rome frequently acting as the aggressor. Strabo wrote that the Parthians at first had hoped for peace with the Romans but instead were forced to defend themselves, first against Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae and then against the Roman general Mark Antony. After long negotiations with the emperor Augustus, the Parthians returned the Roman standards, which they had captured from Crassus and Antony. Despite these peaceful gestures, the relationship between the two empires remained tense. From 113 to 117 CE, the Roman emperor Trajan tried to bring the Parthians to their knees by attacking Armenia and Mesopotamia, including Adiaben
e in present-day northern Iraq. Trajan sacked the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon in 116, reaching the mouth of the Persian Gulf. His successor, Hadrian, withdrew from much of the territory that Trajan had seized in Mesopotamia, recognizing that his predecessor’s conquests could not be sustained. Once again, in 161 CE the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius responded to a successful campaign by the Arsacid monarch Vologeses IV (Valakhsh IV) (r. 147/148–191/192 CE) by attacking and capturing Ctesiphon. Hostilities once again broke out between the two powers during the reign of Vologeses V (r. 191/192–207/208 CE). In 197 CE, the Romans under Septimius Severus attacked Mesopotamia and sacked and looted the Parthian capital.
The threat from Rome was matched by a new and powerful state to the east, namely the Kushans. The Kushans ruled vast territories in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The Kushan state included what is now Tajikistan, a large part of Uzbekistan, possibly parts of Kyrgyzstan and southern Turkmenistan, almost all of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and parts of northern India. The powerful Kushan king, Kanishka, expanded his empire in Central Asia by invading and occupying the area of present-day western China, including the urban centers on the southern and western rims of the Tarim Basin. This conquest allowed the Kushans to benefit from the lucrative trade on the Silk Road while at the same time establishing direct commercial links with China. Kanishka also established close diplomatic ties with Rome in an attempt to isolate the Parthians. His plan most probably was to divert the flow of precious goods, particularly silk, from Iran to ports on the Indian Ocean, where ships carrying Chinese, Central Asian, and Indian goods could sail to Rome without any hindrance and intervention from a third party.
Beginning in the second century CE, the Arsacid state entered a long period of decline. Repeated Roman invasions and internecine struggle among various contenders to the throne undermined the power and stability of the empire. But the Arsacid dynasty did not collapse as a result of Roman invasions or dynastic wars. The end of the Arsacid (Parthian) Empire came when a vassal of the Arsacid dynasty, Ardashir, the governor of the district of Istakhr in the province of Fars in southern Iran, rebelled. After Ardashir invaded neighboring provinces in southwestern and southeastern Iran, the last Arsacid monarch, Artabanus IV, had no other alternative but to confront his rebellious vassal on the battlefield. When the two armies joined battle in 224 CE, it was Ardashir who emerged triumphant. The Parthian army suffered a humiliating defeat, and Artabanus was killed on the battlefield. The death of Artabanus IV signaled the end of Arsacid rule and the beginning of the Sasanian era.
See also: Cultures: Aparni; K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Arsaces I; Mithridates I; Mithridates II; Orodes II; Phraates I; Phraates II; Peoples: Arsacid Army; Primary Documents: Document 21; Document 22; Document 23; Document 29
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London: Printed for S. Birt and B. Dod, 1746.
Lecomte, Oliver. “Vehrânkâ and Dehistan: Late Farming Communities of South-West Turkmenistan from the Iron Age to the Islamic Period.” In Parthica, Incontri Di Culture Nel Mondo Antico, 135–170. Pisa: Istituti Editoriali Poligrafici Internazionali, 1999.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Schippmann, K. “Arsacids II: The Arsacid Dynasty.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-index#pt2.
Sima Qian. Records of the Grand Historian. Translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
Strabo. The Geography of Strabo. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. London: William Heinemann, 1930.
Wolski, J. “The Decay of the Iranian Empire of the Seleucids and the Chronology of the Parthian Beginnings.” Berytus 12 (1956–1958): 35–52.
Arsacids
The Arsacid, or the Parthian dynasty, was one of the most important royal houses in the history of ancient Iran. The Arsacids created a powerful empire, which at its zenith ruled a vast territory extending from the southern regions of Central Asia to the heartland of the ancient Near East. The origins of the Arsacid dynasty and the events that led to the rise of Arsaces I, the founder of the Parthian state, are shrouded in mystery. The absence of reliable Arsacid sources has forced historians of ancient Iran to rely almost exclusively on the accounts of Greek and Roman writers, who were resolute and unyielding in their hostility and disdain toward the Arsacids, portraying them as “treacherous, bellicose and arrogant barbarians with curious and distasteful customs” (Colledge: 13). Worse, these authors displayed little interest in studying and understanding the political, social, economic, and cultural institutions and practices of the Arsacid state and the highly diverse peoples and communities it contained.
The Roman soldier and historian Ammianus Marcellinus claimed that Arsaces I was “a man of low birth” who had been a “brigand chief during his younger days, but since his ideals gradually changed for the better, by a series of brilliant exploits he rose to greater heights” (Ammianus Marcellinus: 23.6.1–5). The Greek author Strabo stated that Arsaces was a Scythian chief who emerged as the leader of the Parni or Aparnians, a branch of the Dahae (Daae) confederacy, a nomadic group who lived along the Ochus (Strabo: 11.9.2). In his account of Alexander’s campaigns in Central Asia, the historian Arrian mentions the Dahae as a group living in close proximity to the Jaxartes River (Syr Darya) in Central Asia (Arrian: 3.28).
By 250 BCE, the Parni or the Aparni had established themselves on the shores of the Atrek River. A short time later, perhaps in 247 BCE, Arsaces I was crowned king in Asaac. The exact location of Asaac is unknown, but some scholars have suggested that it was located near the present-day town of Quchan in the upper Atrek River Valley in present-day northeastern Iran (Debevoise: 10–11). The rise of Arsaces corresponded with the growing decline of the Seleucid state, which had ruled Iran since 305 BCE. The incessant military campaigns against the Ptolemaic dynasty centered in Egypt exhausted the Seleucid treasury and diverted the attention of its rulers from the eastern provinces of their empire. The city of Antioch, which served as the capital of the Seleucid kings, was situated on the western borders of the empire and a long way away from Iran and Central Asia.
NOTABLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SITES OF GREATER IRAN DURING THE ARSACID (PARTHIAN) PERIOD
There are numerous archaeological sites dating back to the long reign of the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty (r. 247/238 BCE–224 CE). Many of these sites are located in Iran. These include Shahr-e Qumis or Hecatompylos (Sad Darvazeh, or City of a Hundred Gates) near Damghan in Semnan province, Dez-e Rashkan in Shahr-e Ray in the Tehran province, Izeh in Khuzestan province, Tang-e Butan in Khuzestan province, Tang-e Sarvak also in Khuzestan province, Kangavar in Kermanshah province, Qaleh-ye Yazdigird in Kermanshah province, Sar-e Pol-e Zahab in Kermanshah province, Bisotun also in Kermanshah province, and Kuh-e Khawjeh in Sistan and Baluchistan province. Many other important sites of the Parthian period are situated outside Iran’s borders. These include such important sites as Dura Europos in eastern Syria and Nisa in the Republic of Turkmenistan. It is also important to note that several museums, including the Iran-e Bastan Museum in Tehran, the National Museum of the History of Azerbaijan in Baku, the British Museum in London, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., contain valuable archaeological finds from the Arsacid period, including Parthian coins, that play a central role in helping scholars of ancient Iran to determine the exact dates for the reigns of Arsacid kings.
Sometime between 250 and 239 BCE, two important rebellions erupted against the authority of the Seleucid s
tate. Diodotus, the satrap of Bactria, and Andragoras, the governor of Parthia, proclaimed their independence. In 238 BCE, the Parni under the leadership of Arsaces I took advantage of the chaos in the eastern provinces of the Seleucid state and invaded and conquered Parthia. The ruler of Parthia, Andragoras, was killed, and his small kingdom emerged as the new home and operational base for Arsaces I. With the conquest of Parthia, the Arsacids came to be known as Parthians, or as those who hail from Parthia, a name the Greek and Roman authors used when referring to them and their empire. Soon, Arsaces I “made himself master of Hyrcania” (Justin: XLI.4.8–9). The acquisition of Parthia and Hyrcania allowed Arsaces to raise a large army to defend himself against a possible attack from the Seleucids to the west and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom to the east. After the death of Theodotus I, the founder of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, Arsaces I made peace and entered into an alliance with his son, Theodotus II (Justin: XLI.4). When Seleucus II (r. 246–225 BCE) invaded eastern Iran to punish the Parthians, Arsaces I scored a victory against the Seleucid monarch, a momentous milestone that the Parthians would observe “with great solemnity as the commencement of their liberty” (Justin: XLI.4). When Seleucus II was forced to return west, Arsaces I used the respite as an opportunity to lay the foundation of the Parthian government, “levy soldiers, fortify castles, and secure the fidelity of his cities” (Justin: XLI.5.1). He built a city called “Dara,” which was designed and built in such a way that it did not need a “garrison to defend it” (Justin: XLI.5.1–2).
When Arsaces I died “in a good old age” circa 217 BCE, he was succeeded by his son, Arsaces II (Justin: XLI.5). In 209 BCE, the Seleucid king Antiochus III embarked on his eastern campaign and marched to Iran in order to reimpose his authority over Parthia and Bactria. The Seleucid forces attacked Hecatompylos, or Sad Darvazeh (City of a Hundred Gates), in Shahr-e Qumis near the city of Damghan in present-day northern Iran. Arsaces II fought the Seleucid army, estimated at 100,000 men and 20,000 horses, “with great bravery,” but he eventually made a tactical retreat and “made an alliance” with Antiochus (Justin: XLI.5). Despite this setback, the Arsacid dynasty survived. Upon his death, Arsaces II was succeeded by his son, Priapatius, who ruled from 191 to 176 BCE. Beginning in the reign of Phraates I (r. 176–171 BCE), a grandson of Arsaces II, the Arsacid state broke out of northeastern Iran and began to expand its territory into the regions south of the Alborz mountain range. Another grandson of Arsaces II, Mithridates I (r. 171–139/138 BCE), converted the Arsacid kingdom into a major world power.
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