The
Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the
Arsacid Empire (
Modern Persian: اشکانیان
Ashkāniān), was a major
Iranian political and cultural power in
ancient Persia. Its latter name comes from
Arsaces I of Parthia who, as leader of the
Parni tribe, founded it in the mid-3rd century BC when he conquered the
Parthia region"roughly western
Khurasan" . in
Iran's northeast, then a
satrapy (province) in rebellion against the
Seleucid Empire.
Mithridates I of Parthia (r.
c. 171–138 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 south-eastern
Turkey, to eastern
Iran. The empire, located on the
Silk Road trade route between the
Roman Empire in the
Mediterranean Basin and
Han Empire 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...
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