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Arsacid Dynasty

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The Arsacid Dynasty ruled in Persia, their realm is also called Parthia which included the Iranian plateau and intermittently Mesopotamia, from 253 BC until their overthrow by the Sassanid Dynasty in AD 226. At certain times Arsacid Kings also ruled over Armenia.


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Historical background

After the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander III, king of Macedonia, Persia (Iran) was in constant conflict between the old Persian traditions and the new Hellenistic way of life, between civic life and oriental despotism. In Persia the Hellenistic rulers were ultimately unable to solve these and other problems inherent in such a mixed and complex society, even if there was a strong level of amalgamation between the two cultures. But the Greeks and their civic culture ultimately ended up occupying a secondary if important role, while pre-conquest patterns re-emerged stronger than ever, like the persistent use of the Aramaic language for administration and commerce.

The Hellenistic lands in Asia after the death of Alexander were ruled by the Seleucid Empire; an overextended domain, which neglected its Persian possessions in favour of Anatolia and Syria. The Parni, an Iranian nomadic tribe, were to gain advantage from this, and later by the disintegration of the Seleucid state amidst the dynastic squabbles which followed the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BC. Things went no better for the other Hellenistic realms on Iranian and Indian soil, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms, swept away by the migrations of the Yueh-Chih nomads and the rise of the Kushan Empire.

The 1st century BC, with the fall of the last remains of the Hellenistic kingdoms, saw the emergence of what were to be the Parthians' mortal enemies: the Romans and the Kushans, with whom the Parthians were to be engaged in many wars and disputes. In 247 BC two brothers, Arsaces (Arschag) and Tiridates, members of the nomad Iranian tribe of the Parni, first mentioned in this century and migrating south from the banks of the Amu-Darya, occupied the Seleucid satrapy of Parthia (the district of Tejen) by defeating and killing its governor Andragoras. These were times of great tumult and difficulties for the House of Seleucus, which had a few years left before also losing control of Bactria with the rebellion of the Greek satrap Diodotus.

The Parthians remained on the defensive for nearly a century; a century in which the world scenario was radically transformed. In particular, in 190 BC the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great suffered a crushing defeat from the Romans at Magnesia, starting the unstoppable decline of his kingdom. And when Antiochus IV Epiphanes died in 164 BC internecine conflicts exploded within the royal dynasty, opening the road for Mithridates I' campaigns in his long reign from 171 to 138 BC.

Mithridates I annexed the provinces of Media, Susiana, Persis, Characene, Babylonia and Assyria in the west and of Gedrosia and Sistan in the east, and also took Seleucia on the Tigris, which was then the second largest city of Western Asia. The autonomy and Greek institutions of Seleucia were respected since the Parthians were thorough philhellenes, immediately facing the city on the left bank of the Tigris the Parthians founded Ctesiphon, the new capital of the new empire. The Seleucids tried under Demetrius II Nicator to reconquer the lost ground, but in 139 BC he lost his campaign against the Parthian cavalry and fell into the hands of Mithridates I. The Parthian king treated him kindly, even giving him one of his daughters in marriage, but kept him captive in Hyrcania where he remained a prisoner till his death. A later attempt in 129 BC to reconquer the former Seleucid dominions by Antiochus VII Sidetes met with no better luck. In this way, Mithridates I created a realm which extended itself from the Euphrates to the Indian Caucasus, which was in itself a vast polyglot of people and traditions.

Arsacid Dynasty:Coin of Mithridates I (ruled 171–138 BCE) from the mint at Seleucia on the Tigris.
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Coin of Mithridates I (ruled 171–138 BCE) from the mint at Seleucia on the Tigris.

Another great king who was to prove himself Mithridates II, came to power about 123 BC. He gained important victories both in the West, where he kept the Seleucids in check, and in the East, where he defeated the nomad Sakae expanding his power to the Oxus.

Mithridates II was also the first Parthian king to enter in contact with the world's other great empires, the Chinese and the Roman: around 110 BC Chinese and Parthians both sent embassies to their respective courts with the object of facilitating commerce with the west. As for the Romans, the first contacts were also friendly since they had a common enemy, Tigranes the Great king of Armenia.

Arsacid (Parthian) kings of Persia, 250 BC - AD 226

Arsacid Dynasty:The Kings of Iranian World

Arsacid kings of Armenia, 54 AD - 428 AD

Kings of Armenia:

See also

Reference

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Articles to be merged since August 2006 | Persian history | 253 BC establishments

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