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Family tree of the Arsacids . The solid lines show parent-to-child lineage and dashed lines indicate a questionable blood relationship or adopted siblings. Official monarchs have their names in bold to distinguish them from pretenders or rival claimants.
The Parthian Empire (/ ˈ p ɑːr θ i ən /), also known as the Arsacid Empire (/ ˈ ɑːr s ə s ɪ d /), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD.
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- Name
- Background
- Reign
- Coinage
- Legacy
- Bibliography
Arsacēs is the Latin form of the Greek Arsákēs (Ἀρσάκης), itself from Parthian Aršak (𐭀𐭓𐭔𐭊). The name is diminutive of Old Iranian Aršan, meaning "hero". The name was also used by some of the rulers of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, including Artaxerxes II (r. 404 – 358 BC), whom the Arsacids considered their progenitor.
The sources regarding Arsaces' differ greatly. He is mostly known from Greek and Roman sources, who were hostile to him and his dynasty due to the later Roman–Parthian Wars. In Iranian national history his descent is traced back to several mythical figures, such as being a descendant of either Kay Kawad, Kay Arash, Dara the son of Homay, or Arash, ...
Accession and wars
In c. 250 BC, Arsaces and his Parni followers seized Astauene, which lay near the Atrek valley. A few years later, probably in c. 247 BC, Arsaces was crowned king in Asaak, a city which he had founded, and which served as the Arsacid royal necropolis. His coronation at Asaak is generally presumed to mark the start of the Arsacid dynasty. Around 245 BC, Andragoras, the governor of the Seleucid province of Parthia, proclaimed his independence from the Seleucid monarch Seleucus II Callinicus (r....
Succession
For a long time, the line of succession of Arsaces, and to some extent his historicity, had been unclear. The now-deprecated narrative of the foundation of the Arsacid dynasty by Arsaces and his brother Tiridates, who led the Parni in revolt together, was established by Jean Foy-Vaillant in 1725. He and generations of scholars thought that after Arsaces' death, Tiridates succeeded him as king of the Arsacid dynasty.This led to some different theories, including one that considered Arsaces a l...
In essence, Arsaces' coins "provided the prototype for all subsequent Arsacid coinage, although itself undergoing a few changes". Khodadad Rezakhani adds that his coins took many stylistic elements from Seleucids and earlier Achaemenid satrapal issues, but he nonetheless made several innovations that differentiated them from those of his predecesso...
Arsaces' prestige endured long after his death. An everlasting fire in his honour was still guarded in the city of Asaak more than two centuries after his death, as reported by Isidore of Charax. This indicates that the act of declaring a king had a religious importance. It most likely served as the dynastic fire of the Arsacids, possibly created i...
Ancient works
1. Isidore of Charax, Parthian Stations. 2. Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus. 3. Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae. 4. Strabo, Geographica.
Modern works
1. Axworthy, Michael (2008). A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind. New York: Basic Books. pp. 1–368. ISBN 978-0-465-00888-9. 2. Boyce, Mary (1984). Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Psychology Press. pp. 1–252. ISBN 9780415239028. 3. Frye, Richard Nelson (1984). The History of Ancient Iran. C.H.Beck. pp. 1–411. ISBN 9783406093975. false. 4. Bickerman, Elias J. (1983). "The Seleucid Period". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid...
- Phriapites
- Zoroastrianism
- 247 – 217 BC
- Arsaces II
The article contains an analysis of the data on the genealogy of the first Arsacids from the ostrakon No. 1760 of the Nisian Archive. On comparing these data with those from the written sources (Justian and Arrian), the author is able to modify the genealogy established by his predecessors. A comparison of the data from early Parthian history ...
Feb 26, 2018 · The Arsacid (Arshakuni) dynasty of Armenia ruled that kingdom from 12 CE to 428 CE. A branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia, the Armenian princes also played...
- Mark Cartwright
It was founded by Arsaces (r. c. 250–211? bc) of the Parni tribe, which originally dwelt east of the Caspian Sea and entered Parthia after the death of Alexander the Great (323 bc ), gradually extending control southward. Arsacid power reached its peak under Mithradates I (r. 171–138 bc ).
The Arsacid Dynasty (Arshakuni Dynasty) ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 to 428. Formerly a branch of the Parthian Arsacids, they became a distinctly Armenian dynasty. [1] Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty until 62 when Tiridates I of Armenia secured Arsacid rule in ...
