3514–3984 AM · 247 BCE — 224 CE · world history
The Parthian Empire
The Parthians take Iran from Alexander's successors and for four centuries stand as Rome's rivals.
The nomad tribe of the Parni, led by Arsaces, seizes Parthia, the north-eastern march of the Seleucid realm, and step by step forces the Greek rulers out of Iran and Mesopotamia. The Parthians do not break the order they inherit: they mint coins with Greek legends, leave the local kinglets broad freedom, and hold the realm together as a union of lands rather than a single body. Their horse archers deal Rome one of its worst defeats, at Carrhae. Jerusalem felt their hand as well: in 40 BCE a Parthian army set Antigonus on the Judean throne, and Herod had to win power back with Roman help.
§Sources
Documents of the period
- coins of the Parthian kings and Babylonian tablets
Scholarship
- Roman authors: Tacitus, Suetonius, Livy
Basis: documents and evidence.