Networks of Power in the Parthian and Sasanian Empires

The Parthian and Sasanian empires were composed of overlapping networks of power. Shifting levels of competition and cooperation among several regional and empire-wide power bases shaped the development of empires' institutions and so­cial dynamics.^[825] These included Parthian and Persian elites, regional kings, Greek cities, merchant elites, and the priests of various Iranian and non-Iranian religions.

The Parthians possess in all, eighteen kingdoms, such being the divisions of their provinces on the coasts of the two seas, as we have stated, the Red Sea on the South and the Caspian Sea on the north. Of these provinces the eleven designated the Upper Kingdoms begin at the frontiers of Armenia and the shores of the Caspian and Extend to the Scythians, with whom the Parthians live on terms of equality. The remaining seven kingdoms are called the Lower Kingdoms.^[826]

The Parthian Upper Kingdoms as described by Pliny roughly parallel the Seleucid Upper Satrapies, and it is clear that the Parthians continued several aspects of Seleucid administration. Like the Seleucid Empire, the Arasacid Empire was com­posed of kingdoms ruled by their own kings, autonomous Greek cities like Seleukeia-Tigris, autonomous temple estates, and provinces ruled by satraps, who were answerable directly to the king of kings.^[827] A relief and inscription attests to Ardawan VI’s appointment of a certain Xwasak as “satrap of Susa,” and a rock re­lief and inscription at Bisotun shows Mithradates II receiving the obeisance of a satraps indicating that their position and power were inextricably drawn from the Arsacid king.

After Parthia itself, the most important kingdoms of the Parthian Empire in­cluded Armenia, Media Atropatene, Elymais, Characene/Mesan, Hatra, Osrhoene, Adiabene, and Hyrcania. In general, the Mesopotamian lowlands, inhabited by a wide variety of peoples, presented a much different political demographic and ec­onomic makeup compared to the Iranian highlands. The kingdoms and city-states of the lowlands depended on trade and large-scale agriculture, while the highlands were dominated by Iranian-speaking nobility with subsistence farming and pasto- ralism as the dominant modes of economic production. These kingdoms were ruled by their own dynasties and maintained their own religious and courtly traditions, though all were affected by the culture of the Arsacid court to some degree. In the early empire, individual kingdoms, such as Characene/Mesan, Hatra, or Elymais, could operate with a surprising amount of autonomy, even pursuing independent diplomatic contacts and foreign policy.^[829] The Arsacid king of kings would inter­vene if they moved toward independence or colluded with the Romans, as this was one of the Romans’ primary tools in destabilizing the Parthian Empire. Eventually, however, the Arsacid kings replaced many of the regional dynasties with family members who started hereditary monarchies of the most important provinces, like Armenia and Media Atropatene, Hyrcania/Gurgan, Characene/Mesan, Elymais, and Sagestan.^[830] The Arsacid king of kings eventually developed a sophisticated for­eign policy and was able to treat the Seleucids, Romans, buffer states and steppe peoples alike. Many of these relationships were cemented with strategic marriages and exchanges of hostages.^[831]

Sabuhr I’s inscription on the Ka‘ba-ye Zardost (SKZ) provides us with a clear view of the kingdoms or lands (sahr) of the Sasanian Empire, though perhaps aspirational in terms of the intensity and stability of Persian control.

Persia (Persis), Parthia, Khuzistan, Mesan (Mesene), Assyria, Adiabene, Arabia, Azerbaijan (Atropatene), Armenia, Georgia, Iberia, Albania, Balasagan (Caspian Coast) as far as the Caucasus and the Alan Gates, all the Alborz Mountains, Media, Gurgan (Hyrcania), Merv, Herat (Aria) and all Khurasan, Kerman, the Land of the Sakas (Achaemenid Drangiana and Arachosia), Turan (east central Baluchistan), Makran (coastal Baluchistan and Indus delta), Paradan (Quetta), India (Middle Indus Valley), the Kingdom of the Kushans (Bactria) as far as Peshawar (Gandhara) and as far as Kashgar, Sogdiana, Tashkent, and Mazun (Oman) beyond the sea.^[832]

Many of the Sasanian lands correspond to the late Parthian kingdoms; however, once they had been conquered, Ardaxsir I and Sabuhr I quickly began modifying their structure and administration. Some kingdoms that had been important in the Parthian Empire, such as Hatra or Elymais, were destroyed entirely in the Sasanian conquest. In their place, new more encompassing designations appear, for example “Arabia,” and “Khuzistan.” In addition, Ardaxsir Is and Sabuhr I’s conquest of the northern and western provinces of the Kushan Empire greatly expanded the empire to the east.