The Parthians: From Central Asian Roots to Western Asian Empire
The Arsacid Empire held sway over Western Asia for the greatest duration of time of all Iranian empires, and with the survival of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia until 428 CE, the Arsacids were the longest-ruling of all ancient Iranian dynasties.
The majority of our narrative sources come from Hellenistic and Roman authors, many of which survive only as asides or fragments. These are joined by textual sources from as far afield as Armenia and China as well as later, Middle and New Persian and Arabic texts. No matter how terse, the indigenous primary-source evidence, that is, archival, epigraphic, numismatic and archaeological, provides valuable anchors and corrections to this patchwork of textual evidence arising from outside the empire or after its fall.[781] The early Parthian state emerged opportunistically from the disintegration of Seleucid Western Asia when a series of satrapal revolts rocked the Seleucid Empire. In 246 bce Andragoras, the Persian satrap of Parthia and Hyrcania, and Diodotos, the Macedonian satrap of Bactria, took advantage of the fratricidal war between Seleukos II and Antiochos Hierax, and revolted, detaching their provinces from the Seleucid Empire.[782] Diodotos I (ca. 250-230 bce) succeeded in fashioning an independent kingdom of Bactria, which flourished under Greco- Macedonian kings for another century and a half.[783] The Classical sources offer numerous conflicting origin stories, although we can descry that Parthia was invaded by a people referred to as the Parni or Aparni of the Dahae confederacy, who took Astuene a region between the Caspian Sea and Atrek River.[784] The Parni appear to have originated from a band of Iranian-speaking nomads who migrated from the Central Eurasian steppes and shared many cultural and military characteristics of other Iranian nomads, such as the Saka and Yuezhi, who later invaded Western and South Asia.[785] In 247 bce the Parni elected as their leader Arsakes (r. ca. 247-211 bce), the founder of what was to become the Arsacid dynasty. Arsakes' election took place in 247 bce at Asaak in Astuene and this event began the Parthian Era, a chronology that was used until the end of the empire. Numerous, often conflicting, foundations stories appear to have been in circulation and appear in the Classical authors. Some of these may reflect the efforts of the new rulers to gain regional legitimacy and push their steppe origins into the background, others hint at ancient Iranian epic traditions, while still others may have reflected western interpretations of events.[786] Under the leadership of Arsakes, the Parni then overthrew Andragoras (ca. 238), took Parthia and Hyrcania, and repelled Seleukos II's attempt to reassert control over the provinces.[787]The Parni adopted the Western Iranian dialect spoken in Parthia as their court language, which eventually predominated in official archives, legal documents and communications as attested in documents found at Nisa, Merv, Nippur, Dura and other places.[788] The Arsacid dynasty continued the Seleucid use of Greek and Aramaic as administrative languages, with Greek retained in prestige contexts such as coins and inscriptions or communications with Greek cities, and the early Arsacids performatively cultivated Greek art, theater, and literary acumen.[789] Over centuries, Parthian developed an influential body of orally transmitted epic poetry that spread throughout its lands and survived in later Arabic and New Persian literature, and Parthian remained one of the liturgical languages of Manichaeism well into the Middle Ages.[790]
While past scholarship emphasized the persistence of the Parthian Empire's “nomadic” background, this static view has been strongly criticized as reductive.[791] Aspects of the empire's decentralized military organization and reliance on mounted cavalry to project power did indeed mirror and continually adapt and update the techniques of those nomadic, Central Asian “empires of the steppes” against whom Arsacids continuously fought to defend their empire.[792] Yet the Parthian ruling elite in no way maintained a fossilized nomadic lifestyle living as a separate element from the rest of society.
The king's periodic movement through the empire to different royal residences maps onto the circulatory strategies of the Seleucids and Achaemenids to project power rather than atavistic nomadism.[793] The empire quickly integrated the urban administrative traditions of the former Seleucid Empire and its still-thriving Greek and Babylonian cities, which were enmeshed in a relationship of mutual support while also managing the military power of their empire's Great Houses (Suren, Karen, Mihran etc.).[794] The Arsacids successfully leveraged their complex bureaucracies and social and economic networks to support a boom in trade that extended into the Roman Empire, India and China.[795] Moreover, they founded or re-founded numerous cities, fortress, and trading stations to provide an infrastructural support to the new shape of Western Asia.[796] They sponsored sophisticated and innovative architecture and artistic traditions, which were pivotal for the development of Western Asian art and architecture up through the early modern period, and developed a sophisticated court culture whose influence could be feltwell beyond the empire's frontiers.[797] Able to deal with success diplomatically and militarily with the Romans just as the steppe, the empire was remarkably flexible and powerful and this is reflected in its longevity, unmatched among Iranian empires.
Mithradates I (ca. 171-138 bce) can be credited for transforming the Parthian kingdom into a true empire.[798] Under his leadership the Parthians conquered the Iranian and Mesopotamian core of the Seleucid Empire, and even took the Seleucid king, Demetrios II (145-139/8 bce), captive in the process. During the reigns of Phraates II (138-127 bce), Artabanus I (ca. 127-124/3 bce), and Mithradates II (ca. 125/121-91 bce), the Parthians succeeded in turning back Iranian nomadic invaders from the east, checking the final attempts by the Seleucids to regain Mesopotamia and Iran, and reducing to dependency several kingdoms that had broken away from the Seleucids, such as Elymais and Charax/Mesan.[799] While the Parthian Empire was extending its power westward, Rome had begun its inexorable march eastward, incorporating the remains of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the eastern Mediterranean.
This brought the two empires into several decades of conflict. The Parthians checked a Roman invasion led by Crassus, the rival of Pompeii and Caesar, at Carrhae (53 bce) and launched several campaigns into Syria and Anatolia between 40 and 38 bce, which, despite initial success, ended in the total destruction of the Parthian army.[800] Neither side could gain permanent advantage and Mark Antony's counter-invasion in 36 bce ended in failure too. It resulted in the loss of much of his army and he failed to regain Crassus's battle standards, which Augustus recovered through a negotiated settlement only in 20 bce.[801] The next century saw the empires engaged in numerous diplomatic exchanges, covert actions and military engagements, most notably in the course of their long war over Armenia.[802]Over the next two centuries Rome intervened in a number of internal Arsacid dynastic conflicts in an attempt to destabilize the Parthian Empire and install a king that would be friendly to Rome.[803] Several Roman emperors invaded Parthia, though none could hold Mesopotamia. In 114 ce Trajan annexed Armenia and captured Dura Europos along the upper Euphrates. He briefly took Mesopotamia, even capturing Seleukeia-Ctesiphon, where he installed Parthamaspates as king. These successes quickly evaporated. On his return to the Roman frontiers in 117 ce, Trajan encountered fierce opposition in Hatra, which resisted his siege and forced him to retreat to Roman territory. By the end of the year, the Romans had withdrawn from Dura Europos, and the next Roman emperor, Hadrian, maintained the border at the Euphrates and returned Armenia to the status of a Roman vassal kingdom ruled by an Arsacid. Upon the accession of Marcus Aurelius in 161, Vologeses IV took Armenia and invaded Syria. The Roman counter-invasion brought Dura Europos back into the Roman Empire, fixing it as a border outpost. The campaign ended with the destruction of Seleukeia-Ctesiphon in 165 ce.
About 30 years later, Septimius Severus invaded Mesopotamia, sacking the cities in 197 ce. Like Trajan, he failed to take Hatra and was forced to beat a retreat to the frontier. Caracalla’s subsequent invasion in 216 ce similarly amounted to nothing other than mutual instability.[804]The fact that the Parthian Empire succeeded in maintaining its territorial integrity while facing simultaneous pressures from Rome at the height of its military strength and waves of Central Asian nomadic powers is a testament to the resilience of its flexible imperial structure. Indeed, the Parthian Empire fell to revolution rather than invasion. A dynastic conflict between Vologases VI (207/8-227/ 8) and Artabanes IV (213-224) provided an opportunity for a power-hungry and brutally effective petty ruler of Pärs, Ardaxsir I (224-239/40) of the family of Sasan, to impose his control over the province and extend his influence beyond its borders into the southern Mesopotamian plain.[805]