| Parthia 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 | |
|---|---|
| Historical region of Iran | |
 The region of Parthia within the empire ofMedes, c. 600 BC; from ahistorical atlas illustrated byWilliam Robert Shepherd | |
| Capital | Nisa |
| History | |
• Establishment of theParthian Empire | 247 BC |
• Fall of the Parthian Empire | 224 AD |
| Today part of | Iran and Turkmenistan |
Parthia (Old Persian:𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺Parθava;Parthian:𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅Parθaw;Middle Persian:𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥Pahlaw) is a historical region located in northeasternGreater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of theMedes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequentAchaemenid Empire underCyrus the Great in the 6th century BC, and formed part of theHellenisticSeleucid Empire after the4th-century BC conquests ofAlexander the Great. The region later served as the political and cultural base of theEastern IranianParni people and Arsacid dynasty, rulers of theParthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD). TheSasanian Empire, the last state ofpre-Islamic Iran, also held the region and maintained theseven Parthian clans as part of their feudal aristocracy.
The name "Parthia" is a continuation fromLatinParthia, fromOld PersianParthava, which was theParthian language self-designator signifying "of the Parthians" who were anIranian people. In context to itsHellenistic period,Parthia also appears asParthyaea.[citation needed]
Parthia was known asPahlaw in the Middle Persian sources of the Sasanian period, andPahla orFahla by later Islamic authors, but mainly referred to the Parthian region in the West of Iran.[1]
The original location of Parthia roughly corresponds to a region in northeasternIran, but part is in southernTurkmenistan. It was bordered by theKopet Dag mountain range in the north, and theDasht-e Kavir desert in the south. It borderedMedia on the west,Hyrcania on the north west,Margiana on the northeast, andAria on the east.[2]
During Arsacid times, Parthia was united withHyrcania as one administrative unit, and that region is therefore often (subject to context) considered a part of Parthia proper.[citation needed]
By the early Sasanian period, Parthia was located in the central part of the Iranian plateau, neighboringPars to the south,Khuzistan to the south-west,Media to the north-west, the Alborz Mountains to the north,Abarshahr to the north-east, andKirman to the east. In the late Sasanian era, Parthia came to embrace central and north-central Iran but also extended to the western parts of the plateau as well.[1]
In the Islamic era, Parthia was believed to be located in central and western Iran.Ibn al-Muqaffa considered Parthia as encompassing the regions ofIsfahan,Ray, Hamadan, Mah-i Nihawand andAzerbaijan.[3] The same definition is found in the works ofal-Khawazmi andHamza al-Isfahani.Al-Dinawari, while not using the word Parthia, consideredJibal to be the realm of the last Parthian king,Artabanus IV.[1]
As the region inhabited by Parthians, Parthia first appears as a political entity inAchaemenid lists of governorates ("satrapies") under their dominion. Prior to this, the people of the region seem to have been subjects of theMedes,[4] and 7th century BC Assyrian texts mention a country named Partakka or Partukka (though this "need not have coincided topographically with the later Parthia").[5]
A year afterCyrus the Great's defeat of the MedianAstyages, Parthia became one of the first provinces to acknowledge Cyrus as their ruler, "and this allegiance secured Cyrus' eastern flanks and enabled him to conduct the first of his imperial campaigns – againstSardis."[6] According to Greek sources, following the seizure of the Achaemenid throne byDarius I, the Parthians united with the Median king Phraortes to revolt against him.Hystaspes, the Achaemenid governor of the province (said to be father of Darius I), managed to suppress the revolt, which seems to have occurred around 522–521 BC.[citation needed]
The first indigenous Iranian mention of Parthia is in theBehistun inscription ofDarius I, where Parthia is listed (in the typical Iranian clockwise order) among the governorates in the vicinity ofDrangiana.[7] The inscription dates to c. 520 BC. The center of the administration "may have been at [what would later be known as]Hecatompylus".[8] The Parthians also appear in Herodotus' list of peoples subject to the Achaemenids; the historiographer treats the Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians and Areioi as peoples of a single satrapy (the 16th), whose annual tribute to the king he states to be only 300 talents of silver. This "has rightly caused disquiet to modern scholars."[9]
At theBattle of Gaugamela in 331 BC between the forces of Darius III and those ofAlexander the Great, one such Parthian unit was commanded byPhrataphernes, who was at the time Achaemenid governor of Parthia.[10] Following the defeat of Darius III, Phrataphernes surrendered his governorate to Alexander when the Macedonian arrived there in the summer of 330 BC.[11] Phrataphernes was reappointed governor by Alexander.[12]
Following the death of Alexander, in thePartition of Babylon in 323 BC, Phrataphernes, the former governor, retained control of Parthia and became governor ofHyrcania.[13] In 320 BC, at thePartition of Triparadisus, Parthia was reassigned toPhilip, former governor ofSogdiana.[citation needed] A few years later, the province was invaded byPeithon, governor of Media Magna, who then attempted to make his brother Eudamus governor. Peithon and Eudamus were driven back, and Parthia remained a governorate in its own right.[14]
In 316 BC, Stasander, a vassal ofSeleucus I Nicator and governor ofBactria (and, it seems, also ofAria andMargiana) was appointed governor of Parthia. For the next 60 years, various Seleucids would be appointed governors of the province.[citation needed]
In 247 BC, following the death ofAntiochus II,Ptolemy III seized control of the Seleucid capital atAntioch, and "so left the future of the Seleucid dynasty for a moment in question."[15] Taking advantage of the uncertain political situation,Andragoras, the Seleucid governor of Parthia, proclaimed his independence[16] and began minting his own coins.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, "a man calledArsaces, ofScythian or Bactrian origin, [was] elected leader of theParni",[17] an eastern-Iranian peoples from the Tajen/Tajend River valley, south-east of theCaspian Sea.[18] Following the secession of Parthia from the Seleucid Empire and the resultant loss of Seleucid military support, Andragoras had difficulty in maintaining his borders, and about 238 BC – under the command of "Arsaces and his brotherTiridates"[17][19] – the Parni invaded[20] Parthia and seized control of Astabene (Astawa), the northern region of that territory, the administrative capital of which was Kabuchan (Kuchan in the vulgate).[21]
A short while later the Parni seized the rest of Parthia from Andragoras, killing him in the process. Although an initialpunitive expedition by the Seleucids underSeleucus II was not successful, the Seleucids underAntiochus III recaptured Arsacid controlled territory in 209 BC from Arsaces' (or Tiridates') successor,Arsaces II. Arsaces II sued for peace and accepted vassal status,[19] and it was not until Arsaces II's grandson (or grand-nephew)Phraates I, that the Arsacids/Parni would again begin to assert their independence.[22]
.jpg)
From their base in Parthia, theArsacid dynasts eventually extended their dominion to include most ofGreater Iran. They also quickly established several eponymous branches on the thrones ofArmenia,Iberia, andCaucasian Albania. Even though the Arsacids only sporadically had their capital in Parthia, their power base was there, among the Parthian feudal families, upon whose military and financial support the Arsacids depended. In exchange for this support, these families received large tracts of land among the earliest conquered territories adjacent to Parthia, which the Parthian nobility then ruled as provincial rulers. The largest of these city-states wereKuchan,Semnan,Gorgan,Merv,Zabol andYazd.[citation needed]
From about 105 BC onwards, the power and influence of this handful of Parthian noble families was such that they frequently opposed the monarch, and would eventually be a "contributory factor in the downfall" of the dynasty.[23]
From about 130 BC onwards, Parthia suffered numerous incursions by various nomadic tribes, including theSakas, theYuezhi, and theMassagetae. Defending the empire against the nomads costPhraates II andArtabanus I their lives.[23]
Around 32 BC, civil war broke out when a certain Tiridates rebelled againstPhraates IV, probably with the support of the nobility that Phraates had previously persecuted. The revolt was initially successful, but failed by 25 BC.[24] In 9/8, the Parthian nobility succeeded in putting their preferred king on the throne, butVonones proved to have too tight a budgetary control, so he was usurped in favor ofArtabanus II, who seems to have been a non-Arsacid Parthian nobleman. But when Artabanus attempted to consolidate his position (at which he was successful in most instances), he failed to do so in the regions where the Parthian provincial rulers held sway.[25]
By the 2nd century AD, thefrequent wars with neighboring Rome and with the nomads, and the infighting among the Parthian nobility had weakened the Arsacids to a point where they could no longer defend their subjugated territories. The empire fractured as vassalaries increasingly claimed independence or were subjugated by others, and the Arsacids were themselves finally vanquished by thePersian Sassanids, a formerly minor vassal from southwestern Iran, in April 224.[citation needed]
Parthia was likely the first region conquered byArdashir I after his victory overArtabanus IV, showing the importance of the province to the founder of theSasanian dynasty.[1] Some of the Parthian nobility continued to resist Sasanian dominion for some time, but most switched their allegiance to the Sasanians very early. Several families that claimed descent from the Parthian noble families became a Sasanian institution known as the "Seven houses", five of which are "in all probability" not Parthian, but contrived genealogies "in order to emphasize the antiquity of their families."[26]
Parthia continued to hold importance throughout the 3rd century. In hisKa'be-ye Zardusht inscriptionShapur I lists the province of Parthia in second place after Pars. The Abnun inscription describes theRoman invasion of 243/44 as an attack on Pars and Parthia. Considering the Romans never went further than Mesopotamia, "Pars and Parthia" may stand for the Sasanian Empire itself.[27] Parthia was also the second province chosen for settlement by Roman prisoners of war after theBattle of Edessa in 260.[1]
The Parthians spokeParthian, anorthwestern Iranian language. No Parthian literature survives from before the Sassanid period in its original form,[28] and they seem to have written down only very little. The Parthians did, however, have a thrivingoral minstrel-poet culture, to the extent that their word for "minstrel" (gosan) survives to this day in many Iranian languages and especially inArmenian (gusan), on which it exercised heavy (especiallylexical and vocabulary) influence.[29] These professionals were evident in every facet of Parthian daily life, from cradle to grave, and they were entertainers of kings and commoners alike, proclaiming the worthiness of their patrons through association with mythical heroes and rulers.[30] These Parthian heroic poems, "mainly known through Persian of the lostMiddle PersianXwaday-namag, and notably throughFirdausi'sShahnameh, [were] doubtless not yet wholly lost in theKhurasan of [Firdausi's] day."[31]
In Parthia itself, attested use of written Parthian is limited to the nearly three thousandostraca found (in what seems to have been awine storage) atNisa, in present-day Turkmenistan. A handful of other evidence of written Parthian has been found outside Parthia, the most important of these being the part of a land-sale document found atAvroman (in theKermanshah province ofIran), and more ostraca, graffiti and the fragment of a business letter found atDura-Europos in present-daySyria.[citation needed]
The Parthian Arsacids do not seem to have used Parthian until relatively late, and the language first appears on Arsacid coinage during the reign ofVologases I (51–58 AD).[32] Evidence that use of Parthian was nonetheless widespread comes from early Sassanid times; the declarations of the earlyPersian kings were—in addition to their nativeMiddle Persian—also inscribed in Parthian.[citation needed]
The old poems known asfahlaviyat mostly come from the areas which were considered part of Parthia in the Islamic period. These poems have the characteristics oforal literature and may have continued the oral traditions of Parthian minstrels.[1]
City-states of "some considerable size" existed in Parthia as early as the 1st millennium BC, "and not just from the time of the Achaemenids or Seleucids."[33] However, for the most part, society was rural, and dominated by large landholders with large numbers of serfs, slaves, and other indentured labor at their disposal. Communities with free peasants also existed.[33]
By Arsacid times, Parthian society was divided into the four classes (limited to freemen). At the top were the kings and near family members of the king. These were followed by the lesser nobility and the general priesthood, followed by the mercantile class and lower-ranking civil servants, and with farmers and herdsmen at the bottom.[citation needed]
Little is known of the Parthian economy, but agriculture must have played the most important role in it. Significant trade first occurs with the establishment of theSilk road (c. 114 BC), whenHecatompylos became an important junction.[34]
Nisa (Nissa, Nusay) or Mithradātkert, located on a main trade route, was one of the earliest capitals of the Parthian Empire (c. 250 BC). The city is located in the northern foothills of the Kopetdag mountains, 11 miles west of present-day city ofAshgabat (the capital ofTurkmenistan).[35] Nisa had a "soaring two-story hall in the Hellenistic Greek style"[36] and temple complexes used by the earlyArsacid dynasty. During the reign ofMithridates I of Parthia (c. 171 – 138 BC) it was renamedMithradatkirt ("fortress of Mithradates").[37]Merv (modern-day Mary) was another Parthian city.[citation needed]
| ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
See alsoTaxation districts of the Achaemenid Empire(according toHerodotus) | ||
| National | |
|---|---|
| Geographic | |
