The background of Andragoras is obscure. His name may have been aGreek translation of theOld PersianNarisanka andAvestannairya-sanha- (one of the messengers ofAhura Mazda).[1][2] A Greek inscription fromHyrcania (Gurgan) written before 266 BC makes mention of a certain Andragoras of lesser status who was presumably the same person before he was appointed satrap.[3] The name of Andragoras is uncommon, and the only other reportage of the name is in the Greekpapyri fromPtolemaic Egypt, thus the identification of the two is not far-fetched.[3] Andragoras was later appointed governor of the frontier province of Parthia, which had been merged with the neighboring province of Hyrcania since the conquest of theAchaemenid Empire by the Macedonian rulerAlexander the Great in 330 BC.[4]
Parthia was during this period constantly receiving new waves of Iranian migrants fromCentral Asia, most notably theParni led byArsaces I.[5][6][1] Around 245 BC, Andragoras proclaimed his independence from the Seleucid monarchSeleucus II Callinicus (r. 246 – 225 BC), and made his governorate an independent kingdom.[7] Following the secession of Parthia and Hyrcania 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 I, the Parniinvaded Parthia and seized control of Astabene (Astawa) from Andragoras, the northern region of that territory, the administrative capital of which wasKuchan.[8] A short while later the Parni seized the rest of Parthia from Andragoras, killing him in the process. Hyrcania was shortly conquered by the Parni as well.[9]
Bickerman, Elias J. (1983), "The Seleucid Period", inYarshater, Ehsan (ed.),Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3, Oxford: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–20
Bivar, A.D.H. (1983), "The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids", in Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.),Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3, Oxford: Cambridge University Press, pp. 21–99
Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh (2007), "The Iranian Revival in the Parthian Period", inCurtis, Vesta Sarkhosh; Stewart, Sarah (eds.),The Age of the Parthians: The Ideas of Iran, vol. 2, London & New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., in association with the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and the British Museum, pp. 7–25,ISBN978-1-84511-406-0
Rezakhani, Khodadad (2013). "Arsacid, Elymaean, and Persid Coinage". In Potts, Daniel T. (ed.).The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0199733309.
Sinisi, Fabrizio (2012). "The Coinage of the Parthians". InMetcalf, William E. (ed.).The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0195305746.
