Parthian Empire of Iran (Ancient Persia)

THE PARTHIAN OF IRAN
INTRODUTION
The Parthian Empire is a fascinating period of Persian history closely connected to Greece and Rome. Ruling from 247 B.C. to A.D. 228 in ancient Persia (Iran), it is the fourth dynasty chronologically. The Parthians defeated Alexander the Great's successors, the Seleucids, conquered most of the Middle East and southwest Asia, controlled the Silk Road and built Parthia into an Eastern superpower. The Parthians revived the greatness of the Achaemenid Empire and counterbalanced Rome's hegemony in the West. Parthia at one time occupied areas now in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. The historians describe the political-geography of Parthia as such: In the North lied Khawarizm and Merv, Seistan and Sagarti were in the East, and Gargan or Harkenya was in the West. The core land of ancient Parthia lay between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, though its boundaries remained volatile and areas to the west as far as Gaza and Palestine had also been at one time fallen under Parthian rule.
Topography & Produce
The area covered by ancient Parthia, which roughly corresponds to modern Iran, was approximately 648,000 square miles, about equal to the areas of Great Britain, France, Germany and Spain together, or about the size of the portion of the United States of America which lies east of Mississippi River excluding New England.
There are four basic land regions in Iran.
 Mountains cover almost one-fourth of Iran, and most of the people in Iran live in the mountain area. The valleys among the mountains are the main area of agriculture production. Chinese historians state the cultivation of rice, wheat and grapes here. The deserts of Iran are divided in two main areas, the coastal deserts (bordering the Persian gulf and Gulf of Oman) and the Central deserts. The Caspian Sea coast extends in a narrow strip between Elburz Mountains and the sea. Almost all of Iran's forests are located there. It is the only region in Iran with heavy rainfall. The Khuzestan Plain is the relatively flat region of Iran where the Khuzestan province and the cities of Ahvaz, Susa and Abadan are located. It is the largest plain in Iran and one of the richest agricultural areas in the world. It is irrigated by several big rivers such as Karun and Karkheh. Khuzestan Plain borders Mesopotamia and is separated from it by the Shatt al-Arab (known as Arvand Rud in Iran) river.
Due to this unfavourable topography and climate, only the mountainous north, northwest and west receive sufficient precipitation to carry out spatially extended agriculture. The biggest part of the country (approx. 50 percent) is sterile desert or desert-steppe, which may be usable only for periodic pasturing, where animal husbandry is carried out both by the farming and the tribal population. This particular condition made Iran for most of the ancient time as the land of invading wandering tribes. Even Parthians were also one of these, who got stronghold in Iran yet had not left behind the traits of their tribal background. In addition, the wandering tribes remained invading the land that also forced the Parthians in keeping these characteristics to cope with them.

SOURCES
Parthian rule lasted for about five centuries, however, there is a scarcity of indigenous sources about them. The Iranian historians states this period as the Dark Age in this regard. Owing to this, much of what we know about the Parthians and their sub-kingdoms of Characene, Elymais and Persis must be deduced from coins. For that reason, the primary focus is on numismatics. Though, the Chinese historians state that the Parthians used to record the important events by inscribing on both sides of hides, a few of these have been discovered in Oraman (Kurdistan) as Qubalas of 120 BC written on Deer's hides. The Greeks remained in encounter with Parthia throughout and they also recorded their strivings and battles to maintain their rule in these Eastern regions, which in turn provide the important political and military insights in Parthian history, too. Archaeological sites have also been discovered lately in Kangawar (Kirman Shah), Hamdan, and the city of Hatra between Euphrates and Tigris etc., revealing the evidences of Parthians' presence and manifesting their architecture and culture. On the basis of these evidences one may know about Parthia from the histories like IRAN PASTAN by Hasan Parena. Sir Percy Sycus and Justin's A history of Persia are also important in this regard. Justin's history relates the early period yet it is scanty and full of contradictions. Professor Maqbool Baig Badakhshani frequently used these in Tarikh e Iran (Urdu), which was basically written for the Pahlavi ruler of Iran, King Reza Shah.
PARTHIA; INHABITANTS and LANGUAGE
The first certain occurrence of the name is as Parthava in the Bīsitūn inscription (c. 520 bc) of the Achaemenian king Darius I, but Parthava may be only a dialectal variation of the name Parsa (Persian). Parthians belonged to the Scythian tribes who lived in Dahae. They entered Khurasan through Khawarizm and settled in Part finally, thus acquiring the name Parthia. They spoke Pahlavi, which belongs to the Aryan languages, leading to the conclusion that the Parthians were also Aryans. Early script was pictographic, however, a number of words were written in Sami script and spoken in Persian, these words were called HAZWARISH. Greek script was mostly in use but Pahlavi script was developed during Farhad IV and replaced gradually the Greek and the Pictographs.
FOUNDATIONS OF THE EMPIRE
Arsaces (Arshak or Ashk I) and Tiridates, two brothers from Balkh came to Parthia and entered in the Greek ruler Pherecles's services, however, they killed him owing to his bad treatment and commenced the movement for freedom from the Greeks. They succeeded and established the Iranian rule, thus Ashkanis or Parthians rule set in with the Arsaces its first ruler, whose name was adopted as the honorific name by all the subsequent Parthian rulers. This name Arshak evolved into Ashk with the passage of time and became the recognition of this dynasty in history. Antiochus I, the Greek ruler of Iran that time, was busy in curbing the revolts in Syria and Asia Minor so he could not pay heed to this region. His son Antiochus II did attacked Parthia and was defeated by Arsace II, thus achieving recognition as a separate and sovereign kingdom getting stronger, founding new cities and new capital named DARA in Gargan; surrounded by mountains and fountains, gardens and hunts.
Political /Military Achievements
Whole of the Parthian history is satiated with wars against the Seleucids and the incessant tribal invasions from central Asia. The victories against these rivals mark their political as well as the military achievements, as their empire oscillates within or extends to the borders as shown in the map i. Arsace II (247-214 BC) kept the base of the strengthening the empire when he faced the Seleucid ruler Antiochus II and endowed with success. His son Arsace III (Ardawan I or Artba) extended the campaign and conquered Media, Kurdistan, Kalda, Hamadan and the land between Tigris and Euphrates. His wise policies made Antiochus III to extend hands of rapprochement. Arsace VI's conquests and policies not only widened and strengthened the empire but paved the way to success for the coming rulers. He appointed the members of his family as the governors of his conquered areas and spent more time and attention to establish law and order and peace within his territories. As the trade routes from Jaxartes to Babul have also been brought under the stretches of his empire, he was able to control the economic benefits, too. By 200 bc Arsaces' successors were firmly established along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. Later, through the conquests of Mithradates I (reigned 171–138 bc) and Artabanus II (reigned 128–124 bc), all of the Iranian Plateau and the Tigris-Euphrates valley came under Parthian control. The empire extended from Armenia to India under Arsace IX (124-88 B.C.) or Mithradates II, and the Parthians began to claim descent from both the Greeks and the Achaemenids. Moreover, it was first time that the Greeks and the Parthians felt the importance of establishing relations between both the powers, thus communications started among them. This manoeuvring continued and Greek general Pompeii and Arsace XI agreed to take action against their enemies together. However, the Greeks breached the promises and the Iranians also dissuaded.
The acts of breach finally resulted in open a series of Greeko- Iranian Wars between the Parthians and the Greeks. First war was fought between Arsace XVI (Orodes I) and the Greek general Crassus. Arsace XVI tried to avoid the war by sending his envoy, yet the Greek general were proud of their forces and plainly denied. In 53 B.C. Crassus's 40,000 Roman troops were annihilated by the Parthian forces, fought under the guidance of their celebrated commander Surena. By 40 B.C. even Rome had to acknowledge a Parthia whose forces, under the joint command of Orodes I's son, Pacorus I and Q. Labienus, a Roman, had struck directly into the heart of the Roman East and captured the provinces of Asia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, and Syria; even as far south as Petra, Parthia's word was law. However, the tug of war with Rome on the western border of Parthia continued almost without cease oscillating to any one of the side. So, Pacorus and Labienus got defeated and were killed by te forces of Mark Antony who was made the ruler of the eastern colonies by the Roman Senate. The conquered areas by Pacorus were also included in his domain. So, during 39-38B.C. Antony took back these areas while both the Parthian commanders lost their lives at Cilicia and at the banks of Euphrates respectively. Despite of these wars the western border between Rome's dominions and Parthia gradually stabilized on the banks of the Euphrates. War was always a threat and though major campaigns by the Romans occurred in A.D. 116, 161, 195, 217 and 232, Parthia was never conquered.


Decline
Incessant wars fought between Romans and the Parthians exhausted the empire and led to its decline. Parthians were severely beaten by the emperor and general Trajan in 114 CE. Trajan conquered Armenia, and in the following year, and marched to the south, where the Parthians were forced to evacuate their strongholds. In 116, Trajan captured Ctesiphon and established new provinces in Assyria and Babylonia. He snatched Takht e Zarren, which was considered honorific and the sign of the empire's grandeur. Though both the partisans entered into a truce after Trajan's death yet the glory of the Parthians was now part of history. They were in no position to impose their terms. Avidius Cassius defeated Mithradates IV in 161-162 wars and erased the palaces and Ma'abads in Ctesiphone, while reaching Azarbaijan. Later, King Vologases IV tried to reconquer Mesopotamia during a Roman civil war (193 CE), but when general Septimius Severus was master of the empire, he attacked Parthia. Again, Ctesiphon was captured (198 CE), and large spoils were brought to Rome. According to a modern estimate, the gold and silver were sufficient to postpone a European economic crisis for three or four decades, and one can imagine the consequences for Parthia. 
To add to misery, Parthia was divided between Vologases IV's sons; states of Babul and Parthia ruled by Vologases V (Bilash V) and Artabanus V (Ardawan) in 208/09 CE. Vologases V fought last war with Roman commander Macrinus and the later had to retreat. The war ended in truce, which, related the return of Iranian cities to Parthia and to pay a ransom of 1750000 pounds, too. However, the Parthians could not enforce the conditions in full as they had weakened and dispersed internally owing to the revolts of the nobility. In the first century, the Parthian nobility had become more powerful, because the kings had given them more right over the peasants and their land. They were now in a position to resist their king benefitting from concurrent division in the Arsacid family, over succession, which often ended in murder and a continued slide in their power. Perhaps it was more Parthian weakness that caused the disaster. But it was now clear that the Romans were superior.
 Impoverished Parthia, now hopeless to recover the lost territories faced a the final blow as the Persian vassal king Ardašir revolted in 220 CE. After three furious wars, Artabanus V was killed at Hormuz. Ardasir took Ctesiphon, thus ending Parthia in 224 CE. It meant the beginning of the second Persian Empire, ruled by the Sassanid kings. 
ADMINISTRATION
Along with the conquest, the Parthian rulers had the task to organize their empire now. They had the instances of Greeks and obviously the Achaemenids precedents, that created the basis of their administrative system. So the cities retained their ancient rights and the civil administration remained more or less undisturbed.
The empire was not very centralized. There were several languages, several peoples and several economic systems. But the loose ties between the separate parts were the key to its survival. The capital was floating, the rulers stayed in Asak (present Qauchan or Bajnavard), or Nisa in Turkistan. In the second century CE, the most important capital Ctesiphon was captured no less than three times by the Romans (in 116, 165 and 198 CE), but the empire survived, because there were other centres.
Parthian empire had two types of administrative units:
The pivotal regions of Parthia.
Annexed areas which were further of two types;
Directly ruled by the government appointing governors by the king himself.
Vassals of the empire, who were semi-independent and could devise their own rules and were allowed to strike their own coins, which was in Antiquity very rare. As long as the local elite paid tribute, the Parthian kings did not interfere.
The system worked very well as far as the empire was at its zenith and towns like Ctesiphon, Seleucia, Ecbatana, Rhagae, Hecatompylus, Nisâ, and Susa flourished. This conglomeration of kingdoms, provinces, marks and city-states also weaken seriously the Parthian state at times. This explains why the Parthian expansion came to an end after the conquest of Mesopotamia and Iran. In addition, when the throne was occupied by a weak ruler, divisions among the nobility could become dangerous.
King
The Arsacid kings wanted to be called as Cyrus the Great had ordered his subjects to do in the sixth century- "king of kings," as the Parthian monarch was the ruler of his own empire plus some eighteen vassal kings, yet they were not fully authoritarian. There existed three supreme councils from whom the king had to consult in the governance matters. There were seven noble families, to one of which the king belonged. He could marry only in any those families. King and his family were sacred. To harm them was a sin. The masses have no direct reach to the king but could extend their pleas through any of the courtiers.
Parliament
As mentioned earlier there was a Parliament like institution existed, whose function was to choose the king and help him by counselling. These were three in number; first of these consisted of the members of royal family. Every prince at the age of puberty used to become its member straightway. Majlis e Mughistan was the next comprising the religious leaders. The third one encompassed nobility and all the persons of the above two. They usually chose the elder son of the predecessor king. Sometimes these Houses might take decision in favour of any other relations mostly the brothers of the deceased king if in the case the princes were minor in age, As the House of nobles chose Ardawan II as Arsace VIII. The members of the Houses played an important role and the king had to respect their privileges. Several noble families had a vote in the Royal council, too. The Sûrên clan had the right to crown the Parthian king.
Miitary
The victories achieved by the Parthian kings owed to the Parthian armies, which included two types of cavalry: the heavily armed and armoured cataphracts and lightly armed but highly mobile mounted archers. The Iranians marched swiftly but very seldom at dark. They used no war chariots, and confined the use of the wagon to transporting females accompanying commanders on expeditions. They carried various banners, often ornamented with the figures of dragons, but the famous national emblem of Iran, the Drafsh-e Kavian, appears to have served as the imperial banner.
It lacked, however, a standing army. There were of course the garrisons of towns and forts as well as armed retinues of tribal chiefs, feudal lords, and of the King of Kings himself, the supreme commander, but these were limited and disunited. The military concerns were conditioned by the feudal system: when the need arose, the Great King appealed to his subordinate kings (there were 18 of them at one time), regional, and tribal lords and garrison commanders to muster what they could and bring them to an appointed place at a given time. The feudal lords and officials brought the mustering levies (hamspah), and sometimes supplemented them with foreign mercenaries. The backbone of the army and the chief power of controlling the empire consisted of the Iranians themselves. Because of these weaknesses, the Parthians found it difficult to occupy conquered areas as they were unskilled in siege warfare. For the Romans, who relied on heavy infantry, the Parthians were too hard to defeat, as both types of cavalry were much faster and more mobile than foot soldiers, so, neither the Romans nor the Parthians were able completely to annex each other's territory.
Despite of this fact, the Parthian empire subsisted for five centuries, longer than most Eastern Empires and limited Rome's expansion beyond Cappadocia (central Anatolia).
City Formation
Chinese historians praised the cities of the empire as these were surrounded by walls. Cleanliness and care for one's property was essential, particularly of the gardens, which manifests the Iranian's love for nature from ancient times. There were places of worships in large cities where people came for performing rituals and sacrifices. Royal worship place has been discovered in Nisa. Another is found in Hamadan of god Naheed.
Foreign Relations
The Parthians got understood the need of good relationship with their neighbouring kingdoms. So, many times they engaged in Agreements with Romans, Moreover, Hun dynasty in China also sent its envoys to the court of Mithradates II and from thence commenced their mutual relations, following the arrival of Chinese ambassadors many times, who also preserved the history of Parthia in their observations.
Economy
The Parthians controlled the silk Road, the route from the Mediterranean Sea to China , which obviously meant that trade was a main source of their income, bringing them great wealth, which they used on their extensive building activities. Tribute and toll were other source of royal income. Presence of pasture lands shows the dairy farming of goats and sheep and their trade. Chinese had also mentioned the produce of fruits and grains. Barter trade was in vogue, however, silver coins were also used inscribed with the images of the rulers or gods. These coins are one of the main sources of dating the chronology of the kings too.
Society and Culture
The founders of the Parthian empire were tribal in nature, who established thriving cities marked with civic characteristics while during process of its development and strengthening. They worshipped the nature particularly the sun. Hormuzd became the largest deity when they linked with Iranians. Finally they adopted Zoroastrianism and Bilash III ordered to rewrite Avista as Alexander the Great has burnt the original Avista into ashes. The people of Parthia belonging to the ruling class preferred the military profession. Hunt was their favourite sport. These games were an important part of their food. Vine and dates drinks were common. They dances on flute and drums beats to amused themselves.
Pahlavi language is characterized with the Parthians as it became popular in this era. An interesting detail of this evolution is found in coinage; name of the legends were written in the Greek alphabet, and this practice was continued in the second century CE. As the Greek language declined and Courtiers as well as the masses now spoke Persian and used the Pahlavi script.
Conclusion
The Parthian empire was the most enduring of the empires of the ancient Near East. It imprinted lasting effects on the history of Iran. It manifested the grandeur of the Iranian polity in ancient time, particularly after political and cultural incursions of the Greeks in the East. They got recognized them as the independent and sovereign state of that time. The Roman Empire and their Greek satraps in the East were forced to give importance to their rule and policies in the matters of governance of the region. The Greek influence in culture, language and even religion was deteriorated and Iranian ones got rooted gradually till the end of the Parthians. Much of their history had been faded owing to the devastations of wars with Greeks and the invading pagan tribes, and then by Sassanid, who succeeded them. However, modern researches have been helpful in excavating more information about Parthia.


















Bibliography:

Badakhshani, Maqbool Baig. Tarikh e Iran: Az Qaum Maad ta Aal e Sasan. I. Lahore: Majlis e Taraqqi e Adab, 1967.

Lendering, Jona. "Parthia Empire." Iran Chamber Society. http://www.iranchamber.com/history/parthians/parthians.php. accessed on November 11, 2013.

Pahlav, Shahpur Suren. "General Surena; the Hero of Carrhae." http://www.iranchamber.com/history/surena/. accessed on December 15, 2013.

Porada, Edith. "The Art of Parthians." http://www.iranchamber.com/art/articles/art_of_parthians.php. accessed on December 13, 2013.

Shahbazi, Professor A. Sh. "Parthian Army." http://www.iranchamber.com/history/parthians/parthian_army.php. accessed on Decemer 13, 2013.

"Agriculture in Iran." Encyclopaedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/agriculture-in-iran. Accessed on December 05, 2013.

"History of Iran." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iran#Parthian_Empire. Accessed on November 25, 2013.

"Khuzestan Plain." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khuzestan_Plain. Accessed on December 05, 2013.

"Moutain Ranges in Iran." https://www.google.com.pk/search?q=mountain+ranges+in+iran. Accessed on December 05, 2013

"Parthian Empire." http://www.parthia.com. Accessed on November 23, 2013.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Parthia." http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/444876/Parthia. Accessed on December 23, 2013.





















Annexure I

A detailed map of Parthia's political extents



Map i: Parthian Empire at its extents, courtesy: www.ancient.eu.com/Parthian_Empire/



















Annexure II

Parthian Script

The Parthian script developed from the Aramaic alphabet around the 2nd century BCE and was used during the Parthian and Sassanid periods of the Persian Empire. The latest known inscription dates from 292 CE. 


Notable Features
Written from right to left in horizontal lines.
Only some vowels are indicated and the letters used to represent them have multiple pronunciations.
The letters marked in red were used to write loan words from Aramaic.


Source: http://www.iranchamber.com/scripts/parthian_script.php#sthash.


1



"Parthian Empire," http://www.parthia.com, accessed on November 23, 2013. The Parthian Empire comprises the provinces of Part (Khurasan), Damghan, Simnan, Maad Buzurg or IRaq e Ajam, Hamdan e Gurus, Karmanshahan, Nihawand, Tavisarkan, Iraq or Sultanabad, Maad e Kochak (Azerbaijan), Aadyaban (Assur e Qadeem), Kurdistan, Armenia Buzurg and Kochak, Qizvain, Ray, Isfahan, Yazd, Khawansar, Gulpaigan and Kamra, Hathra, Kalda e Qadeem, Babylonia to Persian Gulf, Khozistan, Paras, Kirman, Siestan, Sagarti, part of Northern Mountain range of India, from Khurasan to Jaxartes. Maqbool Baig Badakhshani, Tarikh e Iran: Az Qaum Maad ta Aal e Sasan, Vol. I (Lahore:Majlis e Taraqqi e Adab, 1967), 306.
Badakhshani, Tarikh e Iran, 224.
Ibid. 251.
"Moutain Ranges in Iran," https://www.google.com.pk/search?q=mountain+ranges+in+iran, accessed in December 05, 2013.
"Khuzestan Plain," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khuzestan_Plain, accessed on December 05, 2013.
"Agriculture in Iran," Encyclopaedia Iranica, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/agriculture-in-iran, accessed on December 05, 2013.
As many times the Parthian rulers had to fight with the incursions of these tribes. Arsace V (181-174 B.C.) had to deal with the Mard tribes, Arsace VII (136-127 B.C.) faced the Scythian tribes attacks, which resulted in death of this man, who had defeated the Seleucid king the Antiochus VI. Arsace VIII (127-124 B.C.) also succumbed to wounds, he got while fighting against scythe tribes and died. Attacks by Alai tribes from Qafqaz during Arsace XXV's reign was a major blow to the Parthians catalysing their decline. Badakhshani, Tarikh e Iran. I, 226-300.
Ibid. intro (f).
Ibid. 251.
Ibid. 312.
Ibid. 313-314.
Ibid. 225.
Ibid. 311-313.
Ibid. 225-227.
ArsaceII was Tiridates, Arsace I's brother and the person who gave shape and stability to the kingdom.
Badakhshani, Tarikh e Iran, 231.
Ibid. 232.
Ibid. 242.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Parthia," http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/444876/Parthia, December 23, 2013.
Ibid. 254.
Plutarch Describes the great Suren, whose real name was Eran Spahbodh Rustaham Suren-Pahlav as:
... For Suren was no ordinary person; but in fortune, family and honour the first after the king; and in point of courage and capacity, as well as size and beauty, superior to the Parthians of his time. If he went only on an excursion into the country, he had a thousand camels to carry his baggage and two hundred carriages for his concubines. He was attended by a thousand heavy-armed horses, and many more of the light-armed rode before him. Indeed his vassals and slaves made up a body of cavalry little less than ten thousand. He had the hereditary privilege in his family of putting the diadem upon the king's head, when he was crowned. When Orodes was driven from throne, he restored him; and it was he who conquered for him the great city of Selucia, being the first scale the wall, and beating off the enemy with his own hand. Though he was not then thirty years old, his discernment was strong, and his counsel esteemed the best. Shahpur Suren Pahlav, "General Surena; the Hero of Carrhae," http://www.iranchamber.com/history/surena/, accessed on December 15, 2013, and Badakhshani, Tarikh e Iran, 259.
"Parthia," www.parthia.com.
Badakhshani, 270-271.
"Parthia," www.parthia.com.
Badakhshani, 296-301.
Jona Lendering, "Parthia Empire," Iran Chamber Society, http://www.iranchamber.com/history/parthians/parthians.php, accessed on November 11, 2013.
Badakhshani, 304.
Ibid., 305.
Jona Lendering, "Parthian Empire."
Badakhshani, 306. Jona Landering, "Parthina Empire."
"Parthia," www.parthia.com.
Artefacts relating Parthia have been dug out by the Russian Archaeologists at Nisa, which include palaces and Ma'abad decorated with glorious mosaics and inscriptions. Badakhshani, 307.
Ibid., 307-308.
Jona Lendering, "Parthian Empire,"
Badakhshani, 308.
Ibid., 254, 308.
Jona Lendering, "Parthian Empire."
Professor A. Sh. Shahbazi, "Parthian Army." http://www.iranchamber.com/history/parthians/parthian_army.php, accessed on Decemer 13, 2013.
"History of Iran," en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iran#Parthian_Empire, accessed on November 25, 2013, and Professor A. Sh. Shahbazi, "Parthian Army."
Badakhshani, 251.
Ibid., 313.
Badakhshani, 250-251.
Britannica, "Parthia."
Badakhshani, 310-311.
Ibid., 309 and Edith Porada, "The Art of Parthians," http://www.iranchamber.com/art/articles/art_of_parthians.php, accessed on December 13, 2013.