X-Nico

12 unusual facts about Parthia


105

Pacorus II of Parthia dies after a 27-year reign in which he has reclaimed all of his empire.

His successor Vologases III reigns until 147 AD, suppressing brief rebellions as he battles against the Kushan and Alani.

140

King Mithridates IV dies, Vologases III claims the throne and extended his rule through the Parthian Empire.

147

Vologases III dies after a 42-year reign in which he has contended successfully with his rivals.

191

King Vologases IV of Parthia dies after a 44-year reign and is succeeded by his son Vologases V.

191 BC

Arsaces II, king of Parthia, is considered to have been murdered on the orders of Antiochus III.

195 BC

Mithridates I (or Mithradates), "Great King" of Parthia from about 171 BC who will turn Parthia into a major political power and expand the empire westward into Mesopotamia (d. 138 BC)

211 BC

Arsaces I, King of Parthia from 250 BC and son of Phriapites, a chief of the seminomadic Parni tribe from the Caspian steppes

Behistun Inscription

According to this inscription, the statue was carved in 139 BC on the occasion of a conquest for Seleucid Greeks (under Demetrius II Nicator) against the Parthians (under Mithridates I of Parthia), though the Seleucids were later defeated and driven from the region.

Literary criticism in Iran

Greek culture was cultivated during the philhellenic Arsacid dynasty, so much so that "in the courts of Arsacid kings Greek plays were performed in the original language".

Panis

Graeco-Roman authors equated the Parthians with a Scythian tribe called the Parni (i.e. Greek Parnoi), which has been equated by some with the Panis.

Parthia

In 9/8, the Parthian nobility succeeded in putting their preferred king on the throne, but Vonones proved to have too tight a budgetary control, so he was usurped in favor of Artabanus II, who seems to have been a non-Arsacid Parthian nobleman.


Abgar II

What is certain is that he gained no benefits from the battle, since shortly after he was deposed by Orodes II in a move to strengthen Parthian control over the region.

Apamea

Apamea Ragiana, south of the Caspian Gates in Parthia (later Media); now in Iran

Battle of Hormozdgān

The battle was the culmination of rivalry between Ardashir son of Papag, Parthian vassal king of Persis and his overlord, Shahanshah Artabanus IV of Parthia.

Derbices

It is said that on his death bed, Cyrus urges Spitaces, to obey and respect him mother Spitamas, and also appoints his son Cambyses II of Persia to be the legitimate king of the empire, and his younger brother Bardiya to be the governor of Parthia, Choramnia, Bactria, and Carmania.

Galvanic cell

It was suggested by Wilhelm König in 1940 that the object known as the Baghdad battery might represent galvanic cell technology from ancient Parthia.

Gregorids

Gregorids were an Armenian noble family descended from St. Gregory the Illuminator (c. 257-330), and thus of Arsacid stock, whose members served as patriarchs of Armenia from the early fourth century to the death of its last male member, St. Sahak I Souren Pahlav, in 437/439.

Hamadan Province

During the Parthian era, Ctesiphon became capital of Persia, and Hamedan became the summer capital and residence of the Parthian rulers.

Iazyges

In the summer of 166, while the Romans were tied down in a war with Parthia, the peoples north of the Danube, the Marcomanni, the Naristi, the Vandals, the Hermanduri, the Lombards and the Quadi, all swept south over the Danube to invade and plunder the exposed Roman provinces.

Komedes

Little later, these mixed hordes were over-powered by Parthian rulers and thus became their subjects and settled in Drangiana in Helmond valley and about region.

Marcus Valerius Maximianus

He was decorated for services in the Parthian war of Lucius Verus and was appointed by Marcus Aurelius to ensure the armies in Pannonia were supplied by boats on the Danube.

Matthew 2:1

Traditionally the view developed that the magi were Persian or Parthian, and art works generally depicted them in Persian dress.

Memoirs of Hadrian

Trajan, in old age, begins an unsuccessful military campaign in Parthia after his successes over Dacia and Sarmatia.

National Museum of Iran

The three halls contain artifacts from the lower, middle, and upper Paleolithic, as well as the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, early and late Bronze Age, and Iron Ages I-III, through the Median, Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanid periods.

Pearl hunting

Journey Around Parthia by Isidore of Charax, a 1st-century geographer from the city of Charax on the northern end of the Persian Gulf, deals with the subject of pearl fishing.

Phrataphernes

At least he is termed by Arrian satrap of Parthia, during the advance of Alexander against Bessus, when he was detached by the king, together with Erigyius and Caranus to crush the revolt of Satibarzanes, in Aria (329 BC).

Publius Aquillius Gallus

Crassus's war against Parthia resulted in one of the worse defeats ever suffered by a Roman army, the Battle of Carrhae.

Roman–Parthian Wars

Parthia ultimately fell not to the Romans, but to the Sassanids under Ardashir I, who entered Ctesiphon in 226.

Seleucid Empire

Towards the end of Antiochus II's reign, various provinces simultaneously asserted their independence, such as Bactria under Diodotus, Parthia under Arsaces, and Cappadocia under Ariarathes III.

Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 4th Baronet

In 1926, he purchased the Newsells Park Estate, Barkway near Royston, Hertfordshire as a home for his family and established a stud farm there, from which he bred most of his famous racehorses including Alcide who won the 1958 St. Leger Stakes and the 1959 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Parthia, who won the 1959 Epsom Derby.