Parthia: The Forgotten Empire

The Seleucid monarch Antiochus III the Great forced Arsaces II to acknowledge his supremacy in 206 BC. Priapatios, Arsaces II's successor, restored Parthian independence after Antiochus III was defeated by the Romans and signed the Peace of Apamea in 188 BC. He and Phraates I, neglected to produce a coinage of their own, though they consolidated the Parthian kingdom and began expanding its borders. It was the next king, Mithradates I, who transformed Parthia into a major power through his conquests at the expense of the Seleucids and the Bactrians. It was during his reign that the Parthians first established close contact with Hellenism, and Mithradates I actively promoted himself as "Friend of the Greeks".

By the time of Mithradates I's death, Parthia had expanded to include Mesopotamia, the richest and most populous of the regions in the Parthian empire, and the most Hellenized, as well as Elymais and Persis, thus completing their control of the overland trade routes between east and west. This control of trade was to be the foundation of Parthian wealth and power, and was jealously guarded by the Arsacids, who always attempted to maintain direct control over the lands through which the major trade routes passed.

The last serious attempt by the Seleucids to reconquer their former eastern provinces occurred between 130 and 129 BC, when Antiochus VII moved eastward at the head of a very large army. After several victories, Antiochus was killed and his army annihilated at Ecbatana by Phraates II. Almost immediately afterwards, however, Phraates II was forced to march eastwards to defend the empire against a new wave of invaders who had just overrun Bactria and Sogdiana. These invaders were the Saka, another group of Scythians, who defeated Phraates, in part due to the defection of his Greek mercenaries. This was to have important consequences for the composition of the Parthian armies, which from this time became almost exclusively made up of mounted troops- horse archers and cataphracts. Artabanus I succeeded Phraates II and was able to divert the tide of nomad invasion south and eastwards, although he, too, was killed in battle with the Saka.  The Saka in the former easternmost provinces of the Parthian empire soon formed the powerful Indo-Parthian kingdom which became the eastern bulwark of Parthia.

Mithradates II was able to reassert some measure of control over the Saka settlers by making the Indo-Parthia into a Parthian subkingdom and turn his attention to consolidating the Parthian empire. It was under Mithradates II that the enduring foundations of Parthian power were laid. He created a period of stability and prosperity based on Parthia's position as the intermediary on the trade routes between the East and West. Direct contact with China was established and treaties to facilitate trade were signed in 115 BC. It was also during Mithradates II's reign that contact was first made with the Romans under Sulla during his campaign against Mithradates VI Eupator of Pontus. Uneasy, but peaceful, relations were thus established. Mithradates II was an ally of Tigranes the Great of Armenia, who, along with Mithradates VI of Pontus had been expanding their kingdoms to the extent that they had attracted the attention of Rome and begun a series of devastating wars which were to engulf most of Asia Minor for the next 30 years and result in Rome's expansion into Syria and direct contact with the Parthian empire.

Upon Mithradates II's death in 88 BC, the empire fell into confusion with Gotarzes I, already in open revolt against Mithradates, gaining control of the western parts of the empire, and Orodes I in control of the east. Tigranes of Armenia promptly expanded his empire eastward and southward at the expense of Parthia, and with the conquest of Seleucid Syria, claimed the title "King of Kings" which had been Mithradates II's. The continuing wars with Rome, however, reduced Tigranes' realm to its original size by 69 BC, reducing Armenia to the status of a buffer state between Rome and Parthia for the next several centuries.

The anarchy which followed Mithradates' death was finally ended in 77 BC by Sinatruces, brother of Mithradates II, who returned from exile among the Scythians at the age of eighty. His son, Phraates III, took over in 70 BC, to be followed, prematurely, by his two sons, Mithradates III and Orodes II who had him murdered and promptly fell to fighting among themselves for the inheritance. Unfortunately, this set a precedent which was to be followed quite frequently in the future. Mithradates III at one point requested help from the Roman governor of Syria, Gabinius, who provided him with asylum before Mithradates set out once again in an unsuccessful bid for the throne. Shortly after Mithradates' death the first of a long series of wars with Rome began with M. Licinius Crassus' invasion of Parthia and subsequent near annihilation at Carrhae in 53 BC- one of the worst defeats ever inflicted on a Roman army. This defeat was inflicted by a man known to history as the Suren- head of the powerful Suren clan, one of the seven ruling families of the Parthians, which traditionally provided leaders for the army, in command of an army composed exclusively of mounted troops, mostly horse archers. Of prime importance for the history for Romano-Parthian relations for the next 30 years would be the Roman retrieval of the standards captured by the Suren at Carrhae. Orodes II subsequently had the Suren executed and placed his son, Pacorus I in command of the army. A series of invasions and counter-invasions followed for the next 25 years, beginning with Pacorus' over-running Syria and Asia Minor twice, the second time in conjunction with the Roman renegade Q. Atius Labienus. Pacorus I was killed in 39 BC, followed shortly thereafter by his grieving father, murdered by another son and newly designated heir, Phraates IV in 38 BC.

Phraates IV was able to bring peace with Rome for Parthia following the crushing defeat of Marc Antony's invasion and the establishment of close relations with Augustus, eventually resulting in the return of the standards captured at Carrhae. A result of these close relations was that Phraates ended up marrying a slave-girl given to him by Augustus, whose name was Musa. Musa's son by Phraates, Phraates V (Phraatakes), was helped to the throne by his mother in yet another fratricidal murder, which resulted in interesting coins depicting Phraatakes' portrait on one side and Musa's on the other. The Parthian nobility soon had enough of Phraatakes and deposed him, resulting in another period of anarchy until the Parthians requested the return from Rome of another of Phraates IV's sons, Vonones I, who promptly disenchanted the Parthian nobility with his Roman habits and tastes, resulting in the rise of Artabanus II as a rival. Artabanus II was a Parthian's Parthian, having been brought up among the Dahae, and after an initial defeat, celebrated by Vonones on his coins, Artabanus succeeded in capturing the throne, still dressed in rags as a nomadic Scythian.

After a long troubled reign, two of Artabanus' sons, Vardanes I and Gotarzes II became rival claimants to the throne in 40 AD. Each ruled a portion of the empire until Vardanes' murder in 45 AD, at which point Gotarzes became sole ruler. This was a period of rejection of Hellenism in the Parthian empire, as seen in their art, and, in particular, their coins, which show increasing stylization, increasingly fixed coin-types, barbarization of the Greek legends, and the re-introduction of Aramaic script on the coins of some rulers. Eventually, this would lead to illegible Greek inscriptions accompanied by the king's personal name in Pahlevi (the written form of the Parthian language). Signs of this anti-Hellenic feeling may be seen in the revolt of Seleucia, the largest of the Greek cities in the Parthian empire, and one of the busiest trade centers in the ancient world, which managed to maintain its independence and strike its own coins for nearly a decade before being brought back into the empire.

The next major invasion of Parthia by Rome occurred during the reign of Vologases I, who attained the throne in 51 AD with the help of his two brothers, Tiridates and Pacorus II. In order to reward his brothers, Vologases gave each of them a kingdom, thus Tiridates got Armenia, and Pacorus II got Media Atropatene. Unfortunately, the Roman emperor Nero objected and sent his general Corbulo to invade Armenia. After ousting Tiridates, Corbulo's forces were defeated in their turn by Vologases' army, at which point, in 63 AD, a compromise was reached whereby Tiridates would be the king of Armenia, but would be crowned by Nero. This peaceful settlement set a precedent Partho-Roman relations for the next 50 years until the time of Trajan's great eastern adventure.

      Statue of Sanatruq, ruler of Hatra, in Parthian court dress (1st century AD).

In the east, great changes were taking place on the borders- the Sakas had been replaced by the Kushans, a branch of the Yueh-chi confederation of tribes (including the Huns), who proceeded, under their king Maues to set up a powerful kingdom in northern India and Afghanistan, defeating the Indo-Parthians and reducing their kingdom. Eastern portions of the Parthian empire had attempted to break away under Sanabares, but were defeated by Vologases I. Eventually the eastern provinces were stabilized with Parthia retaining control of most of its traditional border areas. At the time of Trajan's invasion of Parthia (115 AD), there were two rival Arsacids on the throne, Osroes I and Vologases III. Osroes I controlled Mesopotamia at the time of the invasion, and it was he who lost a daughter and the golden throne of the Arsacids to Trajan's legions. Trajan was successful in capturing all of Mesopotamia including Seleucia and the Parthian winter capital of Ctesiphon, across the Tigris from Seleucia. A series of revolts and a resurgent Parthian army under Osroes succeeded in forcing Trajan to retreat to northern Mesopotamia. In 117 AD Trajan began preparations for a further attack, but he died before putting his plans into motion. During the resultant confusion, Osroes I was able to reconquer most of the lost territory and force Trajan's puppet, Parthamaspates from the throne. In the end, Trajan's conquest resulted in a new king for Armenia (still an Arsacid), and two new provinces on the Euphrates for Rome. His successor, Hadrian began a policy of consolidation and rationalization of the Roman frontiers which created relative peace between the two empires until 162 AD.

Vologases IV invaded Armenia and Syria in 162 AD in response to a dispute over the recently vacated throne of Armenia. Vologases defeated the Roman candidate for the Armenian throne Sohaemus, and occupied parts Syria before the Roman response materialized in the form of Marcus Aurelius' co-emperor Lucius Verus. The Parthians were heavily defeated and, once again, Ctesiphon and Seleucia captured. Only the timely outbreak of a plague forced the Romans to withdraw, though they did keep much of northern Mesopotamia and the city-state of Edessa.

In 195 AD, yet another war with Rome began when Vologases V, along with other eastern princes, supported Pescennius Niger in his unsuccessful bid for the purple. Vologases supported the Roman province of Mesopotamia in a revolt which allowed Parthia to recover the area for a short time. Septimius Severus, after defeating Niger, invaded Parthia and again captured Ctesiphon and Seleucia in 198 AD. In the meantime, Vologases had to deal with internal rebellions, which, though put down, severely weakened his ability to respond to the Roman threat. The war ended in 199 AD with Severus' second unsuccessful attempt at capturing Hatra, a pro-Parthian Arab city-state in central Mesopotamia.

In 208 AD Vologases V was succeeded by his son Vologases VI, who was immediately challenged by his brother, Artabanus IV, king of Media. The result was a civil war which was to last for the next 16 years. Caracalla saw this division as an opportunity to enhance his glory and provoked a war in 216 AD with Artabanus, who controlled the western portions of the empire at this point. Artabanus and his brother temporarily halted their hostilities, allowing Artabanus to concentrate his forces against Caracalla, who had since been assassinated. Macrinus, Caracalla's successor, was badly defeated at Nisibis in 217 AD and was forced to sue for peace in the following year and pay an indemnity of five million denarii. The brothers once again resumed their civil war, only to be defeated in detail by Ardashir I of Persis, founder of the Sassanian empire, who revolted in 220 AD with the aid of several other Parthian sub-kings. Vologases was defeated in 222 AD but managed to escape until a final defeat in 229 AD, while his brother was defeated in a series of battles ending with his death in 224 or 226 AD. The Kushans and the Armenians continued to support the Parthian cause even after the defeat of the two kings, and it was not until around 239 AD that the last Parthian resistance was crushed, thus ending a dynasty which had ruled for almost 500 years.

Tetradrachm of Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanian empire.