Parthia: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia


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{{Short description|Historical region located in north-easternnortheastern Iran}}

{{Other uses}}

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{{Infobox former subdivision

|_noautocat = <!-- "no" for no automatic categorization -->

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|year_start = <!-- Year of establishment -->

|year_end = <!-- Year of disestablishment -->

|event_start = <!--Establishment Default:of "Established"the -->[[Parthian Empire]]

|date_start = <!--247 Optional: Date of establishment-->BC

|event_end = <!--Fall Default:of "Disestablished"the -->Parthian Empire

|date_end = <!--224 Optional: Date of disestablishment -->AD

|event1 = <!-- Optional: other events between "start" and "end" -->

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'''Parthia''' ({{lang-peo|𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺}} ''Parθava''; {{lang-xpr|𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅}} ''Parθaw''; {{lang-pal|𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥}} ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in north-easternnortheastern [[Greater Iran]].<!-- meaning Greater Iran in the linguistic/ethnic/academic sense--> It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the [[Medes]] during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent [[Achaemenid Empire]] under [[Cyrus the Great]] in the 6th century BC, and formed part of the [[Hellenistic]] [[Seleucid Empire]] followingafter the [[Wars of Alexander the Great|4th-century- BC conquests]] of [[Alexander the Great]]. The region later served as the political and cultural base of the [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern- Iranian]] [[Parni]] people and Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the [[Parthian Empire]] (247 BC – 224 AD). The [[Sasanian Empire]], the last state of [[History of Iran|pre-Islamic Iran]], also held the region and maintained the [[Seven Great Houses of Iran|seven Parthian clans]] as part of their feudal aristocracy.

==Name==

[[File:Xerxes I tomb Parthian soldier circa 470 BCE.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Xerxes I]] tomb, Parthian soldier circa 470 BCE]]

The name "Parthia" is a continuation from [[Latin language|Latin]] ''{{lang|la|Parthia}}'', from [[Old Persian]] ''{{lang|xpr-Latn|Parthava}}'', which was the [[Parthian language]] self-designator signifying "of the [[Parthians]]" who were an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] people. In context to its [[Hellenistic period]], ''Parthia'' also appears as ''Parthyaea''.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Parthia was known as ''Pahlaw[[Pahla]]w'' in the Middle Persian sources of the Sasanian period, and ''[[Pahla]]'' or ''[[Fahla]]'' by later Islamic authors, but mainly referred to the Parthian region in the West of Iran.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Ghodrat-Dizaji|first=Mehrdad|title=Remarks on the Location of the Province of Parthia in the Sasanian Period|date=2016-08-30|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dkb6.8|work=The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires|pages=42–46|publisher=Oxbow Books|doi=10.2307/j.ctvh1dkb6.8|isbn=978-1-78570-210-5|access-date=2021-02-15}}</ref>

==Geography==

The original location of Parthia roughly corresponds to a region in northeastern [[Iran]], thoughbut part is in Southernsouthern [[Turkmenistan]]. It was bordered by the [[Kopet Dag]] mountain range in the north, and the [[Dasht-e- Kavir]] desert in the south. It bordered [[Medes|Media]] on the west, [[Hyrcania]] on the north west, [[Margiana]] on the northeast, and [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]] on the east.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/place/parthia/ |title=Parthia |last=Lendering |first=Jona |author-link=Jona Lendering |date=2001 |website=Livius |publisher= |access-date=11 November 2021 |quote=}}</ref>

During Arsacid times, Parthia was united with [[Hyrcania]] as one administrative unit, and that region is therefore often (subject to context) considered a part of Parthia proper.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

By the early Sasanian period, Parthia was located in the central part of the Iranian plateau, neighboring [[Pars (Sasanian province)|Pars]] to the south, [[Khuzistan (Sasanian province)|Khuzistan]] to the south-west, [[Media (region)|Media]] to the north-west, the Alborz Mountains to the north, [[Abarshahr]] to the north-east, and [[Kirman (Sasanian province)|Kirman]] to the east. In the late Sasanian era, Parthia came to embrace not only central and north-central Iran, but also extended to the western parts of the plateau as well.<ref name=":0" />

In the Islamic era, Parthia was believed to be located in central and western Iran. [[Ibn al-Muqaffa'|Ibn al-Muqaffa]] considered Parthia as encompassing the regions of [[Isfahan]], [[Ray, Iran|Ray]], Hamadan, Mah-i Nihawand and [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Payne|first=Richard|date=2013|title=<i>''Commutatio et Contentio: Studies in the Late Roman, Sasanian, and Early Islamic Near East. In Memory of Zeev Rubin</i>'' ed. by Henning Börm, Josef Wiesehöfer (review)|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jla.2013.0011|journal=Journal of Late Antiquity|volume=6|issue=1|pages=187–190|doi=10.1353/jla.2013.0011|s2cid=162332829 |issn=1942-1273}}</ref> The same definition is found in the works of [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi|al-Khawazmi]] and [[Hamza al-Isfahani]]. [[Abu Hanifa Dinawari|Al-Dinawari]], while not using the word Parthia, considered [[Jibal]] to be the realm of the last Parthian king, [[Artabanus IV of Parthia|Artabanus IV.]]<ref name=":0" />

==History==

===Under the Achaemenids===

[[File:Darius I statue Parthia.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|Parthia (<big>'''𓊪𓃭𓍘𓇋𓍯[[𓈉]]'''</big>, ''P-rw-t-i-[[Aleph|wꜣ]]''), as one of the 24 subjects of the Achaemenid Empire, in the Egyptian [[:Commons:Category:Statue of Darius I|Statue of Darius I]].]]

As the region inhabited by Parthians, Parthia first appears as a political entity in [[Achaemenid]] lists of governorates ("satrapies") under their dominion. Prior to this, the people of the region seem to have been subjects of the [[Medes]],<ref>{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=127}}.</ref> and 7th century BC Assyrian texts mention a country named Partakka or Partukka (though this "need not have coincided topographically with the later Parthia").<ref>{{harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=104, n.1}}.</ref>

A year after [[Cyrus the Great]]'s defeat of the Median [[Astyages]], 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 – against [[Sardis]]."<ref>{{harvnb|Mallowan|1985|p=406}}.</ref> According to Greek sources, following the seizure of the Achaemenid throne by [[Darius I]], the Parthians united with the Median king Phraortes to revolt against him. [[Hystaspes (father of Darius I)|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&nbsp;BC.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

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[[Image:AndragorasCoinHistoryofIran.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Coin of [[Andragoras (Seleucid satrap)|Andragoras]], the last Seleucid satrap of Parthia. He proclaimed independence around 250&nbsp;BC.]]

In 247&nbsp;BC, following the death of [[Antiochus II]], [[Ptolemy III]] seized control of the Seleucid capital at [[Antioch]], and "so left the future of the Seleucid dynasty for a moment in question."<ref name="Bivar_2003">{{harvnb|Bivar|2003|loc=para. 6}}.</ref> Taking advantage of the uncertain political situation, [[Andragoras (3rd century BC)|Andragoras]], the Seleucid governor of Parthia, proclaimed his independence and began minting his own coins.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

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===Under the Sasanians===

Parthia was likely the first region conquered by Ardashir I after his victory over Artabanus IV, showing the importance of the province to the founder of the Sasanian dynasty.<ref name=":0" /> 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 Parthian clans|Seven houses]]", five of which are "in all probability" not Parthian, but contrived genealogies "in order to emphasize the antiquity of their families."<ref name="Lukonin_1983_704">{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|p=704}}.</ref>

Parthia continued to hold importance throughout the 3rd century. In his [[Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht|Ka'be-ye Zardusht]] inscription [[Shapur I]] lists the province of Parthia in second place after Pars. The Abnun inscription describes the [[Battle of Misiche|Roman 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.<ref>{{Cite bookjournal |last=A.Livshit︠s︡ |first=Livshit︠s︡, V. A. |urljournal=http://worldcat.org/oclc/911527026Bulletin of the Asia Institute 5 ( 1992 ) |pages=41–44 |title=Some notes on the inscription from Naṣrābād|oclc=911527026}}</ref> Parthia was also the second province chosen for settlement by Roman prisoners of war after the [[Battle of Edessa|Battle of Edessa in 260]].<ref name=":0" />

==Language and literature==

{{Main article|Parthian language}}

[[File:Hercules Hatra Iraq Parthian period 1st 2nd century CE.jpg|thumb|[[Hercules]], [[Hatra]], [[Iraq]], Parthian period, 1st–2nd century AD.]]

The Parthians spoke [[Parthian language|Parthian]], a north-western Iranian language. No Parthian literature survives from before the Sassanid period in its original form,<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1151}}.</ref> and they seem to have written down only very little. The Parthians did, however, have a thriving [[minstrel|oral minstrel-poet culture]], to the extent that their word for minstrel – ''gosan'' – survives to this day in many Iranian languages as well as especially in [[Armenian language|Armenian]] ([[wikt:գուսան|"gusan"]]), on which it practised heavy (especially [[lexical (semiotics)|lexical]] and vocabulary) influence,.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-iv|title=ARMENIA AND IRAN iv. Iranian influences – Encyclopaedia Iranica|last=electricpulp.com|website=www.iranicaonline.org|access-date=28 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117011150/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-iv|archive-date=17 November 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1115}}.</ref> These Parthian heroic poems, "mainly known through Persian of the lost [[Middle Persian]] ''Xwaday-namag'', and notably through [[Firdausi|Firdausi's]] ''[[Shahnameh]]'', [were] doubtless not yet wholly lost in the Khurasan<!-- literal quotation, so keep spelling --> of [Firdausi's] day."<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1157}}.</ref>▼

▲The Parthians spoke [[Parthian language|Parthian]], a north-western[[northwestern Iranian language]]. No Parthian literature survives from before the Sassanid period in its original form,<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1151}}.</ref> and they seem to have written down only very little. The Parthians did, however, have a thriving [[minstrel|oral minstrel-poet culture]], to the extent that their word for "minstrel" – (''gosan'' –) survives to this day in many Iranian languages as well asand especially in [[Armenian language|Armenian]] ([[wikt:գուսան|"''gusan"'']]), on which it practisedexercised heavy (especially [[lexical (semiotics)|lexical]] and vocabulary) influence,.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-iv|title=ARMENIA AND IRAN iv. Iranian influences – Encyclopaedia Iranica|last=electricpulp.com|website=www.iranicaonline.org|access-date=28 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117011150/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-iv|archive-date=17 November 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1115}}.</ref> These Parthian heroic poems, "mainly known through Persian of the lost [[Middle Persian]] ''Xwaday-namag'', and notably through [[Firdausi|Firdausi's]] ''[[Shahnameh]]'', [were] doubtless not yet wholly lost in the [[Khurasan]]<!-- literal quotation, so keep spelling --> of [Firdausi's] day."<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1157}}.</ref>

In Parthia itself, attested use of written Parthian is limited to the nearly 3,000 [[ostraca]] found (in what seems to have been a [[wine storage]]) at [[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Nisa]], in present-day Turkmenistan. A handful of other evidence of written Parthian has also been found outside Parthia; the most important of these being the part of a land-sale document found at [[Avroman]] (in the [[Kermanshah]] province of [[Iran]]), and more ostraca, graffiti and the fragment of a business letter found at [[Dura-Europos]] in present-day [[Syria]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}▼

▲In Parthia itself, attested use of written Parthian is limited to the nearly 3,000three thousand [[ostraca]] found (in what seems to have been a [[wine storage]]) at [[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Nisa]], in present-day Turkmenistan. A handful of other evidence of written Parthian has also been found outside Parthia;, the most important of these being the part of a land-sale document found at [[Avroman]] (in the [[Kermanshah]] province of [[Iran]]), and more ostraca, graffiti and the fragment of a business letter found at [[Dura-Europos]] in present-day [[Syria]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The Parthian Arsacids do not seem to have used Parthian until relatively late, and the language first appears on Arsacid coinage during the reign of [[Vologases I]] (51–58 AD).<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1153}}.</ref> Evidence that use of Parthian was nonetheless widespread comes from early Sassanid times; the declarations of the early [[Persis|Persian]] kings were – in addition to their native [[Middle Persian]] – also inscribed in Parthian.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}▼

▲The Parthian Arsacids do not seem to have used Parthian until relatively late, and the language first appears on Arsacid coinage during the reign of [[Vologases I]] (51–58 AD).<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1153}}.</ref> Evidence that use of Parthian was nonetheless widespread comes from early Sassanid times; the declarations of the early [[Persis|Persian]] kings were – inwere—in addition to their native [[Middle Persian]] – also—also inscribed in Parthian.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The old poems known as [[Fahlavīyāt|''fahlaviyat'']] mostly come from the areas which were considered part of Parthia in the Islamic period. These poems have the characteristics of oral literature and may have continued the oral traditions of Parthian minstrels.<ref>{{Citation|last=Ghodrat-Dizaji|first=Mehrdad|title=Remarks on the Location of the Province of Parthia in the Sasanian Period|date=2016-08-30|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dkb6.8|work=The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires|pages=42–46|publisher=Oxbow Books|doi=10.2307/j.ctvh1dkb6.8|isbn=978-1-78570-210-5|access-date=2021-02-15}}</ref> ▼

▲The old poems known as [[Fahlavīyāt|''fahlaviyat'']] mostly come from the areas which were considered part of Parthia in the Islamic period. These poems have the characteristics of [[oral literature]] and may have continued the oral traditions of Parthian minstrels.<ref>{{Citation|last=Ghodrat-Dizaji|first=Mehrdad|title=Remarks on the Location of the Province of Parthia in the Sasanian Period|datename=2016-08-30|url=http":0"//dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dkb6.8|work=The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires|pages=42–46|publisher=Oxbow Books|doi=10.2307/j.ctvh1dkb6.8|isbn=978-1-78570-210-5|access-date=2021-02-15}}</ref>

==Society==

[[Image:ParthianWaterSpoutWithFaceOfIranianMan1-2ndCenturyCE.jpg|thumb|140px|Parthian waterspout, 1st–2nd century AD.]]

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."<ref name="Schippmann 1987 p=532">{{harvnb|Schippmann|1987|p=532}}.</ref> 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.<ref name="Schippmann 1987 p=532"/> Communities with free peasants also existed.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

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==Parthian cities==

[[Nisa, Turkmenistan|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 of [[Ashgabat]] (the capital of [[Turkmenistan]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.turkmenistan.orexca.com/rus/old_nissa.shtml|title=Старая и Новая Ниса :: Исторические памятники Туркменистана|website=www.turkmenistan.orexca.com|access-date=28 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230233253/http://www.turkmenistan.orexca.com/rus/old_nissa.shtml|archive-date=30 December 2013}}</ref> Nisa had a "soaring two-story hall in the Hellenistic Greek style"<ref>{{cite book |first=S. Frederick |last=Starr |title=Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2013 |page=5 |isbn=978-0-691-15773-3 }}</ref> and temple complexes used by early [[Arsaces I of Parthia|Arsaces dynasty]]. During the reign of [[Mithridates I of Parthia]] (c. 171 BC–138– 138 BC) it was renamed ''Mithradatkirt'' ("fortress of Mithradates"). [[Merv]] (modern-day Mary) was another Parthian city.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

* [[Asaak]]

* [[HecatompylosGurgan]]

* [[GurganHecatompylos]]

==See also==

* [[List of Parthian kings]]▼

* [[Khwarasan]]▼

* [[Greater Khorasan]]▼

* [[Adur Burzen-Mihr]]

▲* [[Greater Khorasan]]

▲* [[Khwarasan]]

▲* [[List of Parthian kings]]

* [[Pahla]]

* [[Parthian shot]]

* [[Parthians]]

==References Citations ==

{{Reflist|30em}}

== General and cited references ==

==Bibliography==

{{refbegin}}

* {{citation|last=Bickerman|first=Elias J.|chapter=The Seleucid Period|pages=3–20|title=Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3|year=1983|issue=1|publisher=Cambridge University Press|editor-last=Yarshater|editor-first=Ehsan}}.

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* {{citation|last=Bivar|first=A.D.H.|year=2003|chapter=Gorgan v.: Pre-Islamic History|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=11|location=New York|publisher=iranica.com|chapter-url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gorgan-v}}.

* {{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|chapter=Parthian writings and literature|pages=1151–1165|title=Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3|year=1983|issue=2|publisher=Cambridge UP|editor-last=Yarshater|editor-first=Ehsan}}.

* {{citation|last=Cook|first=J.M.|chapter=The Rise of the Achaemenids and Establishment of their Empire|volume=2|year=1985|pages=200–291|title=Cambridge History of Iran|editor-last=Gershevitch|editor-first=Ilya|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}.

* {{citation|last=Curtis|first=Vesta Sarkhosh|chapter=The Iranian Revival in the Parthian Period|pages=7–25|title=The Age of the Parthians: The Ideas of Iran|volume=2|year=2007|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., in association with the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and the British Museum|location=London & New York|editor-last=Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Sarah Stewart|isbn=978-1-84511-406-0}}

* {{citation|last=Diakonoff|first=I.M.|chapter=Media I: The Medes and their Neighbours|volume=2|year=1985|pages=36–148|title=Cambridge History of Iran|editor-last=Gershevitch|editor-first=Ilya|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}.

* {{citation|last=Lecoq|first=Pierre|year=1987|chapter=Aparna|page=151|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=2|location=New York|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|chapter-url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aparna-c3k}}.

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{{refend}}

==Further reading==

{{EB1911 Poster|Parthia}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

* {{cite book |last=Overtoom |first=Nikolaus |year=2020 |title=Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |isbn=9780197680223 }}

{{refend}}

== External links ==

* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Parthia}}

{{Achaemenid Provinces}}

{{Sassanid Provinces}}

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[[Category:Parthia| ]]

[[Category:ParthianAchaemenid Empiresatrapies]]

[[Category:Historical regions of Iran]]

[[Category:AchaemenidParthian satrapiesEmpire]]▼

[[Category:Provinces of the Sasanian Empire]]

▲[[Category:Achaemenid satrapies]]

[[Category:Iranian countries and territories]]

[[ja:パルティア]]