The Emergence of the Parthian State

Abstract

This chapter introduces the establishment of the Parthian state on the Iranian plateau in the middle third century. The unexpected decline of the power of the Seleucid Empire in the 240s because of dynastic turmoil caused a crisis in the Hellenistic Middle East. This crisis encouraged eastern satraps to rebel and the nomadic Parni tribe (known afterward as the Parthians) to invade northeastern Iran. The successful invasion of the Parni to seize Parthia and establish a new kingdom, paired with the sudden rise of their regional power and the failure of the Seleucids to eliminate this new threat, helped create a new interstate system in which the Seleucids, Parthians, and the newly independent Bactrians shared power. The sweeping success of the first Parthian king, Arsaces I, established Parthia as a limited regional power; however, its existence for several decades remained precarious.