The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  While Phraates II was quelling the threat posed by the invading tribes in the east, the new Seleucid ruler Antiochus VII Sidetes (r. 138–129 BCE) attacked Babylonia and Media, defeating Parthian armies in three separate military encounters. In response, Phraates II sent a delegation to negotiate a peace agreement. Antiochus responded that he was willing to cease hostilities and conclude a treaty if the Arsacid monarch would release his brother Demetrius from captivity, withdraw from the provinces he had seized, and pay tribute to the Seleucid king as his overlord. Phraates rejected these demands. Instead, he released Demetrius, who had been living in Hyrcania since his defeat and capture by Mithridates I. As already mentioned, Demetrius had attempted twice to escape Hyrcania and return to Syria, but both times he had been captured and returned to northern Iran. Now with his kingdom under attack, Phraates II allowed the former Seleucid king to return to Syria. The Arsacid monarch hoped that the return of Demetrius to Syria would force Antiochus to call off his campaign and return to Syria to defend his throne against his brother. With winter arriving, Antiochus divided his army and scattered its units in several cities in western Iran. The oppressive behavior and excesses of these army units, who demanded food and supplies, caused the populace to revolt against Antiochus VII. Phraates II used this golden opportunity to place an army in the field. The advisers of Antiochus pleaded with him not to engage in battle against a much larger Arsacid army. The Seleucid monarch, however, dismissed these pleas. When the two armies clashed, the Parthians defeated the Seleucid army and killed Antiochus VII. This decisive victory ended Seleucid rule in Iran. Having scored an impressive victory over the Seleucids, Phraates II intended to advance to Syria. However, his attention was diverted to the east once again by the renewed threat posed by nomadic groups who had overrun the southern regions of Central Asia. Though Phraates II was killed in his encounter with the Saka tribes in 128 BCE, the Parthian state continued to grow and expand under his successors. Among these, Mithridates II (r. 124/123–88/87 BCE) emerged as one of the most dynamic of the Arsacid kings. During his long reign, Mithridates transformed the Parthian Empire into one of the most powerful states in the world.

  The reign of Mithridates II witnessed the establishment of Arsacid rule in Babylonia and Characene or Mesene at the mouth of the Persian Gulf (the territory of present-day southern Iraq and Kuwait). The Parthian king then moved against Armenia. He defeated the Armenian monarch Artavasdes I and took his son Tigrenes as a hostage to the Arsacid court. In the east, Mithridates II reimposed Parthian rule over Aria in present-day northwestern Afghanistan and brought Sistan in present-day eastern Iran under his control.

  It was during the reign of Mithridates II that an envoy of the Han dynasty of China arrived in the Arsacid court. The envoy returned to China accompanied by representatives of the Arsacid monarch bearing gifts of ostrich eggs and conjurers. These negotiations were followed by the establishment of the first trading caravans between China and the Parthian Empire. Mithridates II also sent ambassadors to Rome to expand and augment this intercontinental trade route. The numerous trade routes, which came to be known as the Silk Road in the 19th century, created a direct commercial link between China, Central Asia, Iran, and Rome and heralded the exchange of goods, ideas, and technology between East Asia, Central Asia, the Near East, and Europe. Direct economic ties with China allowed plants, spices, foodstuffs, medicine, and musical instruments as well as new ideas and religious beliefs from India and Iran to travel eastward. Among the precious spices from Iran introduced to China by way of the Silk Road was saffron, which was used as an aromatic to perfume clothes and hair and to flavor wines. The Chinese, who called the Arsacid dynasty Anxi or Anshi, also borrowed the cultivation of grapes for wine and the growing of alfalfa from the Farghaneh Valley in Central Asia. Farghaneh, which is divided today between the three countries of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, was also famous for its horses from among which the Chinese imported a particular breed. To the west, the Arsacids established a close trading relationship with Rome, importing various “metals and numerous manufactured articles of high class” and exporting “textile fabrics” such as “silks and carpets” and spices (Rawlinson: 425–426).

  The power and prestige of Mithridates II was reflected in his adoption of the title “king of kings” beginning in 109 BCE. In 95 BCE Mithridates installed Tigranes II, who had been raised at the Arsacid court, as the new ruler of Armenia. Shortly afterward Mithridates forced the kingdoms of Adiabene, Gordyene, and Osrhoene to capitulate and accept his suzerainty. He expanded the territory of the Parthian Empire to the banks of the Euphrates in the west, seizing the important city of Dura-Europos in present-day eastern Syria. Having established himself as the eastern neighbor of Rome, Mithridates II sent an envoy to the Roman general Sulla to negotiate an alliance. Through these negotiations the Euphrates was established as the border between the two powers, but soon the relationship between Rome and Parthia began to deteriorate. The conflict between the two powers was mostly centered on control of Armenia and Mesopotamia.

  In 53 BCE, the armies of the Roman Republic under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus invaded northern Mesopotamia. The Arsacid monarch Orodes II (Urud II) (r. 58/57–38 BCE) responded by leading the main Parthian army to Media Atropatene (present-day Azerbaijan). He also ordered one of his generals Surena (Suren) to confront the invading Romans in Mesopotamia. In June 53 BCE in the Battle of Carrhae (present-day Harran in southeastern Turkey), Surena inflicted a crushing defeat on Roman forces. Crassus and his son were killed, and a large number of Roman officers and soldiers were captured. The Roman battle standards were seized by Suren, and they were only returned to Rome after long negotiations during the reign of Emperor Augustus.

  Despite its defeat at Carrhae, Rome did not abandon its aggressive policies toward the Parthians. In 40 BCE another Roman commander, Decidius Saxa, was captured and killed by the Arsacids. Once again in 36 BCE the Roman general Mark Antony invaded Parthian territory, seizing Armenia and using it as a territorial base to invade Media. The Arsacid king Phraates IV (r. 37–2 BCE), however, counterattacked and forced Antony to withdraw his legions after suffering heavy casualties and losing some of his standards. The victory over the Roman general allowed the Arsacid monarch to overrun Armenia in 32–31 BCE and install a pro-Arsacid prince on its throne.

  The conflict between Rome and Parthia continued because the honor and prestige of Rome required that it not accept defeat. Furthermore, the Romans were concerned about the security of Syria, which could be attacked and captured by the Parthians if they felt a weakening of Rome’s resolve and the absence of its armies in Mesopotamia. Recognizing the heavy cost and the high risks of an eastern campaign, the Roman emperor Augustus opted for a peace treaty with the Parthians. The Arsacid monarch Phraates IV agreed to recognize Rome’s protectorate over Armenia and return the legionary standards, which the Parthians had captured from the Roman armies. In his attempt to convince Phraates IV to return the Roman standards, Augustus sent a slave girl named Musa as a gift to Phraates. Soon Musa emerged as the queen of Phraates IV. She used her influence over Phraates to convince the Arsacid king to send his four sons as hostages to Rome and designate her son Phraates (the future Phraates V) as heir to the throne. In 2 BCE, Musa poisoned Phraates IV and placed herself and her own son Phraates as joint rulers on the Arsacid throne. The remarkable rise of Musa to power demonstrates what a truly “determined woman could achieve” (Colledge: 60).

  Armenia continued to be one of the principal bones of contention between the Parthian and Roman Empires. When the Roman emperor Augustus sent his adopted son Gaius Caesar at the head of an army to invade Mesopotamia and Armenia, Phraates V sent an envoy to demand the return of his brothers, who had been sent to Rome by his father, Phraates IV, as part of a peace agreement. Augustus responded by sending him an insulting letter in which he addressed the Arsacid monarch as simply “Phraates.” The Roman emperor demanded that Phraates “lay aside the royal name and
… withdraw from Armenia.” Far from being intimidated, Phraates V wrote back “in a generally haughty tone, styling himself ‘King of Kings’ and addressing Augustus simply as ‘Caesar’” (Cassius Dio: 415). In the end Phraates agreed to a peace agreement, which was concluded in 1 CE. Armenia was declared a Roman protectorate. Shortly after signing the peace treaty with Rome, Phraates and his mother, Musa, were overthrown.

  In the second century CE, the Parthian state began to decline. Internal warfare between contenders to the throne weakened and undermined the power and authority of the ruling Arsacid monarchs. The growing weakness of the Parthian state encouraged the Romans to adopt a more aggressive and expansionist policy. In 113/114 CE, the Roman emperor Trajan embarked on a campaign against the Parthians, seizing Armenia and annexing it to the Roman Empire. He then invaded northern Mesopotamia, crossed the Euphrates in 116, and captured the kingdom of Adiabene, centered in present-day northern Iraq, which was converted into the Roman province of Assyria. The road to the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon was now open. The Arsacid monarch Osroes, who had to quell challenges from within his own dynasty, could not even raise an army to defend his capital. Thus, after a short skirmish Ctesiphon fell, and the Arsacid king’s golden throne was captured by Trajan. From Ctesiphon, the Roman emperor marched to the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Despite these military setbacks, the Arsacid dynasty survived. The Romans could not retain all of their territorial gains, and after the death of Trajan in 117, his successor, Hadrian, returned some of the newly conquered provinces to their kings.

  Once again in 163, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Romans responded to the Parthian seizure of Armenia and their incursion into Syria by invading the region. First, they seized Armenia and deposed the ruler who had been installed on the Armenian throne by the Arsacid monarch Vologeses IV (r. 147/148–191/192). They then attacked Mesopotamia and seized the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon. The palace of Vologeses was destroyed, and the city was looted and ravaged by the Roman invaders. And yet at the very moment when the Romans could claim total victory over their proud and stubborn foe, a plague swept through and devastated the ranks of Roman legions, who began to die in large numbers. The ailing and dying Roman survivors carried the terrible disease with them back to Rome. Thus, Roman territorial gains proved once again to be short-lived, and the Arsacid dynasty managed to regain much of its lost territorial possessions. The Arsacids felt sufficiently confident to support revolts against Rome in Adiabene and Osroene during the reign of Vologeses V (r. 191/192–207/208 CE). The Romans under the leadership of Emperor Septimius Severus responded by attacking the region and reimposing Roman rule over the rebellious territories. Once the Roman emperor had returned to Europe, Vologeses V counterattacked and swept through Mesopotamia, imposing Arsacid authority over Adiabene in present-day northern Iraq. In response to the Parthian campaign, Septimius Severus invaded Mesopotamia again, this time marching all the way to Ctesiphon, capturing the Arsacid capital. The heavy casualties they had suffered and the shortage of food, however, forced the Romans to withdraw once again. When the main Roman armies had departed, the Parthians reoccupied the territories they had lost.

  The frequent dynastic battles among Arsacid contenders and the incessant wars with Rome exhausted the Parthian Empire and undermined its legitimacy. At times, the competition over the control of the throne resulted in the emergence of several Arsacid kings ruling different regions of the empire at the same time. The Parthian state did not, however, collapse as a result of internal warfare and Roman invasions. In 224 CE Ardashir, the governor of the district of Istakhr in the province of Fars who was a vassal of the Arsacid dynasty, defeated Artabanus IV (Ardavan IV) in the Battle of Hormozdgan. With the death of Artabanus IV on the battlefield, the Arsacid dynasty came to a sudden end. From the ashes of the Parthian state, a new empire emerged under the leadership of Ardashir, the son of Papak (Pabag) and a descendant of Sasan. Thus, the new dynasty would be called the Sasanians. The Sasanians rejuvenated Iranian power, expanding the eastern boundaries of their empire to present-day Afghanistan and Central Asia and its western frontiers to Syria and southern Asia Minor.

  During their long reign, the Arsacids had granted a high level of religious freedom and tolerated cultural diversity among their subjects. They also had rejected a centralized political system, opting instead for a highly decentralized administrative structure that allowed local dynasts to rule as autonomous kings as long as they accepted the suzerainty of the Arsacid king and did not mint their own coins. The Parthian political and military power structure was based on an alliance between the Arsacid ruling dynasty and a number of large landowning families, which constituted the highest echelon of the Parthian nobility. The heads of these families ruled their home regions as local kings. Thus, for example, the Suren family was centered in Sistan in eastern Iran, while the Karen family was based in Nahavand in western Iran. The landholdings of these families were not, however, confined to their home base, and some of their prominent members owned large estates in different parts of Greater Iran. The head of each powerful family had his own armies, courts, harems, entourages, attendants, and servants. When Surena, the powerful head of the Suren family, “travelled privately, he had one thousand camels to carry his baggage, two hundred chariots for his concubines, one thousand completely armed men for lifeguards, and a great many more light-armed; and he had at least ten thousand horsemen altogether, of his servants and retinue” (Plutarch: 1:182). These families played an important role in the selection of a new Arsacid monarch. According to Strabo, the Arsacid kings were appointed by two councils, “one that of kinsmen and the other that of wise men and Magi” (Strabo: 11.9.3). Plutarch wrote that at the coronation of the Arsacid kings, the honor of placing the crown upon the head of a new monarch belonged to the head of the Suren family (Plutarch: 1:182).

  Unlike the Arsacids, who had displayed a highly tolerant attitude toward the different religious communities in their domains, the Sasanians introduced Zoroastrianism as the state religion of their empire. Sasanian monarchs such as Shapur I, Hormozd I, Bahram I, and Bahram II empowered the Zoroastrian priesthood to spread the teachings of their religion and suppress non-Zoroastrian communities. As the influence of the Zoroastrian high priests over the Sasanian dynasty increased, the level of intolerance vis-à-vis non-Zoroastrian communities intensified. The Zoroastrian high priest Kartir, who rose to prominence during this period, boasted of his suppression of the Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist communities. The Iranian prophet Mani was also questioned and imprisoned. His followers, known as Manicheans, were censored and forced into exile.

  The Sasanians created a highly centralized political system. While the Persian king of kings ruled from his capital, Ctesiphon, the princes of the royal family were appointed as governors of important provinces of the empire. Thus, the second Sasanian monarch, Shapur I, appointed his son Hormozd Ardashir as the ruler of Armenia, his son Narseh as the ruler of Sistan and later Armenia, his son Shapur as the king of Maishan or Mesene (Characene) in present-day Kuwait and southern Iraq, and his son Bahram as the king of Gilan on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. The Sasanians also established a much larger central government. The king of kings appointed a grand vizier, or chief minister (wuzurg farmadar), who was responsible for supervising a large army of ministers, scribes, secretaries, astrologers, and physicians. These officials attended to the daily needs of the royal administration. The king of kings also appointed the commander of the army and all of the margraves (marzbans), who were responsible for maintaining the security and defense of the empire’s border provinces. The size of the Sasanian central government grew significantly during the reign of Khosrow I Anushiravan (r. 531–579 CE), who reorganized the army and the royal administration. The post of the supreme commander in chief (eran espahbad or arteshtaran salar) was abolished and replaced by four commanders (spahbads) responsible for the security of the eastern, western, northern, and southern regions of the empire. Each commander
reported directly to the Sasanian king. Khosrow also appointed margraves, who also received their orders directly from the Sasanian monarch.

  Under the Sasanians the conflict between Rome and Iran was renewed and intensified, but this time it was the Persians who assumed a more offensive stance. The son and successor of Ardashir I, Shapur I (r. 239/240/241/242–270/272 CE), fought three Roman emperors: Gordian III, Philip the Arab, and Valerian. Valerian was captured by Shapur and died in captivity in Iran. The Romans had their greatest success against one of Shapur’s sons and successors, Narseh (r. 293–302), inflicting a humiliating defeat on Persian forces, capturing the royal harem, and imposing a peace treaty that pushed the boundary between the two empires eastward from the Euphrates River to the Tigris River. It is not surprising therefore that a significant portion of the reign of Shapur II (r. 309–379), a grandson of Narseh, was spent on rescinding the embarrassing treaty. As the longest-reigning Sasanian monarch, Shapur II fought the Romans in several major campaigns and managed to restore the Euphrates as the boundary between the Roman and Sasanian states.

  But, the threat to the security of the Sasanian Empire was not limited to Roman invasions and incursions in Armenia and Mesopotamia. Starting in the reign of Shapur II, nomadic groups from Central Asia began to breach the northeastern frontiers of the Sasanian state. Though Shapur II managed to quell this threat and form an alliance with the invading Chionites, his successors were forced to spend much of their reigns in defending the eastern borders of their empire. Throughout the fifth century CE, the Sasanian state was repeatedly attacked by the Kidarites and Hephthalites who were pushing south from Central Asia. Several Sasanian kings—Yazdegerd I (r. 399–421 CE), Bahram V Gor (r. 421–439 CE), and Yazdegerd II (r. 439–457)—spent a significant part of their reigns in defending and protecting the northeastern provinces of the Sasanian Empire from the Hephthalites. During the reign of Peroz (r. 459–484 CE), which began with a long drought, the Sasanian armies were repeatedly defeated by the Hephthalites. In the last battle between the two sides Peroz was killed, and the Sasanians had no other choice but to sue for peace and accept a humiliating treaty, which forced them to pay an annual tribute to the Hephthalites.