Parthia: Political History

247 BCE - 211 BCE - Arsaces I (All Facts)

• First King and Founder of Parthia and the Arsacid Dynasty

171 BCE - 132 BCE - Mithridates I (All Facts)

• 5th King of Parthia and the Arsacid Dynasty, Founder of the Parthian Empire

• Turned Parthia from a Kingdom into an Empire after he defeated the Seleucids, in which he gained control of Media and Babylonia, Elam, parts of Bactria (northern Afghanistan), and Persia

• Established the Parthian Empire’s capital at Ctesiphon, on the banks of the Tigris River

132 BCE - 127 BCE - Phraates II (All Facts)

• 6th King of Parthia and the Arsacid Dynasty

• Defeated Antiochus VII of the Seleucid Empire in Media, which excluded the Seleucids from the lands east of the Euphrates River

• Killed in battle with the Tochari (Scythians), who proceeded to devastate his kingdom

69 BCE - 57 BCE - Phraates III (All Facts)

• 13th King of Parthia and the Arsacid Dynasty

• Prior to his rule, the kingdom of Parthia suffered a collapse and was greatly reduced in territory due to the invasions and conquests of King Tigranes of Armenia

  • However, he came to restore order to Parthia

  • Nonetheless, he was too weak to resist the Roman advance into Parthia by Pompey “the Great” and Lucullus

57 BCE - 37 BCE - Orodes II (All Facts)

• 15th King of Parthia and the Arsacid Dynasty

• Under his reign,

  • Parthia famously repelled Rome from its lands in the Battle of Carrhae, which it won and in which it defeated Crassus “the Rich” and the Romans