Arsacid Research Articles

First Christian Church in Transcaucasia

In the southern regions of Iran (Persia), Zoroastrianism was represented by numerous temples and pantheons of gods, while in the Northern provinces, fire worship retained its early form, recognizing one deity - Ahramazda. With the coming to power of the Sassanids, the number of temples began to increase. The fact that peregrine And his son were priests of the Anahita temple also set priorities during their rule. When the Sassanids came to power, Ardeshir imposed a special tax (one-tenth) on the temples of fire-worshippers. However, environmental analysis shows that during the reign of various rulers, Mazdeism, Mithraism, Manichaeism, and even Christianity gained moderate ascendancy in the Sassanid state, albeit temporarily. For the first 300 years after Christ, there was a serious struggle in Eastern Anatolia to become a strong and lasting religion. The first Christian Church in Parthia played a leading role in this struggle. The lack of information about the history of Parthia, and sometimes very little, enriches this period with legends. The Parthian aristocracy maintained its influence in the Northern regions of Persia. The reign of the Arshakids (of aranshah) continued in Albania until the 6th century. The Parthians understood and practiced fire worship differently than in Persia. The Parthian nobles saw and knew the important role of the temple of Anahita in the victory of the sons of Sassanids. Along with various traditional religions, many new religions spread in the Persian province and in Persian geography, new concepts were synthesized between religions, there was fierce competition between religions, and religious clans sought access to large palaces. The early Christians who settled in the Northern provinces of Parthia in the middle of the third century gained a large following. In 252-326, Gregory (his Church name) was the son of Apak (Anak) of the Arshakid dynasty , and he was baptized in Cappadocia and received a Christian upbringing. When another of the Arsacid dynasty, Prince Tridad, together with Gregory, founded the first Christian Church, of course, the Central government did not like it, and the persecution increased. However, by the will of the sons of A, they were able to hold and preserve the Church. The younger son of Gregory, Arastun (Armenians call him Aristakes), led the Church in 325-333, and then his older brother, the first son of Gregory erfan (Arfan) (Armenians call him Vrtanes), took over the leadership of the Church in 333-341 on the advice of his father was brought to the leadership. Arastun took part in the creation of the churches of Albania and Iveria, became their first Bishop, and participated in the first world Council of Christians (Nicaea-Syria). Early Christians quickly forgot the important decisions made at the first meeting of the apostles of Jesus, and Christians all over the world are involved in intrigues between the two churches - the Church of Nicaea (Syria) and the Church of Alexandria. After the formation of the Church of Constantinople, competition increased, and although the Christian Church in Eastern Anatolia and Cappadocia was subordinate to Constantinople, the Syriac Church sent representatives to Cappadocia and Eastern Anatolia in search of supporters. The church, founded by Gregory, son of Apak, acts as a true Christian church under the leadership of 10 generations after him and proclaims that Christianity is a divine religion. Only in 437, with the appointment of Hovhannes, a disciple of the Syrian missionary and provocateur Mesrop Mashtos (educated in Syria), the leadership of the church changed the character of the first Christian Church of the Parthians, covering a large area from Eastern Anatolia to Albania. The first Christian Church of the Parthians changed its essence, defining the status of a national church, and not a propagandist of common Christian values.

De grenzen van het Romeinse Rijk

Summary In the second century AD the Roman Empire reached its largest extent. By that time the military infrastructure at the periphery of the Empire stretched over thousands of kilometres, across the three continents surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Rome had to exert its power in very different climates and landscapes, and deal with external threats varying from the highly developed Parthian Empire to hardly organised nomadic groups. The military infrastructure at its boundaries was therefore quite diverse, but nevertheless the military installations show many similarities across the Empire, due to the frequent displacements of army units and their commanders. This paper provides a concise overview of the frontier sections on all three continents and a brief discussion of differences and similarities.

Josef Wiesehöfer, Sabine Müller (eds.). Parthika. Greek and Roman Authors’ Views of the Arsacid Empire

The Roman and Parthian empires shared the political control of the ancient world in two spheres of influence that were separated by the river Euphrates: the Roman sphere to the west of this natural and conceptual border, the Parthian to the east. The perception of this polarization clearly emerges from what we know of the Parthian empire and Arsacid dynasty through Roman literary sources, and is perceived in modern scholarship as the reflection of the accrued importance Roman authors gave to ...

Michał Marciak. “Royal Converts from Adiabene and Jewish Identity in the Second Temple Period”

In this paper the author, a specialist of history and antiquities of Adiabene, a minor Parthian kingdom whose kings converted to Judaism in 1st century CE, analyses the concept of Jewish identity in the second temple period. He takes as an example the so-called “Adiabene Narrative”, that is to say, Flavius Josephus’ account of the conversion to Judaism of the Royal House of the North Mesopotamian Parthian kingdom. The narrative fits perfectly with the model of “Ethnicity”, according to which ...

Hamidreza P. Zanous, Juping Yang. “Arsacid Cities in the Hanshu and Houhanshu”

The authors of this paper focus on the precious information from the Chinese sources, and in particular the Annals of the Former Han and the Annals of the Later Han, can provide about the Arsacid Empire. The main problem concerning these sources is the correct identification of the place names mentioned with actual places within or outside the Parthia. The Parthian empire is normally called Anxi by Chinese chroniclers, probably a transcription of the kings’ name Arsakes. It designates Parthia...

Michał Marciak, “Royal Converts from Adiabene and the Archaeology of Jerusalem”

In this paper, the author, a specialist of history and antiquities of Adiabene, a minor Parthian kingdom, whose kings converted to Judaism in 1st century CE, takes into account the references to palaces and funeral structures that the Adiabenian dynasts built in Jerusalem. He puts then these data in connection with the structures brought to light in both old and more recent excavations, which have been identified by archaeologists with the Adiabenian buildings. He discusses the recent excavat...

David Engels. Benefactors, kings, rulers: studies on the Seleukid Empire between East and West

This anthology collects fourteen essays, the majority of which (nine) have previously been published between 2010 and 2017 in various journals and conference volumes. Some of these essays have been translated from German into English. One of Engels’ aims is to look at the Seleucid Empire as a specifically Near Eastern Empire, as heir to the Achaemenid and predecessor of the Parthian Empires. In his view, “the Seleukid dynasty ceased in some way to be a colonial power and merged with the empi...

Iranian Themes in the Poetry of Statius

Publius Papinius Statius was one of the most important poets of the Flavian Age. His works (Thebais, Silvae and unfinished Achilleis) became the object of great interest of scholars. One of the issues of Statian poetry that was so far ignored by scholars was its image of the East and Easterners. Among them the Iranian world (first of all Parthian empire) is the one that deserves special interest because of the importance of relations between Rome and Parthia as well as the old literary tradition concerning Persia, Parthia etc. Although this matter is of marginal importance in Statius, there are a lot of references to Iranian themes in Thebais and Silvae. Some of them are connected with military and political relations with Rome (esp. the Armenian War in the times of Nero), while some refer to ethnographic tradition and traditional image of Achaemenid Persia. In these passages we can find great influence of Augustan poets, Horace in particular.

Das Partherreich als Bindeglied der Seidenstraße zwischen China und Rom

This paper analyses the role of the Parthian Empire in the Silk Road trade between China and the Roman Empire. It examines Parthian, Roman and Chinese sources to achieve a better understanding of its importance for trade contacts along the Silk Road. As the analysis will show, Roman and Chinese sources differ greatly in their interpretation of the role the Parthians played within these trade networks, and they shed light on different aspects of the relationships, be it trade or otherwise.

The Power-Transition Crisis of the 160s–130s BCE and the Formation of the Parthian Empire

AbstractAlexander the Great’s conquests ushered in the Hellenistic era throughout the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East. In this period, the Seleucids, one of most successful of the Successor dynasties, ruled over most of the Middle East at the height of their power. Yet two rising powers in the ancient world, Rome and Parthia, played a crucial role in the decline and eventual fall of the Seleucids. In a prior article, I argued that geopolitical developments around the Eastern Mediterranean in the middle third century BCE were indirectly responsible for the emergence of the Parthian state in Iran. Disastrous military conflicts at home and abroad in the west caused a sudden decline of Seleucid power in the 240s–230s, triggering what political scientists call a power-transition crisis. This article utilizes similar approaches to historical analysis and International Relations theory to contend that, after a period of recovery, a further sudden decline of Seleucid power in the 160s–130s triggered another power-transition crisis that brought an end to Seleucid hegemony over the Middle East permanently. The crisis facilitated the rapid transformation of the Parthian state from a minor kingdom to a major empire, drastically changing the international environment of the ancient world.

Remembering Intervention: Parthia in Rome’s Civil Wars

The Arsacid rulers of the Parthian empire intervened repeatedly in the civil wars of the late Republic. Previous analyses of these interventions have been misled by post-Republican ideas about the Roman-Parthian relationship or confined to discussions of individual episodes. This article comprehensively surveys Parthian intervention and traces divergent Roman attitudes towards it over time. It is argued that Roman observers sometimes perceived Parthia’s involvement as a singular external intrusion on the circumscribed domain of civil war - but only in the early imperial period, when the Arsacid kingdom’s status as an imperial arch-rival forced a reconsideration of the Republican past.

PORTRAITS OF A PARTHIAN KING: ROCK-RELIEFS AND THE MOUNTAIN FORTRESSES OF RABANA-MERQULY IN IRAQI KURDISTAN

This article presents detailed illustrations of two rock-reliefs from the neighbouring sites Rabana and Merquly, located on the flanks of Mt. Piramagrun in Iraqi Kurdistan. Both matching sculptures are aligned with perimeter fortifications that enclose substantial architectural remains. Based on numismatic parallels, supported by archaeological evidence, it is proposed that these depictions of near life-size figures represent an anonymous Arsacid King of Kings from the early first millennium (c.a.d.50-150), who was credited with construction of the mountain fortresses. Rabana and Merquly together form an important landscape of settlement on the north-western frontier of the Parthian Empire.

Soviet Central Asia and the Preservation of History

Central Asia has one of the deepest and richest histories of any region on the planet. First settled some 6500 years ago by oasis-based farming communities, the deserts, steppe and mountains of Central Asia were subsequently home to many pastoral nomadic confederations, and also to large scale complex societies such as the Oxus Civilization and the Parthian and Kushan Empires. Central Asia also functioned as the major hub for trans-Eurasian trade and exchange networks during three distinct Silk Roads eras. Throughout much of the second millennium of the Common Era, then under the control of a succession of Turkic and Persian Islamic dynasties, already impressive trading cities such as Bukhara and Samarkand were further adorned with superb madrassas and mosques. Many of these suffered destruction at the hands of the Mongols in the 13th century, but Timur and his Timurid successors rebuilt the cities and added numerous impressive buildings during the late-14th and early-15th centuries. Further superb buildings were added to these cities by the Shaybanids during the 16th century, yet thereafter neglect by subsequent rulers, and the drying up of Silk Roads trade, meant that, by the mid-18th century when expansive Tsarist Russia began to incorporate these regions into its empire, many of the great pre- and post-Islamic buildings of Central Asia had fallen into ruin. This colonization of the region by the Russians, and its later incorporation into the Union of Society Socialist Republics in 1919, brought Central Asia to the attention of Russian and Soviet archaeologists and urban planners. It was these town planners and engineers who were eventually responsible for preserving many of the decaying monuments and historic urban cores of Central Asia, despite the often-challenging ideological constraints they were forced to work under. The paper focuses particularly on the effect of these preservation policy decisions in Uzbekistan, where the process has been best documented. It argues that Soviet authorities struggled constantly with ways of recognizing the need for historical preservation while at the same time creating a new society that had cast off the shackles of its ‘feudal past’.

Parthia capta: La última Res Gesta del emperador

El año 114 d. C. Trajano emprende la última y más gloriosa de sus hazañas: la guerra contra el imperio parto, que concluiría con la derrota de sus adversarios, la conquista de su capital Ctesifonte y la creación de tres nuevas provincias: Armenia, Mesopotamia y Asiria, por lo cual el senado le honró con los títulos de Optimus Augustus y el cognomen devictae gentis, Parthicus. Su repentina muerte en Selinunte, ciudad de Cilicia, en agosto del 117 d. C. y la decisión de su sucesor, Adriano, de abandonar el territorio conquistado nos han privado de conocer el final de tan exitosa empresa. The year 114 AD Trajan undertakes the last and most glorious of his deeds: the war against the Parthian empire, which would conclude with the defeat of his adversaries, the conquest of his capital Ctesiphon and the creation of three new provinces: Armenia, Mesopotamia and Assyria. Then the Senate honored him with the titles of Optimus Augustus and the cognomen devictae gentis, Parthicus. His sudden death in August 117 AD in Selinunte, a city of Cilicia, and the decision by his successor Hadrian of forsaking the conquered territory have deprived us of knowing the end of such a successful campaign.

Augustan Poets on the Roman-Parthian Treaty of 20 BC

From the moment Rome established contacts with the Parthian empire in the 1st century BC, its relations with the eastern neighbour became one of the most important points of Roman foreign policy. Attempts to subjugate Parthia ended in Rome’s crushing defeat at Carrhae in 53 BC. Having taken over power in the Roman Republic, Octavian Augustus became much more active in his oriental policy, wishing to erase the shame brought upon Rome by the defeat. The peace treaty signed in 20 BC was the Emperor’s diplomatic success and was presented as a great triumph by the Roman propaganda. In this paper, I analyse several frag-ments referring to this agreement in the works of the Augustan poets Horace, Propertius and Ovid. The works, written over almost three decades, present this event from various perspectives. On the one hand, they show a strong intermixture of politics and literature, and on the other hand, great talent and artistic skill of the poets writing creatively about issues which were current in Rome at the time.

Marek Jan Olbrycht. “Arsacid Iran and the Nomads of Central Asia – Ways of Cultural Transfer”

This substantial contribution form Marek Olbrycht gives a panoramic overview of the links between the Parthians and the nomads of Central Asia, in the early Arsacid period, a crucial phase in the formation of the Arsacid state. The Parthian dynasty was created after the takeover of the Parni/Aparni in the satrapy of Parthia. The Parni were in fact a tribe of the Dahae confederation, which had strong connection with the sedentary societies since long time. The Arsacid dynasty adopted immediate...

Royal Converts from Adiabene and Jewish Identity in the Second Temple Period

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the question of Jewish identity in the Second Temple Period through the perspective of the conversion of the royal dynasty from Adiabene. In this context, several conclusions are suggested. First, the main ancient account about the conversion of the Adiabenean royalty (“the Adiabene Narrative”: Ant. 20,17-96) perfectly fits the model of ethnicity (D. Boyarin, S. Mason). Although the model of dual (multiple/nested) ethnicity trips over the “breaking motif” of the Adiabene Narrative, it remains a very plausible option, especially in the light of other sources that show how the Adiabenean kings continued to properly function in the Parthian kingdom. Finally, the available sources do not contain direct evidence to support the model of conversion as a purely religious process.

Armenian Textile Terminology

The part of the Armenian vocabulary that is inherited from the Indo-European protolanguage is notoriously limited, variously estimated to include between 450 and 700 stems. Otherwise, the lexicon is dominated by etymologically obscure elements and an impressive amount of Middle Iranian loanwords, reflecting the centuries of Iranian political dominance. In particular the Parthian loans, introduced during the Arsacid dynasty (247 BC-224 AD), have left their mark on the Classical Armenian language, attested from the early 5th century, to a similar extent as Old French on English or Low German on Danish, so that linguists until the late 19th century still considered Armenian an aberrant Iranian dialect rather than an independent branch of the Indo-European family. The other main sources of loanwords, Syriac and Greek, are intimately connected with the introduction of Christianity around 300 and hence mainly restricted to the specific word fields of religion and philosophy. Obviously, this state of affairs also affects the textile vocabulary where the impact of Iranian language and culture can hardly be overestimated. Thus, it is quite natural that the Iranian superstrate dominates the lexicon pertaining to advanced textile production, clothing, fashion and ornaments, while on the other hand the core of inherited terms refers to basic products and techniques such as fleece and wool, spinning and weaving. The basis of the present lexical study is the classical language, mainly as attested in the oldest text, the Bible translation from around 410.

M. Rahim Shayegan. Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia

Ce livre a ete suivi l’annee suivante par une autre publication – M. Rahim Shayegan, Aspects of History and Epic in Ancient Iran: From Gaumâta to Wahnâm. Center for Hellenic Studies (Hellenic Studies 52), Harvard University Press 2012, ISBN 978-0-674-06588-8 – dont l’objectif est le meme : mettre en lumiere la permanence de certains aspects politiques, ideologiques et culturels dans la culture iranienne depuis l’epoque achemenide (c. 558-330 av. l’ere chretienne) jusqu’a l’epoque sassanide (2...

Edward Dąbrowa. Greek: a Language of the Parthian Empire

The special status enjoyed by Greek language in the Parthian empire was due to the role of the Greeks and the weight of the Seleucid heritage in the building by the Arsacids of an ideological community to support their new state. Indeed, the legends of coins struck all across the empire show that the Arsacids used Greek to communicate not only with Greeks. The quality of the legends and of the engraving on coins started to decline from the early 1st century BC, and we can accordingly determin...