Arsaces I of Parthia in the context of "Nisa, Turkmenistan"

The Parthian Empire (/ˈpɑːrθiən/), also known as the Arsacid Empire (/ˈɑːrsəsɪd/), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c. 171 – 132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce.

The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and regalia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Iranian traditions. The Arsacid rulers were titled "King of Kings", claiming inheritance of the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals, although the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps. The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of Baghdad), although several other sites also served as capitals.

Diodotus I Soter (Greek: Διόδοτος Σωτήρ, Diódotos Sōtḗr, "Diodotos the Savior"; c. 300 BC – c. 235 BC) was the first Hellenistic king of Bactria. Diodotus was initially satrap of Bactria, but became independent of the Seleucid empire around 255 BC, establishing the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. In about 250 BC, Diodotus repelled a Parthian invasion of Bactria by Arsaces. He minted an extensive coinage and administered a powerful and prosperous new kingdom. He died around 235 BC and was succeeded by his son Diodotus II.

His rule was recounted by Apollodorus of Artemita in the Parthian History, but this text is lost, and surviving literary sources only mention him in passing. Thus, most details of Diodotus' life have to be reconstructed from numismatics and brief references by Justin and other historians.

The Parthian, or Arsacid, monarchs were the rulers of Iran from their victories against the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire in the 140s BC (although they had ruled a smaller kingdom in the region of Parthia for roughly a century at that point, founded by Arsaces I) until the defeat of the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, at the Battle of Hormozdgan in AD 224. At the height of their power, the Parthian kings ruled an empire stretching from present-day central-eastern Turkey to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan.

Asaak, Arsacia (Latin) or Arshak (Parthian) was an ancient city which was a capital and royal necropolis of the Parthian Empire. Many of the Parthian kings such as Arsaces I were crowned in Asaak.

Some has suggested it to be identified with the Old City near Quchan, Iran in the upper Atrek River valley.

Tiridates or Teridates or Tirdad or تیرداد /tɪˈrɪdətiːz/ Parthian:𐭕𐭉𐭓𐭉𐭃𐭕 (Tīridāt) is a Persian name, given by Arrian in his Parthica to the brother of Arsaces I, the founder of the Parthian kingdom, whom he is said to have succeeded around 246 BC. But Arrian's account seems to be quite unhistorical and modern historians believe that the character of Tiridates is fictional, and that Arsaces continued to rule Parthia until 217 BC.

In Arrian's account, Tiridates maintained himself for a short time in Parthia, during the dissolution of the Seleucid empire by the attacks of Ptolemy III in 246 BC and the following years. Tiridates was defeated and expelled by Seleucus II around 238 BC. But when Seleucus was forced, by the rebellion of his brother, Antiochus Hierax, to return to the west, Tiridates came back and defeated the Macedonians. Tiridates adopted the name of his brother Arsaces, and after him, all the other Parthian kings did the same.

The Parthian Empire (/ˈpɑːrθiən/), also known as the Arsacid Empire (/ˈɑːrsəsɪd/), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c. 171 – 132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce.

The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and regalia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. The Arsacid court initially adopted elements of Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Iranian cultural traditions. In modern historiography, the Arsacids are considered the first indigenous Iranian dynasty to come to power in the Iranian world after the Achaemenids, in contrast to the Seleucids who represented Hellenistic rule after Alexander the Great. The Arsacid rulers were titled "King of Kings", claiming the inheritance of the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals, though the Achaemenids had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps. The Parthian court appointed a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of Baghdad), although several other sites also served as capitals.