Book contents
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- New Approaches to Asian History
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
- 2 Early China
- 3 Zhang Qian and Han Expansion into Central Asia
- 4 The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
- 5 The Roman Empire and the Western Silk Roads
- 6 The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
- 7 The Kushan Empire
- 8 Maritime Routes of the First Silk Roads Era
- 9 Collapse of Empires and the Decline of the First Silk Roads Era
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
6 - The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2018
Book contents
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- New Approaches to Asian History
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
- 2 Early China
- 3 Zhang Qian and Han Expansion into Central Asia
- 4 The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
- 5 The Roman Empire and the Western Silk Roads
- 6 The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
- 7 The Kushan Empire
- 8 Maritime Routes of the First Silk Roads Era
- 9 Collapse of Empires and the Decline of the First Silk Roads Era
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Chapter Six begins by discussing the early history of Persia, including the construction of the Achaemenid Empire and its defeat by Alexander of Macedon. It next explores the available literary, numismatic and archaeological evidence for the Parthian Empire, which demonstrates that from 247 BCE when Arsaces came to power to the overthrow of the last Parthian king by their regional successors the Sasanians in 224 CE, the Parthians maintained one of the great imperial states in ancient world history for some four hundred and seventy years. Despite periods of sporadic conflict with militarized nomadic Saka (Scythians) and with the Romans, as well as numerous bloody internal succession crises, the Parthian Empire, along with that of the Kushans, functioned as an effective bridge between western and eastern Eurasia, and flourished because of the strength of its military, the organization of its empire, and the political recognition by Parthian elites of the crucial importance of a steady flow of commercial profit generated by Silk Roads exchanges.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Empires of Ancient EurasiaThe First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE, pp. 148 - 175Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018
References
Selected Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H., “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids,” in Yarshater, E., ed., Cambridge History of Iran, 3.1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Curtis, J. and Tallis, N., eds., Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Curtis, V. S. and Stewart, S., The Age of the Parthians: The Ideas of Iran, 2. London and New York: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., in association with the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and the British Museum, 2007.Google Scholar
Dandamaev, M. A., A Political History of the Persian Empire. Leiden: Brill Publishing, 1989.Google Scholar
Daryae, T., “Western and Central Eurasia,” in Benjamin, C., ed., The Cambridge World History Vol IV. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.Google Scholar
Frye, R. M., The Heritage of Persia: The Pre-Islamic History of One of the World’s Great Civilizations. New York: World Publishing Company, 1963 (Reprinted by Mazda Publishers, 2004).Google Scholar
May, T., “Pastoral Nomads,” in Benjamin, C., ed., The Cambridge World History Vol. IV. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.Google Scholar
Olbrycht, M. J., “Parthia and Nomads of Central Asia. Elements of Steppe Origin in the Social and Military Developments of Arsacid Iran,” in Schneider, I, ed., Mitteilungen des SFB “Differenz und Integration” 5, Halle: Orientwissenchaft, 2003, pp. 69–109.Google Scholar
Shayegan, M. R., Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.Google Scholar