Parthian Empire

State · 239 BCE – 237 CE · at its largest around 161 CE

Horse archers famed for the 'Parthian shot' destroyed Crassus's army at Carrhae and kept Rome at bay for centuries. Tolerant of Greek, Zoroastrian, Jewish and Babylonian traditions, the Arsacids controlled the Silk Road's middle stretch, passing Chinese silk westward.

In the guided tours

The Silk Roads: The overland and maritime networks that carried silk, paper, religions, inventions and disease between China, India, Persia and the Mediterranean.

On its lands while it lasted

Uruk (c. 5,000 BCE – c. 700 CE): Sumerian city on the Euphrates that by about 3100 BCE was probably the largest city in the world, centre of the first urban civilization.
Anshan Persia (4,000 BCE – 675 CE): Capital of Elam (2700 BCE–601 BCE).
Babylon (2,201 BCE – 1 CE): Capital of Babylonia (1800 BCE–601 BCE), Neo-Babylonian Empire (600 BCE–539 BCE), Achaemenid Empire (550 BCE–330 BCE).
Incense Route (c. 700 BCE – c. 200 CE): Camel caravans carried frankincense and myrrh from southern Arabia north along the Red Sea hinterland through Nabataean Petra to Gaza on the Mediterranean.
Ecbatana (c. 550 BCE – c. 1800 CE): Capital of Achaemenid Empire (550 BCE–330 BCE).
Sogdians (c. 500 BCE – c. 900 CE): Iranian people of the Zeravshan valley around Samarkand and Bukhara whose merchants dominated trade along the Silk Roads, especially between the 4th and 8th centuries.
Tigranocerta (c. 326 BCE – c. 428 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Armenia (326 BCE–428).
Seleucia (305 BCE – 165 CE): Capital of Parthian Empire (239 BCE–224).
Edessa (302 BCE – 1150 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Osroene (63 BCE–214), County of Edessa (1099–1150).
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (c. 256–120 BCE): Hellenistic kingdom established when the satrap Diodotus broke away from the Seleucid Empire around 256 BCE, centred on Bactra (Balkh).
Ctesiphon (c. 239 BCE – c. 637 CE): Capital of Parthian Empire (239 BCE–224).
Silk Road (c. 130 BCE – c. 1450 CE): A network of overland caravan routes linking China with Central Asia, Persia and the Mediterranean, along which silk, spices, horses, religions, technologies and diseases travelled for more than 1,500 years.
Erbil (c. 63 BCE): Capital of Kingdom of Adiabene (63 BCE–370).
Battle of Carrhae (53 BCE): A Parthian army of horse archers and armoured cavalry destroyed a Roman army under Marcus Licinius Crassus near Harran, one of Rome's worst defeats.
Sasanian Empire founded (224 CE): Ardashir I overthrew the last Parthian king Artabanus IV, founding the Sasanian Empire, the last great Persian empire before Islam.