Parthia

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a celebrated country of ancient Asia, called by the Greeks Parthyœa and Parthyene, which was bounded N. by Hyrcania, S. by Carmania Deserta, E. by Asia, and W. by Media. Parthia was a wild and mountainous country of great extent, having 25 large cities. When Parthia became a powerful state, the empire of Parthia was made up of conquered kingdoms, extendto ing from the Caucasus in the N. the Erythræan Sea in the S., and from the the W. Indus in the E. to the Tigris in The Parthians, originally an offshoot from the Scythians, were noted for their they love of war and martial glory; were the most celebrated horsemen in the world, and excellent marksmen with the bow and arrow. The Parthians became subject to Persia; and their country, with Sogdiana and some other states, province called a was formed into a satrapy. When Alexander conquered Hyrcania Persia, he united Parthia and into one satrapy. After the dissolution of the Greek empire, the country became Antigones subject to Eumenes; next, to and the Seleucidæ the Syrian kingsestabtill 256 b. c. when the Parthians lished their independence under Arsaces I., from whom all their succeeding monof Arsacidæ. archs received the name Under this dynasty, the empire extended from the Indus to the Euphrates, and Oxus in the N. to the Persian from the Gulf in the S. This empire lasted for king, about 480 years, when the last Artaxerxes Artabanus, was murdered by , who, usurping the throne, founded the , calle re, called the Sasnew Persian empire sanidæ.