MACEDON

Alexander

From 330 to 323 BC

Philip

From 323 to 316 BC

Antigonus One to eye

From 316 to 312 BC

SELEUCID

(312–64 BC), an ancient empire that at its greatest extent stretched from Thrace in Europe to the border of India. It was carved out of the remains of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian empire by its founder, Seleucus I Nicator.

Seleucus, one of Alexander’s leading generals, became satrap (governor) of Babylonia in 321, two years after the death of Alexander. In the prolonged power struggle between the former generals of Alexander for control of the disintegrating empire, Seleucus sided with Ptolemy I of Egypt against Antigonus I, Alexander’s successor on the Macedonian throne, who had forced Seleucus out of Babylonia. In 312 Seleucus defeated Demetrius at Gaza using troops supplied by Ptolemy, and with a smaller force he seized Babylonia that same year, thereby founding the Seleucid kingdom, or empire. By 305, having consolidated his power over the kingdom, he began gradually to extend his domain eastward to the Indus River and westward to Syria and Anatolia, where he decisively defeated Antigonus at Ipsus in 301. In 281 he annexed the Thracian Chersonesus. That same year, he was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus, the disgruntled son of Ptolemy I.

Seleucus was succeeded by his eldest son, Antiochus I Soter, who reigned until 261 and was followed by Antiochus II (reigned 261–246), Seleucus II (246–225), Seleucus III (225–223), and Antiochus III the Great (223–187), whose reign was marked by sweeping administrative reforms in which many of the features of the ancient Persian imperial administration, adopted initially by Alexander, were modernized to eliminate a dual power structure strained by rivalry between military and political figures. The empire was administered by provincial stratēgoi, who combined military and civil power. Administrative centers were located at Sardis in the west and at Seleucia on the Tigris in the east. By controlling Anatolia and its Greek cities, the Seleucids exerted enormous political, economic, and cultural power throughout the Middle East. Their control over the strategic Taurus Mountain passes between Anatolia and Syria, as well as the Hellespont between Thrace and Anatolia, allowed them to dominate commerce and trade in the region. Seleucid settlements in Syria, primarily Antioch, were regional centers by which the Seleucid kingdom projected its military, economic, and cultural influence.

The Seleucid kingdom was a major centre of Hellenistic culture, which maintained the preeminence of Greek customs and manners over the indigenous cultures of the Middle East. A Greek-speaking Macedonian aristocratic class dominated the Seleucid state throughout its history, although this dominance was most strongly felt in the urban areas. Resistance to Greek cultural hegemony peaked during the reign of Antiochus IV (175–163), whose promotion of Greek culture culminated in his raising a statue to Zeus in the Temple at Jerusalem. He had previously ordered the Jews to build shrines to idols and to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals and had forbidden circumcision—essentially prohibiting, on pain of death, the practice of the Jewish law. This persecution of the Jews and desecration of the Temple sparked the Maccabean uprising beginning in 165. A quarter-century of Maccabean resistance ended with the final wresting of control over Judea from the Seleucids and the creation of an independent Judea in Palestine.

The Seleucid kingdom began losing control over large territories in the 3rd century BC. An inexorable decline followed the first defeat of the Seleucids by the Romans in 190. By that time the Aegean Greek cities had thrown off the Seleucid yoke, Cappadocia and Attalid Pergamum had achieved independence, and other territories had been lost to the Celts and to Pontus and Bythnia. By the middle of the 3rd century, Parthia, Bactria, and Sogdiana had gained their independence; the conquest of Coele Syria (Lebanon) and Palestine by Antiochus III (200) and a brief occupation of Armenia made up to some extent for the loss of much of Anatolia to the Romans. The decline accelerated after the death of Antiochus IV (164) with the loss of Commagene in Syria and of Judea in Palestine. By 141 all lands east of the Euphrates were gone, and attempts by Demetrius II (141) and Antiochus VII (130) could not halt the rapid disintegration of the kingdom. When it was finally conquered by the Romans in 64 BC, the formerly mighty Seleucid empire was confined to the provinces of Syria and eastern Cilicia, and even those were under tenuous control.

1^st Seleucus

From 312 to 280 BC

1^st Antiochus Soter

From 280 to 261 BC

2^nd Antiochus Theos

From 261 to 246 BC

PARTHIA

Ancient land corresponding roughly to the modern region of Khorāsān in Iran. The term is also used in reference to the Parthian empire (247 BC–ad 224). The first certain occurrence of the name is as Parthava in the Bīsitūn inscription (c. 520 BC) of the Achaemenian king Darius I, but Parthava may be only a dialectal variation of the name Parsa (Persian).

Nothing is known of the history of Parthia while it was part of a satrapy of the Achaemenian Empire. It was joined to Hyrcania (present Gorgān, Iran) in the time of Alexander the Great, and the two remained together as a province of the Seleucid kingdom. During the reigns of Seleucus I (312–281 BC) and Antiochus I Soter (281–261) the Parni (Aparni) nomads probably moved from Central Asia into Parthia and seem to have adopted the speech of the Parthians and been absorbed into the settled population.

According to tradition (somewhat disputed), the first ruler of the Parthians and founder of the Parthian empire was Arsaces I, who had been a governor under Diodotus, king of the Bactrian Greeks, and who revolted and fled westward to establish his own rule (c. 250–c. 211 BC). By 200 BC Arsaces’ successors were firmly established along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. Later, through the conquests of Mithradates I (reigned 171–138 BC) and Artabanus II (reigned 128–124 BC), all of the Iranian Plateau and the Tigris-Euphrates valley came under Parthian control. The Parthians, however, were troubled by nomad attacks on their northeastern borders as well as attacks by the Scythians. Mithradates II the Great (reigned 123–88 BC), by defeating the Scythians, restored for a while the power of the Arsacids. He also defeated Artavases, king of greater Armenia, whose son Tigranes became a hostage in Parthian hands and was redeemed only for considerable territory. In 92 BC Mithradates II, whose forces were advancing into north Syria against the declining Seleucids, concluded the first treaty between Parthia and Rome. Though beset by insurrections and border wars, Mithradates II continued to control Iran and northern Mesopotamia until his death, after which rival dynastic claimants fought for major territories. The confusion came to an end about 76/75 BC, when the octogenarian king Sanatruces (perhaps a son of Mithradates I) was set on the Parthian throne by the central Asian tribe of the Sacaraucae. Yet it was not until Sanatruces’ son and successor, Phraates III (reigned 70–58/57 BC), that the empire was once again in a fairly settled state.

The earliest Parthian capital was probably at Dara (modern Abivard); one of the later capitals was Hecatompylos, probably near modern Dāmghān. The empire was governed by a small Parthian aristocracy, which successfully made use of the social organizations established by the Seleucids and which tolerated the development of vassal kingdoms. Although not an inventive people, the Parthians controlled most of the trade routes between Asia and the Greco-Roman world, and this control brought them great wealth, which they used on their extensive building activities.

The feudal and decentralized structure of the Parthian empire may help to explain why, though founded on annexation and perpetually menaced by hostile armies both in the east and in the west, it never took a strong offensive after the days of Mithradates II. Parthia tended to remain on the defensive and even in this role was frequently lacking in energy. The wars between Parthia and Rome therefore were initiated not by the Parthians—deeply injured though they were by the encroachments of Pompey—but by Rome itself. Rome considered itself obliged to enter upon the inheritance of Alexander the Great and, from the time of Pompey, continually attempted the subjection of the Hellenistic countries as far as the Euphrates River and had ambitions to go even farther eastward. With this objective, Marcus Licinius Crassus, the Roman triumvir in 54 BC, took the offensive against Parthia; his army, however, was routed at Carrhae the following year. After this battle Mesopotamia was regained by the Parthians, but, apart from the ravaging of Syria (51 BC), the threatened Parthian attack on the Roman Empire never materialized. For more than two centuries, Rome, for its part, occasionally pressed the Parthians and supported one or another claimant to the Parthian throne. After the reign (c. ad51–80) of Vologeses I, there came a period of great disturbances in the history of Parthia, during which at certain times there were two or more kings who reigned concurrently. The Roman emperors Trajan (in 115–117) and Septimius Severus (in 198) penetrated deep into Parthian territory, and these and other foreign invaders appear to have crippled the Parthian kingdom. Finally, in southern Iran the new dynasty of the Sāsānians, under the leadership of Ardashir I (reigned 224–241), overthrew the Parthian princes, ending the history of Parthia.

Arsaces

From 246 to 211 BC

1^st Artabanus

From 211 to 191 BC

Priapatius

From 191 to 176 BC

1^st Phraates

From 176 to 171 BC

1^st Mithridates

From 171 to 138 BC

2^nd Phraates

From 138 to 128 BC

2^nd Artabanus

From 128 to 124 BC

2^nd Mithridates

From 124 to 87 BC

1^st Gotarzes

From 91 to 78 BC

1^st Orodes

From 78  to 76 BC

Sanatruces

From 76 to 70 BC

3^rd Phraates

From 70 to 58 BC

3^rd Mithridates

From 58 to 57 BC

2^nd Orodes

From 57 to 37 BC

4^th Phraates

From 37 to 30 BC

2^nd Tiridates

From 30 to 29 BC

4^th Phraates

From 29 to 28 BC

2^nd Tiridates

From 28 to 26 BC

4^th Phraates

From 26 to 2 BC

Phraataces

From 2 BC to 4 CE

3^rd Orodes

From 4 to 6 CE

1^st Vonones

From 6 to 11 CE

3^rd Artabanus

From 11 to 38 CE

2^nd Gotarzes

From 38 to 51 CE

Vardanes

From 39 to 47 CE

2^nd Vonones

51 CE

1^st Vologases

From 51 to 78 CE

2^nd Pacorus

From 78 to 79 CE

4^th Artabanus

From 79 to 81 CE

2^nd Pacorus

From 81 to 115 CE

2^nd Vologases

From 105 to 109 CE

Chosroes

From 109 to 116 CE

Parthamaspates

116 CE

Chosroes

From 117 to 128 CE

4^th Mithridates

From 128 to 147 CE

3^rd Vologases

From 148 to 192 CE

4^th Vologases

191 CE

vacant

From 192 to 207 CE

5^th Vologases

From 207 to  213 CE

5^th Artabanus

From 213 to 226 CE

Artavasdes

From 226 to 227 CE