Arsaces founds the Parthian (Arsacid) Empire
- Date
- c. 247 BCE
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Iran (Parthia)
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
Around 247 BCE Arsaces I, leader of the nomadic Parni of the Dahae confederation, exploited the weakening grip of the Seleucid kings to establish an independent power in the satrapy of Parthia, in what is now northeastern Iran and Turkmenistan.
The year 247 BCE was later fixed as the start of the Arsacid era, though Arsaces consolidated control over the following decade, defeating and killing the rebel Seleucid governor Andragoras and resisting attempts at reconquest. From these origins grew the Parthian Empire, which over the next century expanded across the Iranian plateau and into Mesopotamia, reviving Iranian rule after the Hellenistic interlude. Governed through a decentralised feudal structure of great noble houses and famed for its heavy cataphract cavalry and horse archers, the Arsacid realm endured for nearly five centuries and became Rome's principal eastern rival, controlling key Silk Road trade routes between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and India.
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Empires active in c. 247 BCE
- Maurya Empire322 BCE – 185 BCE
- Roman Republic509 BCE – 27 BCE
- Odrysian Kingdom480 BCE – 46 CE
- Seleucid Empire312 BCE – 63 BCE
- Ptolemaic Kingdom305 BCE – 30 BCE
- Kingdom of Kush1070 BCE – 350 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Qin unification of China and the First Emperor221 BCE
- Chandragupta Maurya founds the Maurya Empirec. 321 BCE
- Death of Alexander and the Partition of Babylon323 BCE
- Han-Xiongnu Heqin Treaty Inaugurates Tribute-and-Marriage Diplomacy198 BC
- Royal Cemetery Shifts to Meroe, Launching the Meroitic Period of Kushc. 300 BCE
- Seleucid–Mauryan treaty links the Greek and Indian worldsc. 305–303 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great's Empire
Gripping account of the Successors who carved up Alexander's world.
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