Arsacids (Parthians)
Arsaces I
ارشک یکم
Epithets and titles
- ArsacesAršakofficial titlethe founder’s name, which became the throne name of every later Arsacid kingSource: Justin, Epitome 41.5.6, tr. J. S. Watson (1853)
- Reign
- c. 247–217 BCE
- Dynasty
- Arsacids (Parthians)
- Persian page
- فارسی
Featured dossier
Arsaces I: the Parni chief whose name became every king’s title
Chief of the Parni, a tribe of the Central Asian Dahae, who took the Atrek valley around 250 BCE, was proclaimed king at a place called Asaak around 247 and a few years later seized the satrapy of Parthia from Andragoras. The Arsacid era counts from 247 BCE. Nothing written by him survives; his story was told centuries later by Justin and Strabo, who do not agree. After him the Parthians called all their kings “Arsaces”.
- start of the Arsacid era (BCE)
- 247
- years his dynasty ruled
- ~470
Map: from the Atrek valley to Parthia and Hyrcania
Campaignc. 250 BCE1 of 6
The Parni in the Atrek valley
The Parni, one of the three Dahae tribes, mounted and semi-nomadic, moved into Astauene (the Atrek valley, in today’s northern Khorasan) (Strabo 11.9.2; Iranica).
Certainty: Probable
Sources: Strabo, tr. H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer, 1854–1857 · K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, updated 2016
BattleCampaignBuildingAdministration & economyReligionArrow keys, Home/End and Space work.
Three separate layers
Each section has three layers: “Historical evidence” is only what the sources say; “Philosophical interpretation” is our reading by the standard of property and liberty; “Modern cultural meaning”. Quotations come only from published translations, with references.
Historical evidencePhilosophical interpretationModern cultural meaning
Dossier · 1
The origins of Arsaces: three versions
Justin calls him “a man of uncertain origin, but of undisputed bravery” who lived by plunder. Strabo calls him “a Scythian” and chief of the Dahae Parni, but also reports that he was a Bactrian. The Arsacids later traced their descent to the Achaemenid Artaxerxes II (Iranica).
The Nisa ostraca give his father’s name as Friyapit and trace later kings to “the nephew of Arsaces”.
One Arsaces, a man of uncertain origin, but of undisputed bravery, happened to arise at this time; and he, who was accustomed to live by plunder and depredations, … invaded Parthia with a band of marauders, overthrew Andragoras the governor, and, after putting him to death, took upon himself the government of the country.
The “bandit” origin is the view of Roman and Greek enemies; the Achaemenid pedigree is the dynasty’s own propaganda. Neither is neutral evidence.
Every new power builds a founder’s myth. Today’s citizen, too, has to separate the official story from the record.
Sources: Justin, tr. J. S. Watson · Strabo, tr. H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer · K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica · I. M. Diakonoff, V. A. Livshits
Dossier · 2
“Arsaces” as every king’s name
Justin says Arsaces was as memorable to the Parthians as Cyrus to the Persians or Romulus to the Romans, and that thereafter they called all their kings “Arsaces”. The coins bear this out: almost every Parthian coin carries the name “Arsaces”, not the king’s own name, which is why attributing them is so hard (Sellwood).
…no less memorable among the Parthians than Cyrus among the Persians, Alexander among the Macedonians, or Romulus among the Romans, died at a mature old age; and the Parthians paid this honour to his memory, that they called all their kings thenceforward by the name of Arsaces.
The founder’s name became the title of the office, like “Caesar” at Rome. Legitimacy came from descent, not consent.
When power is tied to a family name, succession becomes a family quarrel; Parthian history is full of them.
Sources: Justin, tr. J. S. Watson · D. Sellwood
Synthesis
We know Arsaces I more by his results than by documents: a small state in northern Khorasan the Seleucids could not recover, an era counted from 247 BCE, and a name that stayed on the coins for five centuries. The bandit story, Tiridates and the Achaemenid pedigree are all narratives, not evidence.
Bibliography
- Justin, tr. J. S. Watson, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, books 38–42 (books 40–44 online) (1853). https://www.attalus.org/translate/justin7.htmlA Roman digest of the lost history of Pompeius Trogus (1st century BCE); the most continuous account of the early Parthians, but Roman in outlook and full of “Scythian” clichés.
- Strabo, tr. H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer, Geography, book 11 (9.2–3, 14.15) (1854–1857). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44885
- K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Arsacids ii. The Arsacid dynasty (1986, updated 2016). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-ii/
- A. D. H. Bivar, The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids, Cambridge History of Iran 3/1, pp. 21–99 (1983).
- I. M. Diakonoff, V. A. Livshits, Parthian Economic Documents from Nisa (Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum II/II) (1976–2001). Thousands of administrative ostraca from the wine stores of Nisa; the only native Parthian documents of the period.
- D. Sellwood, An Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia, 2nd ed. (1980). The standard numbering of Parthian coins (“S”); some of its attributions have since been revised.
- J. Wolski, L’Empire des Arsacides (Acta Iranica 32) (1993).
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