1. The Parthian Empire
The establishment and expansion of the Parthian Dynasty. The Parthia recorded in Sima Qian's "Historical Records of Dawan" is the Parthia in Western history books. Parthia itself is located in northeastern Iran and southeast of the Caspian Sea. It was first a dependency of the Median and Persian empires, and later became a province of the Alexander and Seleucid empires after Alexander invaded the east. In the middle of the 3rd century BC, struggles against Seleucid rule broke out in areas such as Bactria (Bactria), Sogdiana (Sogdiana), Margiana and Parthia in Central Asia. The establishment of the Parthian state was the result of the resistance of the Parthian nomadic tribes to Seleucid rule. The Parthian nomadic tribe, the Parthians (Dahites) of the East Iranian-speaking branch, initially nomadic in the grasslands east of the Caspian Sea to the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, entered Parthia in the early 3rd century BC Fusion with the indigenous people belonging to the North Iranian language branch, collectively known as Parthians. Its language is called Parthian (Chinese translation of Sanskrit is Bāluva language). Arsasi, the leader of the Parle tribe, led a tribal uprising and proclaimed himself king in 247 BC, named Arsasi I (247-? BC). He established the Arsasi dynasty and made the city of Nisa (in today's Turkmenistan) the capital. northwest of Ashgabat). Sima Qian's "Historical Records of Dawan" refers to the country as Anxi according to the transliteration of Arsasi. In 239 BC, Arsace, governor of East Parthia, defeated the army led by Seleucus II. Arthas died in the battle with Daxia. His successor Tiridat (? ~ 211 BC) built the new city of Dara on Mount Apa Ortna, but soon moved the capital to Hecatopylos ("City of Hundred Gates")①.
The 2nd century BC to the 1st century BC was the prosperous period of the Parthian Empire. The Parthian king Phraate I (176 BC - 171 BC) occupied the "Caspian Gate" and nearby Ragas, and took advantage of the internal strife of the Seleucid dynasty to expand westward. Around 155 BC, King Mithridates I (171-138 BC) occupied most of Media. In 148 BC, he captured Ecbatana and the entire Media, and moved the capital to Ecbatana the following year. Kebatana. In 141 BC, he occupied Seleucia, an important city in the Mesopotamia, and built a military fortress on the opposite bank, which later became the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. Babylonia was incorporated into Parthian territory. In the east, he captured the Margiana city of Antioch (Wulu) from Bactria and established an empire stretching from southwestern Central Asia in the east to Mesopotamia in the west. In the late reign of Mithridates I, the Central Asian nomadic tribesmen invaded, and he entrusted the western region. Some scholars believe that this city is Fandou in the "Book of Han: Biography of the Western Regions" and "Book of the Later Han: Biography of the Western Regions". However, some scholars believe that Pandu is the city of Parthaunisa.