A report on Mesopotamia, Aramaic and Achaemenid Empire

The Tigris river flowing through the region of modern Mosul in Upper Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamian Marshes at night, southern Iraq; reed house (Mudhif) and narrow canoe (Mashoof) in the water. Mudhif structures have been one of the traditional types of structures, built by the Marsh people of southern Mesopotamia for at least 5,000 years. A carved elevation of a typical mudhif, dating to around 3,300 BCE was discovered at Uruk.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent under the rule of Darius I (522 BC–486 BC)

One of 18 Statues of Gudea, a ruler around 2090 BC

The Carpentras Stele was the first ancient inscription ever identified as "Aramaic". Although it was first published in 1704, it was not identified as Aramaic until 1821, when Ulrich Friedrich Kopp complained that previous scholars had left everything "to the Phoenicians and nothing to the Arameans, as if they could not have written at all".

After early starts in Jarmo (red dot, circa 7500 BC), the civilization of Mesopotamia in the 7th–5th millennium BC was centered around the Hassuna culture in the north, the Halaf culture in the northwest, the Samarra culture in central Mesopotamia and the Ubaid culture in the southeast, which later expanded to encompass the whole region.

Syriac inscription at the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church's Major Archbishop's House in Kerala, India

Overview map in the 15th century BC showing the core territory of Assyria with its two major cities Assur and Nineveh wedged between Babylonia downstream and the states of Mitanni and Hatti upstream.

Map of the expansion process of Achaemenid territories

The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed c. 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organised, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, purportedly by Hammurabi, sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon.

Cyrus the Great is said, in the Bible, to have liberated the Hebrew captives in Babylon to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature.

One of the Bar-Rakib inscriptions from Sam'al. The inscription is in the Samalian language (also considered a dialect).

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire. At Pasargadae, Iran.

Clay tablet, mathematical, geometric-algebraic, similar to the Euclidean geometry. From Shaduppum Iraq. 2003-1595 BC. Iraq Museum.

Coin of Alexander the Great bearing an Aramaic language inscription

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC

Medical recipe concerning poisoning. Terracotta tablet, from Nippur, Iraq.

The Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by the Indian king Ashoka, 3rd century BC at Kandahar, Afghanistan

The Persian queen Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, sister-wife of Cambyses II, Darius the Great's wife, and mother of Xerxes the Great

The Burney Relief, First Babylonian dynasty, around 1800 BC

11th century Hebrew Bible with Targum intercalated between verses of Hebrew text

Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars

King Meli-shipak I (1186–1172 BC) presents his daughter to the goddess Nannaya. The crescent moon represents the god Sin, the sun the Shamash and the star the goddess Ishtar.

Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

The Queen's gold lyre from the Royal Cemetery at Ur. C. 2500 BCE. Iraq Museum

9th century Syriac Estrangela manuscript of John Chrysostom's Homily on the Gospel of John

Achaemenid king fighting hoplites, seal and seal holder, Cimmerian Bosporus.

Royal Game of Ur, Ancient Mesopotamian board Game.

Hebrew (left) and Aramaic (right) in parallel in a 1299 Hebrew Bible held by the Bodleian Library

Achaemenid gold ornaments, Brooklyn Museum

The Babylonian marriage market by the 19th-century painter Edwin Long

Territorial distribution of Neo-Aramaic languages in the Near East

Persian Empire timeline including important events and territorial evolution – 550–323 BC

Relief showing Darius I offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis

7th-century BC relief depicting Ashurbanipal ((r. undefined – undefined)669–631 BC) and three royal attendants in a chariot.

The 24 countries subject to the Achaemenid Empire at the time of Darius, on the Egyptian statue of Darius I.

Campaign in the Mesopotamian Marshes of southern Babylonia during the reign of Ashurbanipal. Showing Assyrian soldiers on boat chasing enemies trying to run away; some are hiding in the reeds

The Battle of Issus, between Alexander the Great on horseback to the left, and Darius III in the chariot to the right, represented in a Pompeii mosaic dated 1st century BC – Naples National Archaeological Museum

The Standard of Ur; 2600 BC (the Early Dynastic Period III); shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli on wood; height: 21.7 cm, length: 50.4 cm; discovered at the Royal Cemetery at Ur (Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq)

Alexander's first victory over Darius, the Persian king depicted in medieval European style in the 15th century romance The History of Alexander's Battles

Bronze head of an Akkadian ruler, discovered in Nineveh in 1931, presumably depicting either Sargon of Akkad or Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin.<ref>M. E. L. Mallowan, "The Bronze Head of the Akkadian Period from Nineveh", Iraq Vol. 3, No. 1 (1936), 104-110.</ref>

Frataraka dynasty ruler Vadfradad I (Autophradates I). 3rd century BC. Istakhr (Persepolis) mint.

Striding lions from the Processional Street of Babylon.

Dārēv I (Darios I) used for the first time the title of mlk (King). 2nd century BC.

$Lamassu, initially depicted as a goddess in Sumerian times, when it was called Lamma, it was later depicted from Assyrian times as a hybrid of a human, bird, and either a bull or lion—specifically having a human head, the body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings, under the name Lamassu.<ref name="GL109">{{cite book |last1=Leick |first1=Dr Gwendolyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_pqEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-64102-4 |pages=109–110 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Livius.org">Livius.org</ref>$

Winged sphinx from the Palace of Darius in Susa, Louvre

Assyrian ornaments and patterns, illustrated in a book from 1920

alt=|Detail of Nebuchadnezzar II's Building Inscription plaque of the Ishtar Gate, from Babylon

Volume of annual tribute per district, in the Achaemenid Empire, according to Herodotus.

alt=|Artist's impression of a hall in an Assyrian palace from The Monuments of Nineveh by Austen Henry Layard, 1853

Achaemenid tax collector, calculating on an Abax or Abacus, according to the Darius Vase (340–320 BC).

alt=|A Neo-Assyrian relief of Ashur as a feather robed archer holding a bow instead of a ring (9th-8th century BC)

Letter from the Satrap of Bactria to the governor of Khulmi, concerning camel keepers, 353 BC

alt=|The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. The king, surrounded by his royal attendants and a high-ranking official, receives a tribute from Sua, king of Gilzanu (north-west Iran), who bows and prostrates before the king. From Nimrud

Relief of throne-bearing soldiers in their native clothing at the tomb of Xerxes I, demonstrating the satrapies under his rule.

alt=|Contemporary artwork depicting Babylon at the height of its stature.

Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite. c. 500 BC–475 BC, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

alt=|"Winged genie", Nimrud c. 870 BC, with inscription running across his midriff.

Persian soldiers (left) fighting against Scythians. Cylinder seal impression.

The Ishtar gate was constructed in about 575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II. Pergamon Museum, Berlin

Color reconstruction of Achaemenid infantry on the Alexander Sarcophagus (end of 4th century BC).

Seal of Darius the Great hunting in a chariot, reading "I am Darius, the Great King" in Old Persian (𐎠𐎭𐎶𐏐𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁𐎴 𐏋, "adam Dārayavaʰuš xšāyaθiya"), as well as in Elamite and Babylonian. The word "great" only appears in Babylonian. British Museum.

Achaemenid calvalryman in the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Armoured cavalry: Achaemenid Dynast of Hellespontine Phrygia attacking a Greek psiloi, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

A suggested reconstruction of the appearance of a Sumerian ziggurat

Reconstitution of Persian landing ships at the Battle of Marathon.

Greek ships against Achaemenid ships at the Battle of Salamis.

Iconic relief of lion and bull fighting, Apadana of Persepolis

Achaemenid golden bowl with lioness imagery of Mazandaran

A section of the Old Persian part of the trilingual Behistun inscription. Other versions are in Babylonian and Elamite.

A copy of the Behistun inscription in Aramaic on a papyrus. Aramaic was the lingua franca of the empire.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, was built by Greek architects for the local Persian satrap of Caria, Mausolus (Scale model)

Reconstruction of the Palace of Darius at Susa. The palace served as a model for Persepolis.

Lion on a decorative panel from Darius I the Great's palace, Louvre

Apadana Hall, Persian and Median soldiers at Persepolis

Lateral view of tomb of Cambyses II, Pasargadae, Iran

Plaque with horned lion-griffins. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire.

- Mesopotamia

By around 1000 BC, the Arameans had a string of kingdoms in what is now part of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the fringes of southern Mesopotamia and Anatolia.

- Aramaic

The regional toponym Mesopotamia (, '[land] between rivers'; بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن Bilād ar-Rāfidayn or بَيْن ٱلنَّهْرَيْن Bayn an-Nahrayn; miyân rudân; Beth Nahrain "(land) between the (two) rivers") comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος (mesos, 'middle') and ποταμός (potamos, 'river') and translates to '(land) between rivers', likely being a calque of the older Aramaic term, with the Aramaic term itself likely being a calque of the Akkadian birit narim.

- Mesopotamia

The scribes of the Neo-Assyrian bureaucracy had also used Aramaic, and this practice was subsequently inherited by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian Empire (605–539 BC), and later by the Achaemenid Empire (539–330 BC).

- Aramaic

By the 5th century BC, the Kings of Persia were either ruling over or had subordinated territories encompassing not just all of the Persian Plateau and all of the territories formerly held by the Assyrian Empire (Mesopotamia, the Levant, Cyprus and Egypt), but beyond this all of Anatolia and Armenia, as well as the Southern Caucasus and parts of the North Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Bulgaria, Paeonia, Thrace and Macedonia to the north and west, most of the Black Sea coastal regions, parts of Central Asia as far as the Aral Sea, the Oxus and Jaxartes to the north and north-east, the Hindu Kush and the western Indus basin (corresponding to modern Afghanistan and Pakistan) to the far east, parts of northern Arabia to the south, and parts of eastern Libya (Cyrenaica) to the south-west, and parts of Oman, China, and the UAE.

- Achaemenid Empire

Aramaic is represented by about 1,000 or more original records.

- Achaemenid Empire

6 related topics with Alpha

Assyria

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Map showing the ancient Assyrian heartland (red) and the extent of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 7th century BC (orange)

Head of a female figure, dating to the Akkadian period (c. undefined 2334–2154 BC), found at Assur

Ruins of the Old Assyrian trading colony at Kültepe

Partial relief of Tiglath-Pileser III ((r. undefined – undefined)745–727 BC), under whom the Neo-Assyrian Empire was consolidated, centralized and significantly expanded

Detail of a stele in the style of the Neo-Assyrian royal steles erected in Assur in the 2nd century AD (under Parthian rule) by the local ruler Rʻuth-Assor

Line-drawing of a royal seal of the Old Assyrian king Erishum I ((r. undefined – undefined)c. undefined 1974–1934 BC). The seated ruler is thought to represent the god Ashur, with Erishum being the bald figure being led towards him.

Stele of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II ((r. undefined – undefined)883–859 BC)

Ruins of one of the entrances of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud (Assyrian capital 879–706 BC), destroyed by the Islamic State in 2015

Stele of Bel-harran-beli-usur, a palace herald, made in the reign of the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser IV ((r. undefined – undefined)783–773 BC)

Stele of Ili-ittija, governor of Libbi-ali, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Ekallatum, Itu, and Ruqahu, c. undefined 804 BC

20th-century illustration of a Neo-Assyrian spearman

Neo-Assyrian relief depicting some Assyrian individuals in a procession

Relief depicting Naqi'a, mother of Esarhaddon ((r. undefined – undefined)681–669 BC) and one of the most influential women in Assyrian history

Old Assyrian cuneiform tablet from Kültepe recording the repayment of a loan, impressed with four different cylinder seals

7th-century BC relief depicting Ashurbanipal ((r. undefined – undefined)669–631 BC) and two royal attendants

Old Assyrian cuneiform tablet containing an account of a caravan journey

9th-century AD piece of papyrus with Syriac language writing

19th-century reconstruction of Nineveh (Assyrian capital 705–612 BC)

20th-century illustration of decorative patterns found in ancient Assyrian reliefs and garments

Tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal containing a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Early 20th-century archbishop of the Assyrian Church of the East with entourage

Statue of a praying woman, 25th century BC

Wall relief probably depicting Ashur, 21st–16th century BC

Cylinder seal and impression, 14th–13th century BC

Temple altar of Tukulti-Ninurta I, 13th century BC

Glazed tile depicting a king and attendants, 9th century BC

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 9th century BC

Statue of Shalmaneser III, 9th century BC

Portion of the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal, 7th century BC

Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform:, romanized: māt Aššur; ) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and then as a territorial state and eventually an empire from the 14th century BC to the 7th century BC.

Since the shortened form "Syria" is attested in sources predating the Greek ones as a synonym for Assyria, notably in Luwian and Aramaic texts from the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, modern scholars overwhelmingly support the names as being connected.

The Achaemenid Empire referred to Assyria as Aθūrā ("Athura").

Akkadian language

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Cuneiform writing (Neoassyrian script)
(1 = Logogram (LG) "mix"/syllabogram (SG) ,
2 = LG "moat",
3 = SG ,
4 = SG ,,, ,
5 = SG kam,
6 = SG im,
7 = SG bir)

The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian.

The first known Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual tablet dates from the reign of Rimush. Louvre Museum AO 5477. The top column is in Sumerian, the bottom column is its translation in Akkadian.

Inscription in Babylonian, in the Xerxes I inscription at Van, 5th century BCE

Neo-Babylonian inscription of king Nebuchadnezzar II, 7th century BCE

Akkadian (, Akkadian: akkadû) was an East Semitic language, now extinct, that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia (Akkad, Assyria, Isin, Larsa and Babylonia) from the third millennium BC until its gradual replacement by Akkadian-influenced Old Aramaic among Mesopotamians by the 8th century BC.

Other Semitic languages like Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic have the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə (locative and dative, respectively).

Under the Achaemenids, Aramaic continued to prosper, but Assyrian continued its decline.

Neo-Babylonian Empire

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The Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabonidus ((r. undefined – undefined) 556–539 BC)

Map of the Old Babylonian Empire under Hammurabi ((r. undefined – undefined)c. undefined 1792–1750 BC).

Locations of some major Mesopotamian cities.

The so-called "Tower of Babel stele", depicting Nebuchadnezzar II in the top-right and featuring a depiction of Babylon's great ziggurat (the Etemenanki) to his left.

Stele of Nabonidus exhibited in the British Museum. The king is shown praying to the Moon, the Sun and Venus and is depicted as being the closest to the Moon.

Map of the path of Cyrus the Great during his 539 BC invasion of Babylonia.

Illustration of the inhabitants of Babylon deriding the Achaemenid king Darius I during the revolt of Nebuchadnezzar III in 522 BC. From the History of Darius the Great (1900) by Jacob Abbott.

Major cities of Lower Mesopotamia in the 1st century BC.

Partial view of the ruins of Babylon in modern-day Iraq.

9th century BC depiction from a cylinder seal of the Statue of Marduk, Babylon's patron deity Marduk's main cult image in the city.

Cylinder by Nabonidus, commemorating restoration work done on a temple dedicated to the god Sîn in Ur. Exhibited at the British Museum.

Tablet concerning a legal dispute over barley, from Uruk and dated to the reign of Nabonidus (544 BC). Exhibited at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Striding lions from the Processional Street of Babylon. Exhibited at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Neo-Babylonian terracotta figurine depicting a nude woman. Exhibited at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

Tablet containing a 6th-century BC Babylonian "map of the world", featuring Babylon at its center. Exhibited at the British Museum.

The Babylonian marriage market, painting by Edwin Long (1875)

Tablet recording a silver payment from the temple dedicated to the god Shamash in Sippar, written during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. Exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Irrigation canal from modern-day Iraq, near Baghdad

Approximate borders of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (red) and neighboring states in the 6th century BC.

Babylonian soldier as represented on the tomb of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I, c. 480 BC.

The Ishtar Gate, one of Babylon's eight inner city gates, was constructed by King Nebuchadnezzar II c. undefined 575 BC. The reconstructed gate is exhibited at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

City plan of Babylon, showcasing the locations of major points of interest. The outer walls and the northern Summer Palace are not shown.

Reconstruction of the Etemenanki, Babylon's great ziggurat.

Mud-brick from the Processional Street of Babylon stamped with the name of Nebuchadnezzar II.

The Neo-Babylonian Empire, also known as the Second Babylonian Empire and historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last of the Mesopotamian empires to be ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia.

Beginning with Nabopolassar's coronation as King of Babylon in 626 BC and being firmly established through the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 612 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and its ruling Chaldean dynasty were short-lived, conquered after less than a century by the Persian Achaemenid Empire in 539 BC.

Even though Aramaic had become the everyday tongue, Akkadian was retained as the language of administration and culture.

Neo-Assyrian Empire

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The fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state.

Approximate map of the preceding Middle Assyrian Empire at its height in the 13th century BC

Assyrian borders and campaigns under Ashur-dan II ((r. undefined – undefined)934–912 BC), Adad-nirari II ((r. undefined – undefined)911–891 BC) and Tukulti-Ninurta II ((r. undefined – undefined)890–884 BC)

Annals of Tukulti-Ninurta II ((r. undefined – undefined)890–884 BC), recounting one of his campaigns

Stele of Ashurnasirpal II ((r. undefined – undefined)883–859 BC)

Depiction of Shalmaneser III (right) shaking hands with the Babylonian king Marduk-zakir-shumi I (left)

Stele of Shamshi-Adad V ((r. undefined – undefined)824–811 BC)

Stele of Bel-harran-beli-usur, a palace herald, made in the reign of Shalmaneser IV ((r. undefined – undefined)783–773 BC)

Partial relief depicting Tiglath-Pileser III ((r. undefined – undefined)745–727 BC)

20th-century illustration of Tiglath-Pileser III's capture of Damascus

The Neo-Assyrian Empire at the start (purple) and end (blue) of Tiglath-Pileser's reign

Relief depicting Sargon II, founder of the Sargonid dynasty

20th-century reconstruction of Sargon II's palace at Dur-Sharrukin

Line-drawing of a relief depicting Sennacherib ((r. undefined – undefined)705–681 BC) on campaign in a chariot

19th-century reconstruction of Nineveh, made capital under Sennacherib

20th-century illustration of Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon

Esarhaddon ((r. undefined – undefined)681–669 BC), as depicted in his victory stele

20th-century illustration of the Assyrians capturing Memphis, the Egyptian capital

Relief depicting Ashurbanipal ((r. undefined – undefined)669–631 BC) in a chariot, armed with a bow

The Diversion of an Assyrian King (1876) by Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Impression of a seal possibly belonging to the eunuch usurper Sin-shumu-lishir ((r. undefined – undefined)626 BC)

20th-century illustration of the Battle of Carchemish

20th-century illustration of the Fall of Nineveh

Line-drawing of a relief from Nimrud depicting a Neo-Assyrian king

Seal of Hama, queen of Shalmaneser IV ((r. 783 – 773) BC)

Provinces and vassal kingdoms of the Neo-Assyrian Empire at its height in the 7th century BC

Glazed tile from Nimrud depicting a Neo-Assyrian king, accompanied by attendants

Neo-Assyrian relief depicting eunuchs carrying booty from a war

Relief from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh depicting two Assyrian spearmen

Line-drawing of a Neo-Assyrian relief showing soldiers forming a phalanx

Neo-Assyrian relief from Nimrud depicting a tribute-bearer

Line-drawing of a Neo-Assyrian relief depicting a family of deportees leaving a captured Babylonian city in an ox-cart

Relief from the time of Ashurbanipal, depicting Babylonian prisoners under Assyrian guard

Neo-Assyrian cuneiform tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal listing synonyms

Line-drawing of a relief depicting Neo-Assyrian scribes recording the number of enemies slain by soldiers

Line drawing of an Assyrian lion weight once belonging to the king Shalmaneser V ((r. undefined – undefined)727–722 BC). The inscriptions on the weight are in both Akkadian (on the body) and Aramaic (on the base).

Reconstruction of the Library of Ashurbanipal

Relief depicting the gardens of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh (left) with a color reconstruction (right). As can be seen on the right side of the relief, the garden featured sophisticated irrigation aqueducts.

A giant lamassu from Sargon II's palace at Dur-Sharrukin

Egyptian papyrus from c. undefined 500 BC containing the Story of Ahikar

Great Semiramis, Queen of Assyria by Cesare Saccaggi

The Defeat of Sennacherib by Peter Paul Rubens

1861 illustration by Eugène Flandin of excavations of the ruins of Dur-Sharrukin

1849 illustration of a relief from Dur-Sharrukin by Eugène Flandin

1852 illustration by Austen Henry Layard of excavations at Nineveh

Portrait of the Assyrian archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam c. undefined 1854

Chart depicting the ideological translatio imperii, i.e. supposed transfer of the right to universal rule, from the Neo-Assyrian Empire to (rival) early modern states claiming the same right

Relief of Sennacherib, depicting an Assyrian soldier beheading a prisoner

Relief of Ashurbanipal, depicting Elamite chiefs having their tongues removed and being flayed alive

Relief of Ashurbanipal, depicting the beheading of the Elamite king Teumman

At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as portions of Anatolia, Arabia and modern-day Iran and Armenia.

A consequence was the dilution of the cultural diversity of the Near East, forever changing the ethnolinguistic composition of the region and facilitating the rise of Aramaic as the regional lingua franca, a position the language retained until the 14th century AD.

Ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Ctesias supported a sequence of three world empires and a successive transfer of world domination from the Assyrians to the Medes to the Achaemenids.

Parthian Empire

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Major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy under Andragoras, in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire.

The silver drachma of Arsaces I (r. c. 247–211 BC) with the Greek language inscription ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ "of Arsaces"

Parthia, shaded yellow, alongside the Seleucid Empire (blue) and the Roman Republic (purple) around 200 BC

Drachma of Mithridates I, showing him wearing a beard and a royal diadem on his head. Reverse side: Heracles/Verethragna, holding a club in his left hand and a cup in his right hand; Greek inscription reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "of the Great King Arsaces the Philhellene"

Drachma of Mithridates II (r. c. 124–91 BC). Reverse side: seated archer carrying a bow; inscription reading "of the King of Kings Arsaces the Renowned/Manifest Philhellene."

Han dynasty Chinese silk from Mawangdui, 2nd century BC, silk from China was perhaps the most lucrative luxury item the Parthians traded at the western end of the Silk Road.

Bronze statue of a Parthian nobleman from the sanctuary at Shami in Elymais (modern-day Khūzestān Province, Iran, along the Persian Gulf), now located at the National Museum of Iran. Dated 50 BC-150 AD, Parthian School.

A Roman marble head of the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus, who was defeated at Carrhae by Surena

Roman aurei bearing the portraits of Mark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC

Drachma of Phraates IV (r. c. 38–2 BC). Inscription reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "of the King of Kings Arsaces the Renowned/Manifest Benefactor Philhellene"

A close-up view of the breastplate on the statue of Augustus of Prima Porta, showing a Parthian man returning to Augustus the legionary standards lost by Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae

A denarius struck in 19 BC during the reign of Augustus, with the goddess Feronia depicted on the obverse, and on the reverse a Parthian man kneeling in submission while offering the Roman military standards taken at the Battle of Carrhae

Map of the troop movements during the first two years of the Roman–Parthian War of 58–63 AD over the Kingdom of Armenia, detailing the Roman offensive into Armenia and capture of the country by Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Parthian king making an offering to god Herakles-Verethragna. Masdjid-e Suleiman, Iran. 2nd–3rd century AD. Louvre Museum Sb 7302.

Rock relief of Parthian king at Behistun, most likely Vologases III (r. c. 110–147 AD)

A Parthian (right) wearing a Phrygian cap, depicted as a prisoner of war in chains held by a Roman (left); Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome, 203 AD

A Sarmatian-Parthian gold necklace and amulet, 2nd century AD. Located in Tamoikin Art Fund

Parthian golden necklace, 2nd century AD, Iran, Reza Abbasi Museum

A Parthian ceramic oil lamp, Khūzestān Province, Iran, National Museum of Iran

Coin of Kamnaskires III, king of Elymais (modern Khūzestān Province), and his wife Queen Anzaze, 1st century BC

A statue of a young Palmyran in fine Parthian trousers, from a funerary stele at Palmyra, early 3rd century AD

Coin of Mithridates II of Parthia. The clothing is Parthian, while the style is Hellenistic (sitting on an omphalos). The Greek inscription reads "King Arsaces, the philhellene"

A ceramic Parthian water spout in the shape of a man's head, dated 1st or 2nd century AD

Parthian votive relief from Khūzestān Province, Iran, 2nd century AD

A barrel vaulted iwan at the entrance at the ancient site of Hatra, modern-day Iraq, built c. 50 AD

The Parthian Temple of Charyios in Uruk.

A wall mural depicting a scene from the Book of Esther at the Dura-Europos synagogue, dated 245 AD, which Curtis and Schlumberger describe as a fine example of 'Parthian frontality'

A sculpted head (broken off from a larger statue) of a Parthian soldier wearing a Hellenistic-style helmet, from the Parthian royal residence and necropolis of Nisa, Turkmenistan, 2nd century BC

Parthian long-necked lute, c. 3 BC – 3 AD

Royal Parthian objects at the Persia exhibition, Getty Museum

c. 171–132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids.

The Arsacid rulers were titled the "King of Kings", as a claim to be the heirs to the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals where the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps.

After conquering the region, the Parni adopted Parthian as the official court language, speaking it alongside Middle Persian, Aramaic, Greek, Babylonian, Sogdian and other languages in the multilingual territories they would conquer.

Sasanian Empire

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The last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the.

The Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent c. 620, under Khosrow II

Initial coinage of founder Ardashir I, as King of Persis Artaxerxes (Ardaxsir) V. c. 205/6–223/4 CE. Obv: Bearded facing head, wearing diadem and Parthian-style tiara, legend "The divine Ardaxir, king" in Pahlavi. Rev: Bearded head of Papak, wearing diadem and Parthian-style tiara, legend "son of the divinity Papak, king" in Pahlavi.

1840 illustration of a Sasanian relief at Firuzabad, showing Ardashir I's victory over Artabanus IV and his forces.

Rock relief of Ardashir I receiving the ring of kingship by the Zoroastrian supreme god Ahura Mazda.

Rock-face relief at Naqsh-e Rostam of Persian emperor Shapur I (on horseback) capturing Roman emperor Valerian (standing) and Philip the Arab (kneeling), suing for peace, following the victory at Edessa.

The Humiliation of Valerian by Shapur (Hans Holbein the Younger, 1521, pen and black ink on a chalk sketch, Kunstmuseum Basel)

Rome and satellite kingdom of Armenia around 300, after Narseh's defeat

Early Alchon Huns coin based on the coin design of Shapur II, adding the Alchon Tamgha symbol Alchon_Tamga.png and "Alchono" (αλχοννο) in Bactrian script on the obverse. Dated 400–440.

Bahram V is a great favourite in Persian literature and poetry. "Bahram and the Indian princess in the black pavilion." Depiction of a Khamsa (Quintet) by the great Persian poet Nizami, mid-16th-century Safavid era.

Plate of a Sasanian king hunting rams, perhaps Kavad I ((r. 488 – 496)).

15th-century Shahnameh illustration of Hormizd IV seated on his throne.

The Siege of Constantinople in 626 by the combined Sassanid, Avar, and Slavic forces depicted on the murals of the Moldovița Monastery, Romania

Queen Boran, daughter of Khosrau II, the first woman and one of the last rulers on the throne of the Sasanian Empire, she reigned from 17 June 629 to 16 June 630

Extent of the Sasanian Empire in 632 with modern borders superimposed

Umayyad Caliphate coin imitating Khosrau II. Coin of the time of Mu'awiya I ibn Abi Sufyan. BCRA (Basra) mint; "Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, governor". Dated AH 56 = 675/6. Sasanian style bust imitating Khosrau II right; bismillah and three pellets in margin; c/m: winged creature right / Fire altar with ribbons and attendants; star and crescent flanking flames; date to left, mint name to right.

The Walls of Derbent, part of the Sasanian defense lines

A Sassanid king posing as an armored cavalryman, Taq-e Bostan, Iran

Sassanian silver plate showing lance combat between two nobles.

A fine cameo showing an equestrian combat of Shapur I and Roman emperor Valerian in which the Roman emperor is seized following the Battle of Edessa, according to Shapur's own statement, "with our own hand", in 260

Sassanian fortress in Derbent, Dagestan. Now inscribed on Russia's UNESCO world heritage list since 2003.

Egyptian woven pattern woolen curtain or trousers, which was a copy of a Sassanid silk import, which was in turn based on a fresco of King Khosrau II fighting Axum Ethiopian forces in Yemen, 5–6th century

Persian ambassador at the Chinese court of Emperor Yuan of Liang in his capital Jingzhou in 526-539 CE, with explanatory text. Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, 11th century Song copy.

Coin of the Kushanshah Peroz II Kushanshah ((r. 303 – 330))

Foreign dignitary drinking wine, on ceiling of Cave 1, at Ajanta Caves, possibly depicting the Sasanian embassy to Indian king Pulakesin II (610–642), photograph and drawing.

Taq-i Kisra, the facade of the Sasanian palace in the capital Ctesiphon. The city developed into a rich commercial metropolis. It may have been the most populous city of the world in 570–622.

Plate of a Sasanian king, located in the Azerbaijan Museum in Iran.

A bowl with Khosrau I's image at the center

Horse head, gilded silver, 4th century, Sasanian art

A Sasanian silver plate featuring a simurgh. The mythical bird was used as the royal emblem in the Sasanian period.

A Sasanian silver plate depicting a royal lion hunt

The remains of the Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sasanian silk twill textile of a simurgh in a beaded surround, 6th–7th century. Used in the reliquary of Saint Len, Paris

Seal of a Sassanian nobleman holding a flower, ca. 3rd–early 4th century AD.

Ruins of Adur Gushnasp, one of three main Zoroastrian temples in the Sassanian Empire

The Sasanians developed an accurate, phonetic alphabet to write down the sacred Avesta

Sasanian-era cornelian gem, depicting Abraham advancing towards Isaac with a knife in his hands. A ram is depicted to the right of Abraham. Middle Persian (Pahlavi) inscription ZNH mwdly l’styny. Created 4th-5th century AD

A Sasanian fortress in Derbent, Russia (the Caspian Gates)

"Parsees of Bombay" a wood engraving, c. 1873

After defeating the last Parthian shahanshah, Artabanus IV, at the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224, he established the Sasanian dynasty and set out to restore the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire by expanding Iran's dominions.

Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia, leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia.

Aramaic, like in the Achaemenid Empire, yet in the stage of Middle Aramaic, was widely used in the Sasanian Empire, and provided scripts for Middle Persian and other languages.