Ancient Man and His First Civilizations

Elam-4

Modern Iran

When last we left Elam, Alexander the Great had defeated the Persians.

The Seleucid's

With the end of the Achaemenian Empire, southern Mesopotamia and Persia were partitioned by Alexander into the satrapy of Babylonia in the south, while the northern part of Mesopotamia was joined with Syria into another satrapy. It is not known how long this division lasted, but by the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C, northern Mesopotamia was removed from Syria and made a separate satrapy. One of his generals, Seleucus (later Seleucus I Nicator), received the satrapy of Babylonia to rule. Seleucus thus became the ruler of a large empire, stretching from modern Afghanistan to the Mediterranean Sea. He founded a number of cities, the most important of which were Seleucia on the Tigris, and Antioch on the Orontes River in Syria.

The Parthian's

It was during the reign of a later Seleucid king "Antiochus III", that one of the Caucasian tribes, which had earlier migrated in from the northeast - the Parthians - under their king Mithradates I, conquered Seleucid territory in Persia, and entered the city of Seleucia in 141 B.C.

After the death of Parthian king Mithradates I in 138 B.C, Seleucid king "Antiochus VII" began a campaign to recover lost Seleucid territory in the east. This campaign was successful until Antiochus VII, lost his life in Persia in 129 B.C. His death ended Seleucid rule in Mesopotamia, and allowed for the establishment of small principalities in both south and north Mesopotamia.

Also with the death of Antiochus VII, the Parthians then went on to conquer what was left of Media, Babylonia, and Assyria, thus creating the Parthian empire. This Parthian Empire would last until 224 A.D. The Parthian empire was not centralized, there were several languages, ethnically several peoples, and several economic systems. Thus the Parthian monarch was the ruler of his own kingdom, plus some eighteen vassal kings, such as the rulers of the city-state of Hatra, the port of Characene and the kingdom of Armenia.

By now, Rome has become the great power in Europe, and they too are bent on conquest. The prize for them was what was left of the Seleucid Empire. The Parthians also wanted more of this territory. So in 69 B.C, the two enemies concluded a treaty in anticipation of taking the remnants of the Seleucid Empire and splitting it up amongst themselves. The Euphrates river would be their border, east of that would be Parthia's, west of the Euphrates would be Roman.

The Seleucid Empire was assaulted from two sides: the Parthians attacked from the east, the Romans from the west. Six years later, the Roman commander "Pompey the Great" conquered what was left of the empire of the Seleucids. However, ten years later in 53 B.C, the Roman general Crassus invades Parthia. This would be the beginning of a series of wars, that were to last for almost three hundred years.

The Parthian armies consisted of two types of cavalry: the heavily-armed and armored cataphracts, and the lightly armed brigades of mounted archers. To the Romans, who relied on heavy infantry, the Parthians were hard to pin-down and defeat. On the other hand, the Parthians could never occupy conquered territory; they had neither the infantry nor the skills, to hold ground. This explains why the Roman-Parthian wars lasted so long.

Also in these war years, the Romans have been divided between the supporters of Pompey and those of Julius Caesar. Because of this Roman civil war, there was no opportunity to concentrate on the Parthians. So in 41 B.C, Parthia invaded Roman territory in Syria, Cilicia, Caria, and then attacked the city of Phrygia. A second Parthian army invaded Judaea, and captured its king Hyrcanus II. The spoils from these victories were immense, and put to good use: king Phraates IV invested them in Ctesiphon, a new capital that he would built on the Tigris river.

The Sassanian's

The wars with Rome continued, back and forth, until Septimius Severus became king of the Roman empire. He attacked Parthia, and Ctesiphon was captured in 198 A.D. As a result of this victory, large spoils were brought to Rome. Parthia was now impoverished, while at the same time, there had also been internal revolts in Parthia.

And so in 224 A.D, the resurgent Persians, now under their king "Ardašir", culminated the war with Parthia that his father "Papak" had started. He defeated the last Parthian king "Artabanus V" in battle, and two years later, Ardašir took Ctesiphon. This meant the end of Parthia, and it also meant the beginning of the second Persian Empire, one ruled by the Sassanid kings.

The beginnings of the Sassanian dynasty (alternatively Sasanian or Sasanid) are found in the southwest Persian state of Pars, (its modern name is Fars). Sometime in the first decade of the 3rd century A.D, a king by the name of Papak seized the throne of Pars. After unifying the region under his command, Papak waged war against the central Parthian government, but died before the conflict was resolved. Papak's son Ardashir inherited the throne in 216 A.D, and continued the Persian campaign against the Parthian Empire.

Historically - The Sassanian period marks the end of the ancient and the beginning of the medieval era in the history of the Middle East. By the beginning of the 3rd century A.D, Universalistic religions such as Christianity, Manichaeism, and even Zoroastrianism and Judaism had by now absorbed local religions and cults. Both the Sassanian and the Roman empires adopted official state religions, Zoroastrianism for the Sassanians and Christianity for the Romans. The new Sassanian rulers were not as tolerant religiously, as the Seleucids and Parthians had been, and religious persecutions did occur under Sassanian rule.

It appears that religious communities, other than the Zoroastrians, had extra taxes imposed on them from time to time. This was especially true of the growing Christian community, particularly in the time of king Shapur II, "After" Christianity had became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Religious communities now became fixed under the Sassanians and Mesopotamia with its large Hebrew and Christian populations experienced great changes because of the shift in primary allegiance from the king, to the head of the religious group. Thus the patriarch of the Hebrews had legal and tax-collecting authority over the Hebrews of the Sassanian Empire.

A particular object of persecution by the Sassanians, was Mani the founder of the Manichaean religion. He was born in Sumer, and his religion spread quickly, both to the east and west. Even before his death, his religion had came under severe persecution by the priests of the Zoroastrian religion. They viewed Manichaeism as a dangerous heresy, Christianity however was viewed not as a heresy, but as a separate religion. Thus Christianity was well tolerated, until it became the official religion of the enemy Roman Empire. Christians were then regarded as potential traitors to the Sassanian state.

After Ardashir I, the first of the Sassanian kings, had consolidated his position in Persia, he moved into southern Mesopotamia. The city of Mesene submitted in 224 A.D, he then defeated and killed the last Parthian ruler Artabanus V. After which, Mesopotamia quickly fell before him. Ctesiphon became the main capital of the Sassanian Empire.

As always, these Sassanian Persians went on a campaign of conquest. In about 238 A.D, Nisibis, Hatra and Harran, came under their control. Then, Ardashir died and his son Shapur I became king. The Roman emperor Gordian III, led a large army against Shapur I in 243 A.D. The Romans retook Harran and Nisibis and defeated the Sassanians at a battle near Resaina. But at another city "Anbar", renamed Peroz-Shapur ("Victorious Is Shapur"), the Sassanians inflicted a heavy defeat on the Romans. At this time, the Romans also lost their emperor. Later the "new" Roman emperor "Valerian", was defeated and captured at the gates of Edessa in 259 A.D. This victory was the high point of Shapurs conquests in the west.