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The Age of the Parthians

Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis & Sarah Stewart (Eds)

To orde go to:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Age-Parthians-Idea-Iran/dp/184511406X

The Idea of Iran Vol.2

The region known today as Iran has seen the birth of many empires. Perhaps the least understood of these is the Parthian Empire. Formidable horse-soldiers and empire builders, the Parthians checked Rome's expansion in the East and at one time occupied areas beyond modern day Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. Despite this little is known about the Parthians themselves. After five centuries this great Persian superpower vanished leaving few written records.

I.B.Tauris is pleased to present in co-operation with the British Museum and the London Middle East Institute The Age of the Parthians, the second volume in a major new four volume history of Iran.

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The Parthian civilization was a dominant feature of the ancient Near East for some five centuries, and yet relatively little is known about it today. But it is established that in the mid-third century BCE a bold and ambitious leader called Arsaces challenged Hellenic rule and led his armies to victory. The dynasty which he founded ruled over what became a mighty empire and restored the glory of Iran following the region's conquest by Alexander the Great. This imperial eastern superpower, which lasted for 400 years and stretched from the Hindu Kush to Mesopotamia, withstood the might of Rome for centuries. The Parthians were nomadic horse-warriors who left few written records, concentrating rather on a rich oral and storytelling tradition. What knowledge we do have of these remarkable people derives primarily from their coinage and classical sources.

In this book, distinguished scholars examine – from a variety of perspectives – the origins of the Parthians or Arsacids, their history, religion, art and culture, as well as perceptions of their empire through the lens of both imperial Rome and China. Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis discusses the legacy of Parthian art and coins and how these emerged from an amalgamation of Near Eastern, Iranian and Hellenistic motifs. David Bivar writes about the greatest of the Indo-Parthian kings, Gondophares, who reigned from CE 19 - 45, and is celebrated for his encounter with the Christian apostle Thomas. Josef Wiesehöfer examines the dark ages of Persis (Fars) at the beginning of the third and second centuries BCE, wh en it was governed by a local Persian dynasty, and assesses the relationship that it had with its overlords. Rolf Schneider views the Roman imagery of the Parthians as a crucial medium representing core western ideas about the cultures of the east. He suggests that this occidental preoccupation with the Orient was a precursor to modern orientalism. Wang Tao examines traditional Chinese records of the Parthians that were written while both empires exchanged envoys and ambassadors, and were jointly responsible for the opening of the Silk Road. He highlights the significance of the cultural history of ancient Iran gained through the Chinese accounts. In the final chapter of the volume Oktor Skjærvø discusses various aspects of the ancient Zoroastrian religious text of the Videvdad, including the cosmological myth of creation, and the final renewal of the world after the expulsion of the forces of darkness.