Parthia is a historical region which roughly
corresponds to the north-eastern region of what is
nowadays the Islamic Republic of Iran.
It was bordered by the Karakum desert in the north,
including the mountainous part of Kopet Dag and the
Dasht-e-Kavir desert in the south, neighbouring
Media on the west, Hyrcania on the north west,
Margiana on the north east and Aria on the south
east.
The territory of Parthia was conquered and
subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the
7th century BC, was eventually incorporated into the
subsequent Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the
Great in the 6th century BC, and formed part of the
Hellenistic Seleucid Empire following the 4th-
century-BC conquests of Alexander the Great. The
area later served as the political and cultural base of
the Eastern-Iranian Parni people and Arsacid dynasty,
rulers of the Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD). The
Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire as
the last state of pre-Islamic Persia, also held the
region and maintained the Seven Parthian clans as
part of their feudal aristocracy.
The name "Parthia" is a continuation through Latin
deriving from the local word Parthava, translated as
"of the Parthians" and designating the native
inhabitants of the area.
- (JB.1299)
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