State · 247 BCE – 224 CE

Parthian Empire

A state of 247 BCE – 224 CE — 471 years in the Middle East and North Africa. It replaced Seleucid Empire. It was replaced by Sasanian Empire and Mesopotamia. The atlas records 17 things within it — wars and battles 5 · people 12. Its line of rulers holds 4 people, 2 with dated terms.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 471 years; 247 BCE – 224
Rulers: 4; the King of Kings
Most ground: 3.05 million km²; in 161
Within it: 17; recorded rows
Symbol: 1; on record, with years

Map: Parthian Empire in 161, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Parthian Empire in 161, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 3.05 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Parthian Empire in 239 BCE, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Parthian Empire in 161, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Seleucid Empire · replaces · 312 – 63 BCE

After it

Mesopotamia · replaced by
Sasanian Empire · replaced by · 224 – 651

Rulers

The line of King of Kings - the office this state names as its head of state.

died in officeleft alive by a regular road

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Musa of Parthia	2 BCE – 4	6 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Gondophares	19 – 49	30 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone

4 rulers, 2 with terms dated as terms, covering 2 BCE – 49. Median reign 18 years. 0 of 1 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

253,200 km² in 222 BCE, 2.05 million km² in 224; at its largest 2.92 million km² in 128. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flag or arms

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

flag, undatedFlag of Parthian Empire · Public domain

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

300 BCE – 201 BCE1 row

Phraates II · person · 201 – 127 BCE

200 BCE – 101 BCE1 row

Mithridates I of Parthia · person · 195 – 132 BCE

100 BCE – 1 BCE6 rows · 3 wars and battles

Orodes II · person · 71 – 38 BCE
Musa of Parthia · ruler · 46 BCE – 100 CE
Surena · commander · 84 – 52 BCE
Antony's Atropatene campaign · battle · 36 BCE
Battle of Mount Gindarus · battle · 38 BCE
Armenian–Parthian War · war · 87 – 85 BCE

0 – 992 rows

Osroes I · person · 50 – 129
Artabanus III of Parthia · person · 1 – 90

100 – 1993 rows · 1 wars and battles

Parthamaspates of Parthia · person · 120 – 123
An Shigao · religious leader · 101 – 168
Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 · war · 161 – 166

200 – 2993 rows · 1 wars and battles

Mani · religious leader · 216 – 277
Artabanus IV of Parthia · ruler · 200 – 224
Battle of Hormozdgan · battle · 224

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood471 years
stood longer than 85% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held3,054,900 km²
held more ground at its peak than 95% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per century0.4
had more wars on record per century than 90% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median30 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 83% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record4
has more rulers on record than 58% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 4 causes the record names and 2 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

in the articlelinkedcoincidence

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 294 BCE – 271, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 161, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q1986139 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.