The Parthain Empire was a major Iranian empire which ruled from 247 BC to 224 AD, with Ctesiphon serving as its capital. In 247 BC, Arsaces I of Parthia created the new empire after leading the region of Parthia in a rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I of Parthia greatly expanded the empire from 171 to 138 BC, seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. The empire, situated along the Silk Road, became a center of trade and commerce, and the empire revived Iranian traditions while also incorporating elements of Greek and other cultures. The Parthians claimed to be the successors of the Achaemenid Empire, and their nemeses were the Seleucids in the west and the Scythians in the east; they later became rivals with the Roman Republic due to their shared ambitions of subjecting Armenia to their rule. From 40 to 39 BC, the Parthians captured the whole of the Levant except Tyre from the Romans, but Mark Antony's general Publius Ventidius Bassus reconquered the lost territories. Over the next few centuries, the Roman Empire warred with the Parthians in Mesopotamia, and frequent civil wars between Parthian contenders proved more dangerous to the empire's stability than foreign invasion. In 224 AD, the ruler of Persis, Ardashir I, overthrew and slew the Parthian ruler Artabanes V and established the Sassanid Empire.
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