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ARSACES

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 650 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARSACES , a See also:

Persian name, which occurs on a Persian See also:seal, where it is written in See also:cuneiform characters. The most famous Arsaces was the See also:chief of the Parni, one of the nomadic Scythian or Dahan tribes in the See also:desert See also:east of the See also:Caspian See also:Sea. A later tradition, preserved by See also:Arrian, derives Arsaces I. and See also:Tiridates from the Achaemenian See also:king See also:Artaxerxes II., but this has evidently no See also:historical value. Arsaces, seeking See also:refuge before the Bactrian king Diodotes, invaded See also:Parthia, then a See also:province of the Seleucid See also:empire, about 250 B.C. (See also:Strabo xi. p. 515, cf. Arrian p. 1, See also:Muller, in See also:Photius, See also:Cod. 58, and See also:Syncellus p. 284). After two years (according to Arrian) he was killed, and his See also:brother Tiridates, who succeeded him and maintained himself for a See also:short See also:time in Parthia, during the See also:dissolution of the Seleucid empire by the attacks of See also:Ptolemy III. (247 ff.), was defeated and expelled by Seleucus II.

(about 238). But when this king was forced, by the See also:

rebellion of his brother, See also:Antiochus See also:Hierax, to return to the See also:west, Tiridates came back and defeated the Macedonians (Strabo xi. pp. 513, 515; See also:Justin xli. 4; See also:Appian, Syr. 65; Isidorus of Charax II). He was the real founder of the See also:Parthian empire, which was of very limited extent until the final decay of the Seleucid empire, occasioned by the See also:Roman intrigues after the See also:death of Antiochus I V. Epiphanes (165 B.C.) , enabled See also:Mithradates I. and his successors to conquer See also:Media and B abylonia. Tiridates adopted the name of his brother Arsaces, and after him all the other Parthian See also:kings (who by the historians are generally called by their proper names), amounting to the number of about See also:thirty, officially See also:wear only the name Arsaces. With very few exceptions only the name APEAKHE (with various epithets) occurs on the coins of the Parthian kings, and the obverse generally shows the seated See also:ARSENAL figure of the founder of the See also:dynasty, holding in his See also:hand a strung See also:bow. The Arsacidian empire was overthrown in A.D. 226 by See also:Ardashir (Artaxerxes), the founder of the See also:Sassanid empire, whose conquests began about A.D. 212.

The name Arsaces of See also:

Persia is also See also:borne by some kings of See also:Armenia, who were of Parthian origin. (See PERSIA and PARTFIA.) (ED. M.) ARS-AN-DER-See also:MOSEL, a See also:town of See also:Germany, in the imperial province See also:Alsace-See also:Lorraine, 5 M. S. of See also:Metz on the railway to Noveant. It has a handsome Roman See also:Catholic See also:church and extensive foundries. In the vicinity are the remains of a Roman See also:aqueduct, which formerly spanned the valley. Pop. 5000.

End of Article: ARSACES

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