The Rise of the Arsacids and a New Iranian Topography of Power

Chapter 4 argues that the Arsacids, through their tenure as the Iranian world’s longest-lived dynasty, created foundational architectural and cultural forms that shaped Iranian kingship through the early modern period. While they portrayed themselves in their coins in Persian satrapal costume, the early Arsacids were equally driven to engage and reinvent the traditions of Seleucid kingship. After initially taking over the topography that the Seleucids had established, the Arsacids began to claim Western Asia landscapes, rebuilding and reinvigorating ruined urban and sacred centers, such as Assur and Nippur and establishing new cities and parallel foundations, like Ctesiphon and Vologasias. With Nippur’s ziggurat standing as an important case study, the Parthians neither obliterated nor faithfully restored these ancient cityscapes, but harnessed and strategically reshaped them to serve their new imperial vision.