In his new monograph Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.): At the Crossroads of Iranian, Hellenistic, and Central Asian History, Marek Jan Olbrycht explores the early history of the Arsakid Parthian state. Making use of literary and epigraphic evidence as well numismatic and archaeological sources, Olbrycht convincingly depicts how the Arsakid dynasty created a kingdom (248 B.C.-A.D. 226), small at first, which, within a century after its founding, came to dominate the Iranian Plateau and portions of Central Asia as well as Mesopotamia. The “Parthian genius” lay in the Arsakids’ ability to have blended their steppe legacy with that of sedentary Iranians, and to have absorbed post-Achaemenid Iranian and Seleukid socio-economic, political, and cultural traditions.
Marek Jan Olbrycht (PhD 1996, Cracow University), Professor of History, Archaeology and Ancient Oriental Studies at Rzeszów University, Poland. Visiting Professor in Germany (Münster University) and the USA (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton). He has published several books, including Parthia et Ulteriores Gentes, 1998, and Imperium Parthicum, 2013.
The work is intended for scholars and students and will appeal to the general reader interested in Ancient History, especially the Hellenistic Age, Central Asian Studies, Oriental Studies, Iran, and the Steppe Traditions of Inner Asia.