The Parthian Empire: Romes Greatest Enemy

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Few nations were able to not only parry but also defeat the mighty Roman Empire, rivaling it in almost all segments. One of those was the Parthian empire, cultural and traditional successor of the more famous Achaemenid Persian empire that was brought down by the Alexander the Great.
Indeed, the Parthians are recognized as one of the toughest enemies the Romans ever fought, and rightfully so. Parthian soldiers put the Roman legions to the test, making them prove their worth. Yet by looking at the Parthian empire solely as the "great enemies of Rome," it is easy to overlook other important parts of Parthian history. Simply by changing our perspective, we are able to see that the Parthians were not only warriors but also artists, builders, and traders; they did much more than just challenge the might of the Roman steel.

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[ramtin]

The Parthians are very underrated and underestimated
Everyone keeps saying that their capital was sacked by Rome and Trajan campaign but they don't know about their victories
Before I tell you a summary of their victories, you should know that capital that was literally one or two cities away from the eastern borders of Rome
Which was sacked whenever there wasn't any army there or the empire was in civil war
I mean look at the states of the Parthians and the Sassanid when Trajan and Carus attacked
Their empire was literally divided in two with the western parts of it being seized by a usurper king called Osroes I (same guy who provoked Trajan to attack)
Pre islamic Iranian empires (except Medians) had several capitals around the empire
The Parthians had 7 different capitals with 4 or 5 of them being beyond Zagros mountains and outside Mesopotamia
The sack of Ctesiphon barely even mattered to them
Now back to the Parthian achievements in their battles against Rome :

Battle of Carrhae, Romans lost even though they outnumbered the Parthians more than 4-1 in open lands and after that, the Parthians plundered the lands of Judea, Syria, and southern Anatolia twice and defeated a Roman army (probably formed by two legions) near Antioch

Mark Antony Atropatene campaign, 32, 000-45, 000 of 127, 000 Romans were killed by the Parthians while the Parthians had only 40, 000-50, 000 soldiers

Mark Antony came back for another campaign against the Parthians with the help of a Median king but was again pushed back and also forced to go back to Rome because of his rivalry with Octavian

They also won at the battle of Urumia 36 BC
The Parthians were victorious at the battle of Rhandeia and inflicted a heavy defeat on the Romans
Even made Romans pass under their spears, which was the most humiliating thing for Roman legions

Trajan attacked when the Parthians were in a civil war and still lost all the conquered cities to Iranian rebels and even during Trajan's invasion, the Parthians gained some victories
Trajan failed to take Hatra, which avoided a total Parthian defeat
The Parthian forces attacked key Roman positions, and Roman garrisons at Seleucia, Nisibis and Edessa were evicted by the local populaces

The Parthians may have been defeated at the end of the Roman Parthian war of 161-166 but before that, they defeated and routed two Roman armies in Armenia and Syria and they might have won in the end if it wasn't for the plague

The Parthians were also victorious in war of Caracalla and the battle of Nisibis 217 AD and the Romans were forced to pay heavy tribute

The tribute was 200 million sesterces, worth about US$13.7 billion at November 2021 gold prices
That also equals the amount of wealth the richest man of the Roman republic, Crassus, the Roman general at the battle of Carrhae had

[JohnDoe-nhll]

Parthians were Iranian people not a separate entity

[BWhit-cxie]

From the North African Empires of Carthage an Eygpt to the horselords of the pontic steppe to the tribes of Gaul an Germania, you know it Rome's fought it.

[yaqubleis]

The entire world know the first ruler or military commander in history who captured Roman king alive in battle was King Shapur I the Emperor Hunter who is among the best military commanders in history he did this in Battle of Edessa Parthians never did what Sassanians did but Parthian Empire captured Seleucid kings alive that most peoples don’t talk about Seleucid kings (Demetrius II Nicator and Demetrius III Eucaerus) and killed a Macedonian Seleucid king (Antiochus VII)
All of them in battle, what Alexander WISHED he could do to the Achaemenid king also how many Iranian kings Greeks captured in battle ??? 🤣😂🤣 the answer is 0 Parthian Empire = nightmare of Greeks they even subjugated a Greco Bactrian king (Eucratides I) 😂😂😂 making Greco Bactrian Empire the vassal of Parthian Empire