Parthian Empire and Seleucid Empire

The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c. 171 – 132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce.

The Seleucid Empire ( sih-LEW-sid) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator in 312 BC, following the division of Alexander the Great's Empire, and was ruled by the Seleucid dynasty from Seleucia and later Antioch until its annexation by the Roman Republic under Pompey in 63 BC.