Description: 

The Parthian Empire (Arsacid Empire) was a major Iranian political and cultural power in Iran.  This empire started when Iran rebelled against the Seleucid Empire, and then slowly took over the eastern expanse of the empire.  In its height it stretched from the Euphrates to eastern Iran.  They largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures.  They claimed to be the heirs to the Achaemenid Empire.  

Chronology: 250 BCE-224 CE