The Parthian Empire (247 BCE – 224 CE), also known as the Arsacid Empire, is a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia Its latter name comes from Arsaces I of Parthia, who, as leader of the Parni tribe, founds it in the mid-3rd century BCE when he conquers the Parthia region in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire.

Mithridates I of Parthia (r. c. 171–138 BCE) greatly expands the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids.

At its height, the Parthian Empire stretches from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now southeastern Turkey, to eastern Iran.

The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and Han Empire of China, becomes a center of trade and commerce.The Parthians largely adopt the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompasses Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures.

For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopts elements of Greek culture, though it eventually sees a gradual revival of Iranian traditions.

The Arsacid rulers are titled the "King of Kings", as a claim to be the heirs to the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accept many local kings as vassals where the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps.

The court does appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies are smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates.

With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifts from Nisa, Turkmenistan to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of modern Baghdad, Iraq), although several other sites also serve as capitals.The earliest enemies of the Parthians are the Seleucids in the west and the Scythians in the east.

However, as Parthia expands westward, they come into conflict with the Kingdom of Armenia, and eventually the late Roman Republic.

Rome and Parthia compete with each other to establish the kings of Armenia as their subordinate clients.

The Parthians soundly defeat Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE, and in 40–39 BCE, Parthian forces capture the whole of the Levant, excepting Tyre, from the Romans.

However, Mark Antony leads a counterattack against Parthia and several Roman emperors invade Mesopotamia during the Roman-Parthian Wars.

The Romans capture the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon on multiple occasions during these conflicts, but are never able to hold onto them.

Frequent civil war between Parthian contenders to the throne proves more dangerous than foreign invasion, and Parthian power evaporates when Ardashir I, ruler of Estakhr in Fars, revolts against the Arsacids and kills their last ruler, Artabanus IV, in 224 CE.

Ardashir establishes the Sassanid Empire, which rules Iran and much of the Near East until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century CE, although the Arsacid dynasty lives on through the Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia.Native Parthian sources, written in Parthian, Greek and other languages, are scarce when compared to Sassanid and even earlier Achaemenid sources.

Aside from scattered cuneiform tablets, fragmentary ostraca, rock inscriptions, drachma coins, and the chance survival of some parchment documents, much of Parthian history is only known through external sources.

These include mainly Greek and Roman histories, but also Chinese histories prompted by the market for Chinese goods in Parthia.

Parthian artwork is viewed by historians as a valid source for understanding aspects of society and culture that are otherwise absent in textual sources.