Originally published on December 12, 2022 (Episode 297)
Introduction
The Parthian Empire usually appears in Roman history as little more than a foil—an adversary that brought down Crassus, defied Mark Antony, and eventually faced the Emperor Trajan’s armies. But who were the Parthians on their own terms? Who did they think they were? Where did they come from? And how did they govern their version of a reestablished Persian Empire?
In Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2021), Nicholas Overtoom examines the origins of the Parthians, their rise to power, the scope of their empire, and how they engaged with the world around them beyond the Roman frontier.
About the Guest
Nicholas Overtoom is Associate Professor of History at Washington State University. His research focuses on the Parthian Empire, military history, and the geopolitics of the Hellenistic Middle East. Reign of Arrows is his first book.
For Further Investigation
Nicholas Overtoom, Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Related conversations:
The Persian Version, with Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones on the Achaemenid Persian Empire
The Anvil and the Forge That Created the Modern World, with Pamela Crossley on the role of nomads in Eurasian history
💬 Listen & Discuss
What does studying the Parthians on their own terms reveal about the wider history of the ancient Middle East? Share your thoughts in the comments.
