The Parthian Empire was a major Iranian political and cultural power in
the Ancient Near East. It was founded in the mid-3rd century BC by
Arsaces I. Mithradates I 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
Kurdistan, to eastern Iran. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade
route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han
Dynasty in China, quickly became a center of trade and commerce. The
Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and
royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which
encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. As the Empire
expanded westward, they came into conflict with the late Roman
Republic. The Parthians captured most of the Levant, but their holdings
in Mesopotamia were invaded in turn several times during the
Roman–Parthian Wars. Frequent civil war between Parthian contenders to
the throne proved more dangerous than foreign invasion, and Parthian
power evaporated when Ardashir I, ruler of Estakhr in Fars, revolted
against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, Artabanus IV, in 224
AD.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_Empire>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1893:
Japanese entrepreneur and inventor Mikimoto Kōkichi first created the
hemispherical cultured pearl.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikimoto_K%C5%8Dkichi>
1921:
The Irish War of Independence ended with a truce between the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Irish Republican Army,
resulting in negotiations that eventually led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty
and the establishment of the Irish Free State.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_War_of_Independence>
1960:
To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee , featuring themes of
racial injustice and the destruction of innocence in the American Deep
South, was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird>
1995:
Bosnian Genocide: Bosnian Serb forces began the Srebrenica massacre in
the region of Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually killing an
estimated total of 8,000 Bosniaks.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre>
2006:
A series of seven bombs exploded over a period of 11 minutes on the
Suburban Railway in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, killing 209 people and
injuring over 700 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11_July_2006_Mumbai_train_bombings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
inhere (v):
To be inherent; to be a permanent or essential part of something
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inhere>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess it always will. But I
love it just the same.
--E. B. White
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._B._White>