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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ 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