The Armies of Ancient Persia: The Parthians

Throughout most of the classical period, Persia was one of the great superpowers, placing a limit on the expansion of its Western rivals.Until the conquest by Alexander the Great, the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the greatest the world had yet seen, stretching from the Mediterranean to the Himalayas.After the collapse of Alexander's empire and that of his Seleucid successors, the Parthians once more established Persia as an independent power and it remained the most formidable rival to the Roman empire for the next seven centuries, until Persia, by then under the Sassanids, was overwhelmed by the Islamic conquests.Yet, the armies of ancient Persia have received relatively little detailed attention, certainly in comparison to those of Rome.This long-awaited second volume of Dr Kaveh Farrokh’s comprehensive trilogy on Persian armies focuses on the Parthian period.An acknowledged expert on the military history of ancient Persia, the author draws on the latest research and archaeological