abstract
| - The Hyrcanian Empire (214 BC - 257 AD) was a major Persican political and cultural power in what is modern day Diadochia. It was ruled by the Arsacid dynasty for over four hundred years. At its height, the Hyrcanian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Echidna, to eastern Persica. The empire, became a center of trade and commerce. The Hyrcanians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persican, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For the first half of its existence, the Hyrcanian court adopted elements of Diadochian Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Persican traditions. The Arsacid dynasty were titled the "King of Kings", as a claim to be the heirs to the Persican Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals where the Persicans would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps. The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside central Persica, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the earlier potentates. With the expansion of Hyrcanian power, the seat of central government shifted from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Typhon river, although several other sites also served as capitals. The earliest enemies of the Hyrcanians were the Seleukid in the west and the Khazars in the east. However, as Hyrcania expanded westward, they came into conflict with the Kingdom of Amnion, and eventually the Iberian Empire and its predecessor, the Alexandrine Kingdom. Iberia and Hyrcania competed with each other to establish the kings of Amnion as their subordinate clients. During the course of the numerous Iberian-Hyrcanian Wars the Iberians captured the city of Ctesiphon (formally Seleucia) on multiple occasions.
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