Travel and Routes through the Parthian Empire

Between 247 BCE and 224 CE, Arsacid kings ruled territories stretching from Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq, across the Iranian plateau. Travellers crossed these regions for trade, diplomacy, military service and family or administrative business, as the wider account of merchants, envoys, soldiers and other travellers explains. A surviving Greek itinerary, the Parthian Stations, by Isidore of Charax, describes one eastward route from Zeugma on the Euphrates to Alexandria in Arachosia, near modern Kandahar in Afghanistan. Rüdiger Schmitt describes the Augustan dating as traditional but disputed. The work must date after 26 BCE and before Pliny cited it in 77 CE; Schmitt argues that its route preserves an older survey from the reign of Mithridates II.

Following the Euphrates

Zeugma, near modern Birecik in southeastern Turkey, was a crossing point over the Euphrates. Isidore begins by naming places beyond the river, including villages, fortified settlements and cities, then gives the distance to the next stage. A station here is a named stopping point in the route account. At Mannuorrha Auyreth, the itinerary notes both a fortified place and a well whose water supplied local inhabitants. It labels Alagma and Thillada Mirrhada “royal stations.” These entries show that travellers moved through a landscape of settlements and water sources, with some stops marked by a royal association.

The river itself shaped movement. Isidore describes the Euphrates held back by rocks so its water would spread into fields; he adds that in summer the obstruction wrecked boats. The same river could support irrigation and carry people or goods, yet a change in water conditions could make a boat journey hazardous. Near Phaliga, the itinerary notes the Aburas River joining the Euphrates and says Roman legions crossed there into Roman territory. That crossing put a named route stage at the boundary with Roman territory, where armies as well as other travellers could pass.

At Neapolis the itinerary leaves the Euphrates and gives an overland stage by Narmalchan to Seleucia, a major city on the Tigris in present-day Iraq. Across central Mesopotamia, canals joined the Tigris and Euphrates. The King’s Canal, enlarged and partly rerouted in the Parthian period, carried irrigation water and provided boat traffic between the rivers, supplementing journeys overland between the river cities.

Inland stages and changing measures

Beyond Seleucia, the route crossed the Zagros Mountains into Media, the region around Ecbatana, near modern Hamadan in western Iran. Isidore marks the mountain boundary between districts, names a customs house at Bazigraban and lists Ecbatana among the next destinations. Farther east it describes the Caspian Gates as a narrow valley, then gives names and distances for successive districts including Parthia, Margiana, Aria, Sakastan and Arachosia. These regions extended across parts of modern Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. The account ends in Arachosia, around Kandahar.

Isidore measures the route in schoenoi, a unit that expressed travel distance but did not have one fixed length. Schmitt explains that it could indicate the distance covered in a certain amount of time and gives an average of about 5.5 kilometres. The whole itinerary totals 858 schoenoi, but converting every entry into exact modern distances would suggest a precision the unit did not have. The stages are more useful for showing the order and relative spacing of places than for calculating a traveller’s exact mileage.

The description also becomes less detailed as it moves east. Its western section names individual stops and includes occasional notes about wells, rivers or crossings. In later sections, Isidore more often summarizes a district by counting its villages, cities or stations. His Parthian Stations is thus especially vivid for the western river corridor, while its eastern sequence traces the broad direction of travel through a series of territories. Schmitt’s account of Isidore and the itinerary explains its route and the earlier political geography behind it.

A ruler’s promise of safe passage

In a passage dated by its editor to around 40 CE, Josephus recounts how the Parthian king Artabanus invited Anileus, one of two armed local leaders in Babylonia, in southern Mesopotamia, to meet him. The king sent a trusted guard with a promise of safe passage and an offer of his right hand as a token of fidelity. Anileus went ahead while his brother Asineus hesitated. At court, Artabanus clasped right hands with Anileus and swore an oath. Anileus returned with that assurance, and the brothers then travelled together to meet the king. Josephus says Artabanus later sent Asineus home with gifts.

The meeting with Artabanus shows how a ruler could use a personal pledge to bring wary armed leaders to court. The related Babylonian episode of Asineus and Anileus describes the brothers’ rise to power.