noble_family orodes iii of parthia
Orodes III ( Persian :    ) was raised to the throne of the Parthian Empire around 4 AD by the magnates after the death of Phraates V ( reigned ca . 2 BC -- AD 4 ) . He was killed after a short reign `` on account of his extreme cruelty '' ( Josephus ) . After his death , Phraates V ' s brother Vonones I ( reigned ca . 8 -- 12 ) tried to assume the throne , but a civil war with Artabanus III ( reigned ca . 10 -- 38 ) followed . Titus Flavius Josephus ( 37  100 ), born Joseph ben Matityahu ( Hebrew :    , " Yosef ben Matityahu "; Greek :   ), was a first - century Romano - Jewish scholar , historian and hagiographer , who was born in Jerusalem  then part of Roman Judea  to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry . Arsaces I (" Arshak ") was the founder of the ___MASK64___ , and after whom all 30 + monarchs of the Arsacid empire officially named themselves . A celebrated descent from antiquity ( the Bagratid " line ") begins with Arsaces . Arsaces or Ashk has also given name to the city of Ashkabad . Titus ( 30 December 39 AD  13 September 81 AD ) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81 . A member of the ___MASK67___ , Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death , thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own biological father . The Parthian Empire ( 247 BC  224 AD ), also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran and Iraq . Its latter name comes from Arsaces I of Parthia who , as leader of the Parni tribe , founded it in the mid - 3rd century BC when he conquered the region of Parthia in Iran ' s northeast , then a satrapy ( province ) in rebellion against the ___MASK16___ . Mithridates I of Parthia ( r . " c ". 171  138 BC ) 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 central - eastern Turkey , to eastern Iran . The empire , located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han Empire of China , became a center of trade and commerce . The ___MASK16___ (" Basileía tn Seleukidn ") was a Hellenistic state ruled by the Seleucid dynasty , which existed from 312 BC to 63 BC ; it was founded by Seleucus I Nicator following the division of the Macedonian empire vastly expanded by Alexander the Great . Seleucus received Babylonia and , from there , expanded his dominions to include much of Alexander ' s near eastern territories . At the height of its power , it included central Anatolia , Persia , the Levant , Mesopotamia , and what is now Kuwait , Afghanistan , and parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan .