Argos- mother city of Mycennae, Aegean Sea
ARGOS remained neutral or the ineffective ally of Athens during the 5th century B.C. struggles between Sparta and Athens. Cyrus died in battle, but the Achaemenid empire was to reach its zenith long after his death. According to Herodotus, Cyrus met his death in a battle with the Massagetae -- a tribe from the southern deserts of Kharesm and Kizilhoum in the southernmost portion of the steppe region. The queen of the Massagetae, Tomyris, prevailed after Cyrus had previously defeated Tomyris' son Spargapises. The Massagetae were related to the Scythians in their dress and mode of living; they fought on horseback and on foot. Ctesias reports only that Cyrus met his death in the yeare 529 BC, while warring against tribes north-east of the headwaters of the Tigris. Argolis including Troezen was bounded by Arcadia to the west and southwest, Corinthia to the north, the Saronic Gulf and the Attica prefecture and the Troezen area to the east and southeast by water, and the Argolic Gulf to the south.
The Hunnish empire stretched from the steppes of Central Asia into modern Germany, and from the Danube river to the Baltic Sea. There is no straight record for 150 years of what happened between the time they left China and arrived in Europe, since the last mention of the northern Xiongnu was their defeat by the Chinese in 151 at the lake of Barkol, after which they fled to the western steppe at K’ang-chü (Kazakhstan). The Brihat-Katha-Manjari of the Kshmendra (10/1/285-86) informs us that around 400 CE the Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had unburdened the sacred earth of the Barbarians like the Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas, etc. by annihilating these sinners completely. The Parni were unknown before the 3rd century BC. The Parni, an Iranian nomadic tribe, were to gain advantage from this, and later by the disintegration of the Seleucid state amidst the dynastic squabbles which followed the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BC. The country where they lived, along the river Syr Darya (Jaxartes), was occupied by the tribe that the Persians knew as the Dahae.
The Parni were originally a nomad tribe of the Central Asian steppes, which was the home of Iranian nomadic tribes for centuries, such as the Scythians, Saka, and Sarmatians. Being nomads, they roamed across the plains, incidentally attacking the urbanized countries to the south, east and west. In the years that followed, their kings recognized the Seleucid king as their superiors, but under Mithradates I (171-138) they conquered Media, Babylonia, and Elam from the Seleucids. Settlers from Crete, Greece move to Miletus, Turkey and early traces of Maya civilization develop in Belize during Vedic Civilization. At this time, the Phoenicians develop an alphabet, 200 years after the Indus Valley civilization.
When Pausanias visited Argos in the 2nd century CE, he related the succession of Danaus to the throne, judged by the Argives. Danaus had fifty daughters, the Danaides, and his twin brother, Aegyptus, had fifty sons. Aegyptus commanded that his sons marry the Danaides. Danaus elected to flee instead, and to that purpose he built a ship, the first ship that ever was. In it he fled to Argos, to which he was connected by his descent from Io, the maid wooed by Zeus and turned into a heifer and pursued by Hera until she found asylum in Egypt. The descendants of Danaus' daughter Hypermnestra, through Danae, led to Perseus, founder of Mycenae, thus suggesting that Argos had a claim to be the metropolis, or mother city of Mycenae.
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The Ptolemaic dynasty was a Greek royal family which ruled over Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 B.C. to 30 BC. Ptolemy, a Macedonian and one of Alexander the Great's generals, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 B.C. he declared himself King Ptolemy I, later known as "Soter" (saviour). The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemy's family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC. All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy. Ptolemaic queens, some of whom were the sisters of their husbands, were usually called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice.
The Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter (280-261) was the first to take measures. It is certain that he re-founded a city in Margiana; up til then it had been known as Alexandria, because it was founded by Alexander of Macedon in 328, but from now on it was to be called Antiochia. This military settlement was intended to guard Iran against incursions from nomad tribes, such as the Parni. In 245, the satrap of Parthia, a man named Andragoras, revolted from the young Seleucid king Seleucus II, who had just succeeded to the throne. In the confusion, the Parni attacked and seized the northern part of Parthia, a district known as Astavene, probably in 238. About 235, a Parnian prince with the name Tiridates (Modern Persian Tirdad, meaning 'Great archer') ventured further south and seized the rest of Parthia. A counter-offensive by king Seleucus ended in disaster, and Hyrcania was also subdued by the Parni. From then on, the Parni were known as Parthians.
The Seleucid Dynasty gradually lost control of Persia. In 253, the Arsacid Dynasty established itself in Parthia. The Arsacid Dynasty ruled in Persia, their realm is also called Parthia which included the Iranian plateau and intermittently Mesopotamia, from 253 B.C. until their overthrow by the Sassanid Dynasty in AD 226. At certain times Arsacid Kings also ruled over Armenia. The Parthians gradually expanded their control, until by the mid 2nd century BC, the Seleucids had completely lost control of Persia. There were more Seleucid rulers of Syria and, for a time, Babylonia, after Antiochus IV, but none had any effective power in Persia). A Parthian tribal chief called Arsaces took over the Parthian territory from the Seleucid Empire around 250 B.C. to form the Arsacid Dynasty or Parthian dynasty (Arsacid dynasty), 247 B.C. – AD 224 .
Arsaces I of Parthia was the chief of the Parni, one of the nomadic Scythian or Dahan tribes in the desert east of the Caspian Sea. Arsaces, seeking refuge before the Bactrian king Diodotus I, invaded Parthia, then a province of the Seleucid Empire, in about 250 BC. After him all the other Parthian kings of the Arsacid Dynasty, amounting to the number of about thirty, officially wear only the name Arsaces. Arsaces is also the person from whom a celebrated descent from antiquity begins (DFA is fairly solid back to the 4th century, and in principle is traceable to the 3rd Century BC.)
Ilkhans, 1256–1380; The preceding era of disunity, also called First era of fragmentation, was ended through conquest by the Ilkhans, a pagan Mongol horde, nominally subject to the Great Khan. (Ilkhan means governor of an il, i.e. province). The Second era of fragmentation begins in 1343, as remnants of the Hordes competed with local dynasts for authority. This era ends with the conquests by Timur, around 1380. The third era of fragmentation follows, as Timur's Empire loses cohesion and local rulers strive against each other.
In 1410 the Turcoman horde Kara Koyunlu (Black Sheep) captured Baghdad and their leaders ruled the western parts of the Timurid realm. In the East however, Shah Rukh was able to secure his rule in Transoxiana and Fars. The modern Iranian monarchy was established in 1502 after the Safavid Dynasty came to power under Shah Ismail I, and ended the so-called "fourth era" of political fragmentation.