GREEKS AND MACEDONIANS IN THE PARTHIAN EMPIRE: THE CASE OF SUSA

Abstract

Susa is one of the best known cities of Hellenistic and Parthian Iran due to
abundant epigraphic evidence and intense archaeological excavations. *is paper aims to
show some characteristics of political and cultural developments and the role played by the
Greek-Macedonian community at Susa during the Parthian period. *e Seleukids founded
a colony at Susa and called it Seleukeia on the Eulaios. *is Greek-Macedonian community
must have been an enclave surrounded by a sea of indigenous folk. *e city’s names used in
Parthian times – Susa, Seleukeia on the Eulaios, or Phraata – point to the existence of major
separate segments of the population, local Susian and Greek/Macedonian, with an inXux of
Parthians, at Arsakid Susa.