kinship marriages in parthian period.

There exists meagre, unclear, and ambiguous information on a wide range of issues concerning the history of Iran throughout the Parthian period. Research on family structure and kinship marriage in this period also suffers from such a paucity. Some sources such as Avoraman Parchment, Bobylonian documents (i.e.,cuneiform tablets), and also Greek and Roman sources make us acquainted with a number of Royal Family women in Parthian period. Besides, such sources shed some lights on how kinship marriages were practiced among royal kings and queens. However, different, and sometimes, contradictory interpretations drawn from such sources give rise to different results and explications regarding kinship marriages in the aforementioned period. The present inquiry mainly seeks to delve into and analyze kinship marriages, in particular, incest ones in Parthian period. According to the findings, in the period under investigation, in an attempt to maintain the old Iranian traditions and attach importance to the preservation and continuity of the House, generation purity, and endogamy marriages as well, kinship marriages, especially, incest ones were the common practice among the members of Parthian Royal House. There is no valid information about the popularity and manner of such marriages among the common people. The love story of Vis and Ramin and the epic scripts of Ayadgar-i Zariran, as the scripts whose Parthian roots have been confirmed, offer some evidence to support the initial claim of the paper.