ancient Parthian city in western Khurasan and capital of the Iranian Arsacid dynasty. It might have already fallen into decline when the Seleucids revived it as a military outpost about 300 BC. By about 200 BC it was the Arsacid capital and is mentioned as such by Pliny, Strabo, and Ptolemy. Hecatompylos lay on the Silk Road trade route between the Near East and China. Although it is thought to have been built at a location now between the Iranian cities, Dāmghān and Shāhrūd, its precise site has not been established.