With detailed coverage of the cities of Seleucia-Ktesiphon, Babylon, Uruk, Susa, Spasinou Charax, Ikaros (Failaka) and Tylos (Bahrein), Wolfram Grajetzki shows that for most people in the region, life and material culture were not, as is commonly stated, transformed by the coming of the Greeks. The Parthians have tended to receive a negative press from historians, but their supremacy lasted some 350 years and the archaeology of their cities reveals innovations in architecture and decorative arts, with lavishly equipped houses showing a high standard of living.