Parthia

PA´RTHIA (ἡ Παρθυαία, Strab. xi. pp. 514, 515, &c.; ἡ Παρθυηνὴ, Plb. 10.28; Steph. B. s. v.; Curt.5.12; Παρθία, Ptol. 6.5.1; Parthia, Plin. Nat. 6.15. s. 16), originally a small district of Western Asia, shut in on all sides by either mountains or deserts. It was bounded on the W. by Media Atropatene, on the N. by Hyrcania, on the E. by Ariana and M. Masdoranus, and on the S. by Carmania Deserta, M. Parachoathras, and Persis. It comprehended, therefore, the southern part of Khorásan, almost all Kohistan, and some portion of the great Salt Desert. It was for the most part a mountainous and rugged district. The principal mountains were the Labus or Labutas (probably part of the great range now known by the name of the Elburz Mts. ), the Parachoathras (or Elwend), and the Masdoranus. The few rivers which it possessed were little more than mountain streams, liable to violent and sudden floods on the melting of the snow, but nearly dry during the summer: the only names which have been recorded of these streams are, the Zioberis or Stiboetes, the Rhidagus, and the Choatres. The principal divisions of the land were into Camisene, on the north; Parthyene, to the SW. of Camisene, extending along the edge of the Caspian Sea, as far as the Caspian Gates, a district which some have supposed to have been the original seat of the population, and that from which the whole country derived its name; Choarene, the western portion of the land, and for the most part a fruitful valley along the frontiers of Media; Apavarctene, to the S.; and Tabiene, along the borders of Carmania Deserta. There were no great towns in Parthia, properly so called, but history has preserved the names of a few which played an important part at different periods: of these, the best known were Hecatompolis, the chief town of the Parthians, and the royal residence of the dynasty of the Arsacidae, and Apameia Rhagiana.

Little is known of Parthian history at an early period; and it is probable that it was subject to the great empire of Persia, and subsequently to the first successors of Alexander, till the first Arsaces threw off the Syro-Macedonian rule, and established a native dynasty on the throne of Parthia in B.C. 256. From this period it grew rapidly more powerful, till, on the final decay of the house of the Seleucidae, the Arsacidan dynasty possessed the rule of the greater part of Western Asia. Their long wars with the Romans are well known: no Eastern race was able to make so effectual a resistance to the advance of the Roman arms, or vindicated with more constancy and determination their natural freedom. The overthrow of Crassus, B.C. 53, showed what even the undisciplined Parthian troops could do when fighting for freedom. (Dio Cass..) Subsequent to this, the Romans were occasionally successful. Thus, in A.D. 34, Vonones was sent as a hostage to Rome (Tacit. Annual. 2.1); and finally the greater part of the country was subdued, successively, by the arms of Trajan, by Antoninus, and Caracalla, till, at length, the rise of the new Sassanian, or native dynasty of Persia, under the command of Artaxerxes I. put an end to the house of Arsaces (A.D. 226). Subsequent to this period there is a constant confusion in ancient authors between Persians and Parthians. The history of the Parthian kings is given at length in the Dict. of Biog. Vol. 1. p. 355, seq.

The inhabitants of Parthia were called Parthyaei (Παρθυαῖοι, Plb. 10.31: Strab. 11. p. 509; Arrian, Arr. Anab. 3.21; Ptol. 3.13.41) or Parthi (Πάρθοι, Hdt. 3.93; Strab. 11. p. 524; Plin. Nat. 6.25. s. 28; Ammian. 23.6), and were, in all probability, one of the many branches of the great Indo-Germanic family of nations. Their own tradition (if, indeed, faithfully reported) was that they came out of Scythia--for they were wont to say that Parthian meant exile in the Scythian tongue. (Justin (Justin. 41.1.) Herodotus, too, classes them with the people of Chorasmia and Sogdiana (3.39, 7.66); and Strabo admits that their manners resembled those of the Scythians (11. p. 515). On the other hand, modern research has demonstrated their direct connection with the Iranian tribes; their name is found in the Zend to be Pardu, in the Sanscrit Párada. (Benfey, Review of Wilson's Ariana, Berl. Jahrb. 1842, No. 107.) According to Strabo, who quotes Posidonius as his authority, the Parthians were governed by a double council, composed of the nobles or relatives of the king (according as the reading εὐγενῶν or συγγενῶν be adopted), and of the Magians (11. p. 515). As a nation, they were famous for their skill in the management of the horse and for their use of the bow (Dio Cass., 22; Dionys. 1045; Plut. Crass. 100.24), and for the peculiar art which they practised in shooting with the bow from horseback when retreating. This peculiarity is repeatedly noticed by the Roman poets. (Verg. G. 3.31; Horat. Carm. 1.19. 11, 2.13. 17; Ovid, Art. Am. 1.209.) In their treatment of their kings and nobles they were considered to carry their adulation even beyond the usual Oriental excess. (Virg, Georg. 4.211; Martial, Epigr. 10.72, 1--5.)

(Παρθία), Parthyaea (Παρθυαία), and Parthyēné (Παρθυηνή). A country, southeast of the Caspian Sea, in Asia. Its extent varied greatly at different times, and the name is often used indefinitely by the ancient writers; but it may be regarded as bordering upon Hyrcania, Asia, Carmania, Persis, Susiana, and Media. It was largely a mountainous and semi-desert country, whose people were noted warriors, celebrated especially for their skill in archery and horsemanship. Their tactics, of which the Romans had fatal experience in their first wars with them, became so celebrated as to pass into a proverb. Their mail-clad horsemen spread like a cloud around the hostile army, and poured in a shower of darts; and then evaded any closer conflict by a rapid flight, during which they still shot their arrows backward upon the enemy.

Under the Persian Empire, the Parthians, with the Chorasmii, Sogdii, and Arii, formed the sixteenth satrapy: under Alexander and the Greek kings of Syria, Parthia and Hyrcania together formed a satrapy. About B.C. 250 they revolted from the Seleucidae, under a chieftain named Arsaces, who founded an independent monarchy, the history of which is given under Arsaces. During the period of the downfall of the Syrian kingdom, the Parthians overran the provinces east of the Euphrates, and about B.C. 130 they overthrew the kingdom of Bactria, so that their empire extended over Asia from the Euphrates to the Indus, and from the Indian Ocean to the Paropamisus, or even to the Oxus; but on this northern frontier they had to maintain a continual conflict with the nomad tribes of Central Asia. On the west their progress was checked by Mithridates and Tigranes, till those kings fell successively before the Romans, who were thus brought into collision with the Parthians. After the memorable destruction of Crassus and his army, B.C. 53 (see Crassus, p. 424), the Parthians threatened Syria and Asia Minor; but their progress was stopped by two signal defeats, which they suffered from Antony's legate Ventidius, in 39 and 38. The preparations for renewing the war with Rome were rendered fruitless by the contest for the Parthian throne between Phraates IV. and Tiridates, which led to an appeal to Augustus, and to the restoration of the standards of Crassus, B.C. 20; an event to which the Roman poets often allude in terms of flattery to Augustus, almost as if he had conquered the Parthian Empire. It is to be observed that the poets of the Augustan Age use the names Parthi, Persae, and Medi indifferently.

The Parthian Empire had now begun to decline, owing to civil contests and the defection of the governors of provinces, and had ceased to be formidable to the Romans. There were, however, continual disputes between the two empires for the protectorate of the kingdom of Armenia. In consequence of one of these disputes Trajan invaded the Parthian Empire (A.D. 115-117), and obtained possession for a short time of Mesopotamia; but his conquests were surrendered under Hadrian, and the Euphrates again became the boundary of the two empires. There were other wars at later periods, which resulted in favour of the Romans, who took Selencia and Ctesiphon, and made the district of Osroëné a Roman province. The exhaustion which was the effect of these wars at length gave the Persians the opportunity of throwing off the Parthian yoke. Led by Artaxerxes (Ardshir), they put an end to the Parthian kingdom of the Arsacidae, after it had lasted 476 years, and established the Persian dynasty of the Sassanidae, A.D. 226. See Arsaces; Sassanidae.

The Parthians were of Scythic origin, but during the more flourishing period of the Empire adopted many of the usages of Greek civilization, including the Greek language (as the official form of speech) and to some extent the Greek religion. As the Empire declined, however, this superficial cultivation wore off, and by the second century A.D. even the Greek language fell into total disuse.

See the histories of Parthia by Schneiderwirth (1874), Spiegel (1887), and G. Rawlinson (1893).