DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45399#0016
6
NUMISMATA ORIENTALIA.
his crowning success. He died in a glorious old age, and left a name second only to that of
his ancestor, the first Arsaces. It is stated in the Epitome of Trogus Pompeius that ‘Tigranes,’
King of Parthia, assumed the epithet ‘ deus.’ This word Tigranes would seem to have crept
in by mistake in the place of Mithradates. We have numismatic reasons for supposing that
Mithradates did in fact claim divinity, in that merely following the example set by such
monarchs as Antiochus Theos of Syria.
Phraates II., son of the last monarch, succeeded him, and inherited not only his dominions,
but his wars, and the captive Demetrius; whose brother, Antiochus Sidetes, shortly set out for
Parthia with a large army, less probably in order to rescue his brother, than to get into his
power a rival who might at any time be pitted against him. Like his brother, Antiochus began
with a series of victories. It is a most astonishing fact that the Parthians, who so often con-
tended on equal terms with Pome, seem to have been unable to look an army of Syrian Greeks
in the face. But his troops, dispersing into winter-quarters in the heart of Asia, were cut to
pieces in detail, and himself lost his life in a gallant contest. Among his women who were
captured by the Parthian king was a daughter of Demetrius, by whose beauty Phraates was at
once captivated, and whom he made his Queen. Meanwhile Demetrius himself had been sent
into Syria to raise a faction against his absent brother, and though Phraates afterwards repented
of letting his captive go, the repentance came too late.
Not that there was now much to fear from any Syrian king. The ssower of the army of the
Seleucidae had fallen or been captured under Sidetes, and the Syrian empire was fast falling to
pieces. Parthia was never again invaded by Greeks. But a more terrible foe was approaching
from the East. In the second century1 b.c. the Huns began that westward migration which pre-
cipitated them many centuries later on the decaying Boman Empire. Near the borders of China
they pressed on the Sakas, the Scythian tribes of Turkestan, and drove them southward upon
the Parthian and Bactrian Empires. The latter they completely subverted, and we know from
coins that at the beginning of the Christian era Sakas were ruling all Bactria and Northern
India.2 Parthia narrowly escaped the same fate. A band of Saka mercenaries was summoned
by Phraates to aid him against the Syrian arms. Arriving too late to be of service to the
Parthian king, they quarrelled with him, and he was compelled to march against them, dragging
with him the captive remnant of Antiochus’ army. These Greeks, as might have been ex-
pected, took the opportunity of the first battle to go over to the enemy, and Phraates fell by
their hands, leaving the kingdom to his uncle, Artabanus II.
This old warrior does not seem to have been molested by either the Greeks or the Scythians,
who were the enemies of the late king. The enmity of both Scythians and Greeks was
probably directed personally against Phraates and satisfied by his death. Artabanus, however,
soon sound himself embarked on a war with another barbarous tribe, the Thogarii, who are
mentioned by Strabo3 as being one of the four great Saka tribes. After a brief reign, he sell
1 Wilson, Ariana Antiqua, p. 141.
2 Numismatic Chronicle, 1874, pp. 161-167.
3 Strabo, xi. 8, 2.
NUMISMATA ORIENTALIA.
his crowning success. He died in a glorious old age, and left a name second only to that of
his ancestor, the first Arsaces. It is stated in the Epitome of Trogus Pompeius that ‘Tigranes,’
King of Parthia, assumed the epithet ‘ deus.’ This word Tigranes would seem to have crept
in by mistake in the place of Mithradates. We have numismatic reasons for supposing that
Mithradates did in fact claim divinity, in that merely following the example set by such
monarchs as Antiochus Theos of Syria.
Phraates II., son of the last monarch, succeeded him, and inherited not only his dominions,
but his wars, and the captive Demetrius; whose brother, Antiochus Sidetes, shortly set out for
Parthia with a large army, less probably in order to rescue his brother, than to get into his
power a rival who might at any time be pitted against him. Like his brother, Antiochus began
with a series of victories. It is a most astonishing fact that the Parthians, who so often con-
tended on equal terms with Pome, seem to have been unable to look an army of Syrian Greeks
in the face. But his troops, dispersing into winter-quarters in the heart of Asia, were cut to
pieces in detail, and himself lost his life in a gallant contest. Among his women who were
captured by the Parthian king was a daughter of Demetrius, by whose beauty Phraates was at
once captivated, and whom he made his Queen. Meanwhile Demetrius himself had been sent
into Syria to raise a faction against his absent brother, and though Phraates afterwards repented
of letting his captive go, the repentance came too late.
Not that there was now much to fear from any Syrian king. The ssower of the army of the
Seleucidae had fallen or been captured under Sidetes, and the Syrian empire was fast falling to
pieces. Parthia was never again invaded by Greeks. But a more terrible foe was approaching
from the East. In the second century1 b.c. the Huns began that westward migration which pre-
cipitated them many centuries later on the decaying Boman Empire. Near the borders of China
they pressed on the Sakas, the Scythian tribes of Turkestan, and drove them southward upon
the Parthian and Bactrian Empires. The latter they completely subverted, and we know from
coins that at the beginning of the Christian era Sakas were ruling all Bactria and Northern
India.2 Parthia narrowly escaped the same fate. A band of Saka mercenaries was summoned
by Phraates to aid him against the Syrian arms. Arriving too late to be of service to the
Parthian king, they quarrelled with him, and he was compelled to march against them, dragging
with him the captive remnant of Antiochus’ army. These Greeks, as might have been ex-
pected, took the opportunity of the first battle to go over to the enemy, and Phraates fell by
their hands, leaving the kingdom to his uncle, Artabanus II.
This old warrior does not seem to have been molested by either the Greeks or the Scythians,
who were the enemies of the late king. The enmity of both Scythians and Greeks was
probably directed personally against Phraates and satisfied by his death. Artabanus, however,
soon sound himself embarked on a war with another barbarous tribe, the Thogarii, who are
mentioned by Strabo3 as being one of the four great Saka tribes. After a brief reign, he sell
1 Wilson, Ariana Antiqua, p. 141.
2 Numismatic Chronicle, 1874, pp. 161-167.
3 Strabo, xi. 8, 2.