DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45399#0028
18
NUMISMATA 0R1ENTALIA.
with Parthian types than elsewhere ; nevertheless, we obtain from them some important light
on the dress, government, and religion of the country.
All the drachms issued by the Arsacidse, srom first to last, as well as the earlier tetradrachms,
bear a uniform type,—Arsaces, the great founder of the empire, seated to right holding in his
hand a strung bow. After the reign of Mithradates I., the object on which he is seated is a
throne with a back, such as Zeus occupies on the coins of Alexander the Great. But in the
earlier drachms it is clearly the omphalos of Apollo, that conical stone at Delphi, which was
supposed by the Greeks to be the centre of the world. The introduction os this stone indicates
at once whence the Parthians borrowed their type. It is clearly taken from the coins of the
Seleucid Kings of Syria, on which Apollo usually appears seated on the omphalos, and holding
out a strung bow, just as Arsaces himself does. The Seleucidse had probably themselves taken
the figure from the coins of Nicocles, King of Cyprus, one of which is quoted by Mionnet
(vol. iii. last page).
The tetradrachms show more variety, or at least begin to do so at the beginning of the
Christian era ; while the copper coins present to us a multitude of types. Without detailing
these, I will discuss the light thrown by them on the dress, customs, religion and government
of the Parthians.
The costume of the first Arsaces is strongly characteristic. He wears a conical helmet not
unlike that of the Assyrians,1 with ssaps to protect ears and neck, and bound with the regal
diadema of the Greeks; his ears are adorned with earrings, and his neck with a torquis of the
simplest form. He is clad in a coat of mail, apparently consisting os scale or chain armour,
which covers his arms to the wrist, and his legs to the ancle ; over this is thrown a short
military cloak or sagum. His shoes are fastened by straps or thongs round the ancles. This
dress, which suited a rude leader of nomads, rather than an Asiatic King of Kings, was soon
abandoned by the successors of Arsaces. Mithradates I. wears on his head either the simple
diadema, or a semicircular Parthian b el met, similar to that figured in the frontispiece, studded with
many rows of nails, and having leather or iron ssaps to protect ears and neck; also bound with the
diadema. On his neck is a spiral torquis, which ends in an ornament shaped like the forepart
of a horse. In place of the rude armour he wears a soft under-garment, and an over-garment
shaped like a cloak, open at the neck, having sleeves, and adorned apparently with several
rows of gems. How the lower part of his body is dressed we cannot tell, as we have no full-
length representation of him. Some of his successors wear helmets of a like form, but adorned
round the edge with the recumbent figures of stags, or with rows of balls. And some of
them, as Mithradates III., wear a jointed torquis, which seems to be made of gems. Mithra-
dates II. appears, like Arsaces, in a full suit of armour.
On the coins of Phraates IV. and his successors we find frequent full-length portraits of
Kings, and always in the same costume, which is quite different alike from that of Arsaces
1 Cf. the helmet from the British Museum represented in the frontispiece. That the helmet here represented was Assyrian is
proved from the place where it was found, and the remains in which it was imbedded.
NUMISMATA 0R1ENTALIA.
with Parthian types than elsewhere ; nevertheless, we obtain from them some important light
on the dress, government, and religion of the country.
All the drachms issued by the Arsacidse, srom first to last, as well as the earlier tetradrachms,
bear a uniform type,—Arsaces, the great founder of the empire, seated to right holding in his
hand a strung bow. After the reign of Mithradates I., the object on which he is seated is a
throne with a back, such as Zeus occupies on the coins of Alexander the Great. But in the
earlier drachms it is clearly the omphalos of Apollo, that conical stone at Delphi, which was
supposed by the Greeks to be the centre of the world. The introduction os this stone indicates
at once whence the Parthians borrowed their type. It is clearly taken from the coins of the
Seleucid Kings of Syria, on which Apollo usually appears seated on the omphalos, and holding
out a strung bow, just as Arsaces himself does. The Seleucidse had probably themselves taken
the figure from the coins of Nicocles, King of Cyprus, one of which is quoted by Mionnet
(vol. iii. last page).
The tetradrachms show more variety, or at least begin to do so at the beginning of the
Christian era ; while the copper coins present to us a multitude of types. Without detailing
these, I will discuss the light thrown by them on the dress, customs, religion and government
of the Parthians.
The costume of the first Arsaces is strongly characteristic. He wears a conical helmet not
unlike that of the Assyrians,1 with ssaps to protect ears and neck, and bound with the regal
diadema of the Greeks; his ears are adorned with earrings, and his neck with a torquis of the
simplest form. He is clad in a coat of mail, apparently consisting os scale or chain armour,
which covers his arms to the wrist, and his legs to the ancle ; over this is thrown a short
military cloak or sagum. His shoes are fastened by straps or thongs round the ancles. This
dress, which suited a rude leader of nomads, rather than an Asiatic King of Kings, was soon
abandoned by the successors of Arsaces. Mithradates I. wears on his head either the simple
diadema, or a semicircular Parthian b el met, similar to that figured in the frontispiece, studded with
many rows of nails, and having leather or iron ssaps to protect ears and neck; also bound with the
diadema. On his neck is a spiral torquis, which ends in an ornament shaped like the forepart
of a horse. In place of the rude armour he wears a soft under-garment, and an over-garment
shaped like a cloak, open at the neck, having sleeves, and adorned apparently with several
rows of gems. How the lower part of his body is dressed we cannot tell, as we have no full-
length representation of him. Some of his successors wear helmets of a like form, but adorned
round the edge with the recumbent figures of stags, or with rows of balls. And some of
them, as Mithradates III., wear a jointed torquis, which seems to be made of gems. Mithra-
dates II. appears, like Arsaces, in a full suit of armour.
On the coins of Phraates IV. and his successors we find frequent full-length portraits of
Kings, and always in the same costume, which is quite different alike from that of Arsaces
1 Cf. the helmet from the British Museum represented in the frontispiece. That the helmet here represented was Assyrian is
proved from the place where it was found, and the remains in which it was imbedded.