The Parthian Empire

**Steppe Merc** · 07-21-2005, 16:03

I don't think that the dress of the Parthians would have changed. I'm pretty sure that they continued to dress just as the other Iranian nomads did (though they were richer, of course).
Indian units, yes. Chinese, don't think so.

**Greek_fire19** · 07-21-2005, 18:01

The silk road wasn't a particularly 'good' road, in the sense that roman roads were good - i.e well engineered and constructed. it simply brought a lot of wealth through their provinces which they were able to tax.With this in mind, parthian roads should not be any better than other eastern tribes.

Personally I don't think that the 'silk road' itself should be something that can be built, it is merely something that passes through some parthian provinces. However, parthian provinces that the silk road does pass through (not all parthian cities) should have a large trade bonus, and by building markets and merchants quarters, should be able to increase this substantially.

Actually, personally I'd be happier if the silk road was something that passed through seleucid provinces too, maybe as far as Antioch, and east as far as Kashgar, with each province it passes through getting a big trade bonus, it wasn't just the parthians who knew how to cash in on hungry tired merchants who have been travelling for months

**khelvan** · 07-21-2005, 20:22

I believe all our unique buildings are set for the open beta, at this point. David is working on other things at the moment.

**pezhetairoi** · 07-22-2005, 02:19

i believe it would be fun if the mods made the silk road something unseen, merely a huge trade bonus. That way any faction that possesses the province through which the silk road passes will profit from it regardless... it will be a good land counterbalance to the sea, since there isn't any water in central asia that can improve trade for the landlocked factions. That way too, we can have fun trying to figure out which provinces have the silk road, if the mods keep it secret :)

**Cronos Impera** · 07-22-2005, 15:08

Originally Posted by Greek_fire19

The silk road wasn't a particularly 'good' road, in the sense that roman roads were good - i.e well engineered and constructed. it simply brought a lot of wealth through their provinces which they were able to tax.With this in mind, parthian roads should not be any better than other eastern tribes.

Personally I don't think that the 'silk road' itself should be something that can be built, it is merely something that passes through some parthian provinces. However, parthian provinces that the silk road does pass through (not all parthian cities) should have a large trade bonus, and by building markets and merchants quarters, should be able to increase this substantially.

Actually, personally I'd be happier if the silk road was something that passed through seleucid provinces too, maybe as far as Antioch, and east as far as Kashgar, with each province it passes through getting a big trade bonus, it wasn't just the parthians who knew how to cash in on hungry tired merchants who have been travelling for months

The Persian Empire left the Seleucids and Parni with an excellent infrastructure. Persian runners invented the mail, remember. Persian engineers built great cities and roads ( see Persepolis) connecting all provinces of their empire. The Parthians have the same origins as the persians ( iranian origins ). They must have inhereted the persian infrastructure as well. That way parthian armies could move very efective through their lands.

**Steppe Merc** · 07-22-2005, 16:24

They didn't need roads to move quickly. They were orignally nomads, remeber?

**Greek_fire19** · 07-22-2005, 16:37

I'm not suggesting that Persia didn't have a good infrastructure. It was a fairly heavily populated region of the ancient world and they build good roads connecting the major cities, especially in the south.

I was merely disputing your claim that because of the silk road 'parthian roads should be at least as good as roman roads' when roman highways were engineering masterpieces that the nomadic parthians, for all their undoubted abilities, probably couldn't match.

**The Wizard** · 07-22-2005, 17:16

Iranian military historians generally believe that the Parthians relied on armies fully composed of cavalry because of the ever-present possibility of a two-front war. You see, they might have been nomads originally and therefore naturally reliant on cavalry, but after their settlement they could have easily used more infantry -- see the Huns.

The thing is they didn't. Pressure from Greeks and Romans from the West, and from Greeks and nomads from the East forced them to make a mobile army. Apparently the infastructure of Iran wasn't that well-developed, because they decided to fully rely on cavalry, and not develop a (perhaps small) core of reliable infantry for sieges and perhaps battlefield uses -- like the Sassanids -- to get around Iran quickly to adequately respond to threats on both frontiers.

~Wiz