A Parthian Campaign Suggestion

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Hey, I found one too:

It was in a completely different area. I think it's some sort of random Egyptian leftover from vanilla since the eastern greeks are just the { egyptian, } culture. Like the random stone circles in areas with barbarian culture.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Excellent point Marcus. That's gotta be it.

[kambiz]

@The Persian Cataphract
Ba dorood;
Aya te be hal dar bareye "Jang juyane zan'e Hakhamaneshi" chizi shenidi? Pishnahad mikonam forum'e RoP ro check koni ;-)

[FliegerAD]

It is indeed nice to see that Parthia gets such a well treatment.

I hope you don't mind one or two notes from a numismatic point of view. The first is about the "King of Kings"-title.
It is a fascinating fact, that Parthians Great Kings never called themselves "šahan šah", but always "Basileus Megas", the Greek equivalent taken from the Seleukids. We can see that on the legends of the Parthian mintage. The palahvi title "šah eran" was added later (Mithridates IV.), but the Great King title always remained Greek, even though heavily blundered towards the end of the Arsakid dynasty.

Ardašir was the first Iranian ruler calling himself "šahan šah eran" in his Typ II coins and subsequent coins, stating a clear message of renewed ("pure") Iranian power.
Therefore I would not use "šahan šah" but "Basileus Megas" for the Arsakids, especially in EB timeframe.

The second point is related to that. The Parthian rulers were "Philhellen", officially and in reality, at least for some time. Still Orodes II. enjoyed Greek theater, if one believes Plutarchos. Parthian coins only use Greek names, until late in the 1st cent.AD. The Greek names were always more prominent anyway.
Therefore it's worth considering to use the Greek names for their rulers. (There is a similar phenomen in German history in the 18th cent., when the German nobles preferred speaking French rather than German)

Literature on the numismatics:

Alram, M./Gyselen, R.: Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum, vol. 1, Ardashir I. - Shapur I., Paris/Berlin/Vienna 2003 (excellent series, btw!)
Alram, M.: Nomina Propria Iranica in Nummis, Vienna 1986
Alram, M.: Stand und Aufgaben der arsakidischen Numismatik, in: Wiesehöfer, J. (Ed.): Das Partherreich und seine Zeugnisse, Stuttgart 1998, pp.365-387
Shore, F.: Parthian Coins and History, Quarryville 1993

regards and keep up the great work!

[keravnos]

Parthia should never get anything less, if you ask me.

One thing that has always fascinated me about Pahlavi/Sakae is the following...

When they conquered former greek territories, they didn't go to a massacring spree killing off everyone who moved. Instead they allowed their Greek subjects to carry off with their own ways. Many opted to become Pahlava or Saka, yet those who didn't were left largely alone. There were greek communities in present day afghanistan/ (former Baktria) until the Arab conquest, and coins there carried greek letters until 800 CE. There were also many greeks living in the Babylon area and other Pahlavi domains. Those were mostly left alone/unharmed.

Of course there were problems, many greeks/hellenized easteners were slaughtered and it is also the mere fact of practicality, they were left to live because of the work they could/did produce. Still, if we compare to later day conquerors, Pahlavi/Sakae behaviou is nothing short of benevolent.

In fact right before conquering Seleukeia, the Pahlavi stopped in the opposing side, building Ctesiphon, just so as not to let loose the troops to Seleukeia and avoiding the pillage/rape/carnage that would ensue. How many times this has happened in history? Respecting your enemies' capital? Alexander certainly didn't in Persepolis. In fact the name "Philellen" you quote Flieger seems to be the most appropriate characteristic therof.

Don't know... It must be the common IndoEuropean heritage both peoples share...

[The Persian Cataphract]

Welcome to EB, Flieger

Regarding the Greek language in the Parthian empire, it appeared to be the most practical, even though Iranian languages were known locally. At the time, being lingua franca it seems that the entire "Philhellen"/"Philhellenos" ordeal was purely political to acquire local support (Seeing as that both Persians and Elymaeans did not wish to see a Parthian sovereign toppling the throne during right prior to Demetrios' campaign against Mithradates I) as well as practical. Greek remained to be used as the language within the administration. The whole "King of Kings" thing has origins from the mints of Mithradates II The Great, In which the Sellwood 28.6 type carries the inscription of BASILEWS / BASILEWN / MEGALOU / ARSAKOU EPIFANOUS (Bah, stupid copy-paste... Go here http://www.parthia.com/mithradates2.htm), which it is the first time we also see a Parthian ruler call himself "God incarnate". The transition you speak of occurs fittingly when the Greek language was in decline, while Aramaic was steadily becoming more popular (So popular that the Parthians adopted the alphabet for their Pahlavî). But all that you already know

So, luckily for our case, we get to pick and choose, and for such a disastrously poorly documented nation such as the Parthians, that flexibility is worth gold. We can fortunately choose between Pahlavî, Greek and/or Aramaic. So in our case while the Parthians never wrote as you say the "Shâhan/Shâhigân Shâh Êrânshahr/Êrânagâ, they did indeed adopt the various Greek designations, it is correct that there was a transition coming with the continously more popular Aramaic alphabet. The Parthians had a keen interest in the foreign markets and this is mostly facilitated by the fragments of Isidore's (Of Charax) "Parthian Stations", a work dedicated to the karwanserai, dedicated constructions meant to specifically attract merchants to do trade with the Parthians.

Regarding the Philhellene aspect, it was mainly political (Though very much so also applied in reality, indeed) as well as practical. The Pârnî did not have too many friends at all, and would need as much support as possible. The development of this nation of semi-nomadic roots is quite remarkable, for they assimilated the best aspects of Greek culture but perhaps outperformed the Achaemenids and most definitely the Sassanids when it came to tolerance. Over time the mere tent-city on the other side of the bank, Ctesiphon would come to absorb Seleucia, joining into one. Perhaps the greatest city of the known world

An interesting pointer to Parthian benevolence is that when Mithradates captured Demetrios, keeping him captive, Mithradates had apparently grown so fond of Demetrios that he offered his daughter, Rhogodune, for marriage. It is an interesting echelon to the other famed capturing in pre-Islamic Iranian history; Shapur capturing Valerian.

In my opinion, it was the Parthians, not the Alexander, who proved that the bitter rivalry between Iranians and Greeks could be set aside. Well, nice idea, except Parthia had a lot to pay for it. It's irony at her finest

I hope you'll enjoy your stay!