PAR'THIA I.:.t., from I:k. Par a Plain. n , Para waini, , Par.
th Par!L i, Parthians aleh it empire font led out of part of the the old P. ~-inn En Aire. lying to the -11111.e -t the sea. The original inhabitant- Aire probabh of Turanian stock. related to the great tribes of Central Asia, whence have come the Huns, Mongols, Turks, and Magyars. The Par thians Were distinguished by primitive simplicity of life and extreme bravery, though at the same time they were numb given to bacchanalian and voluptuous pleasures. They neglected agriculture and commerce, devoting their whole time to pre datory expeditions and warfare. They fought on horsebaek, and after a peculiar fashion. Being armed solely with bows and arrows, they were rendered defenseless; after the first discharge, and, to gain time for adjusting a second arrow to the bow, turned their horses and retired, as if in full flight, but an enemy incautiously pursuing was immediately assailed by a second flight of ar rows: a second pretended Right followed, and the conflict was thus carried on till the Parthians gained the victory or exhausted their quivers. They generally discharged their arrows back ward, holding the bow behind the shoulder, a mode of attack more dangerous to a pursuing enemy than to one in order of battle. They were conquered by Cyrus in the sixth century before Christ, and their country was organized into a satrapy under Darius. Parthia Isms included in the conquests of Alexander the Great and after his death formed a part of the Solenoid Syrian kingdom, until about HA% 250 the people re volted successfully under Arsaces, founder of the dynasty of the Ars:whim (q.v.), who maintained a most tyrannical despotism. The capital of the
Parthian monarchy was llecatompylos ('the city of the hundred gates'). The dominion of Parthia rapidly extended to the Euphrates and the Indus, and it became a most powerful and flourishing empire: Seleucia, Ctesiphon—the capital of the Persian emperors of the Sassanidm—and other celebrated cities date their rise from this period, and soon eclipsed, in size and splendor, the ancient Becatompylos. In spite of repeated attacks on the part of the Romans, the Parthians main tained their independence (see CRASSUS. MAR CUS) ; and though Trajan, in A.D. 115-117, seized certain portions of the country, the Romans were soon compelled to abandon them. In 185, how ever, the Romans took from Parthia considerable territory. The final struggle with Rome took place in 217, when a desperate drawn battle at Nisibis made both parties desirous of peace. The Parthian kingdom was then weakened by dis sension, and in 228. during the reign of Arta banns IV., the last of the Arsaeidfe, a revolt headed by Ardshir, son of Babegan, broke out in Persia, and the Parthian monarch, beaten in three engagements, lost his throne and life. the Persian dynasty of the Sassanidre (q.v.) taking the place of the Arsacid;e. Some scions of the Parthian royal family continued for several cen turies to rule over the mountainous district of Armenia. under the protection of the Romans, and made frequent descents upon Assyria and Babylonia; but their history is obscure and of little importance. Consult: Raw•tinson. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy (London, 1873) ; id., The Story of Mirth ia (New York, 1889).