Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/570

 534 PARTHENOPE. II. ii. 854 ; Hes. Theog. 344 ; Herod, ii. 104; Xenoph. Anah. v. 6. § 9, vi. 2. § 1 ; Strab. xii. p. 543; Ptol. V. 1. § 7; Arrian, Peripl. p. 14; Steph. B. s. v., who erroneously states that the river flowed through the middle of the town of Amastris; Ov. Ex Pont. iv. 10. 49; Amm. Jtarc. xxii. 9.) [L. S.] PARTHE'NOPE. [Neapolis.] PA'IITHIA (^ napeuaia, Strab. xi. pp 514,515, &c. : T] Uapdv-nv^i, Polyb. x. 28 ; Steph. B.s. v. ; Curt. v. 12; UupBia, Ptol. vi. 5. § 1: Parthia, Plin. vi. 15. s. 1 6), originally a small district of Western Asia, shut in on all sides by either mountains or deserts. It was bounded on the W. by Jledia Atrnpatene, on the N. by Hyrcania, on the E. by Ariana and M. Masdo- ranus, and en the S. by Carrnania Deserta, M. Para- choathras, and Persis. It comprehended, therefore, the southern part of Khordsan. almost all Kohistan, and some portion of the great Salt Dese7t. It was for the most part a mountainous and rugged district. The principal muuntains were the Labus or Labutas (probably part of the great range now known by the name of the Elburz Mts."), the Parachoathras (or FAwend), and the Masdoranus. The few rivers which it possessed were little more than mountain streams, liable to vii)lent and sudden floods on the melting of the snow, but nearly dry during the summer: the only names which have been recorded of these streams are, the Zioberis or Stiboetes, the Rhidagus, and the Choatre.s. The principal divi- sions of the land were into Camisene, on the north; Parthyene, to the SW. of Camisene, extending along the edge of the Caspian Sea, as far as the Caspian Gates, a district which some have supposed to have been the original seat of the population, and that from which the whole country derived its name; Choarene, the western portion of the land, and for the most part a fruitful valley along the frontiers of Media; Apavarctene, to the S. ; and Tabiene, along the borders of Carmania Deserta. There were no gre.it towns in Parthia, properly so called, but his- tory has preserved the names of a few which played an important part at difierent periods: of these, the best known were Hecatompolis, the chief town of the Parthians, and the royal residence of the dynasty of the Arsacidae, and Apaineia Rhagiana. Little is known of Parthian histoiy at an early period; and it is probable that it was subject to the great empire of Persia, and subsequently to the first successors of Alexander, till the first Arsaces threw off the Syro-Macedonian rule, and established a native dynasty ou the throne of Parthia in b. c. 256. Froin this period it grew rapidly more powerful, till, on the final decay of the house of the Seleucidae, the Arsacidan dynasty possessed the rale of the greater part of Western Asia. Their long wars with the Romans are well known: no Eastern race was able to make so effectual a resistance to the advance of the Roman arms, or vindicated with more con- stancy and determination their natural freedom. The overthrow of Crassus, b. c. 53, showed what even the undisciplined Parthian troops could do when fighting for freedom. (Dion Cass. xl. 21.) Subsequent to this, the Romans were occasionally successful. Thus, in a. d. 34, Vonones was sent as a hostage to Rome (Tacit. Annal. li. 1); and finally the greater part of the country was sub- dued, successively, by the arms of Trajan, by An- toninus, and Caracalla, till, at length, the rise of the new Sassanian, or native dynasty of Persia, under the command of Artaxerxes I. put an end to the house of Arsaces (.. d. 226). Subsequent to tliis PARYADRES. period there is a constant confusion in ancient authors between Persians and Parthians. The his- tory of the Parthian kings is given at length in the Diet, of Biog. Vol. I. p. 355, seq. The inhabitants of Parthia were called Parthyaei (JlapQvaloi, Polyb. x. 31 : Strab. xi. p. 509 ; Arrian, Anah. iii. 21 ; Ptol. iii. 13. § 41) or Parthi (Jlapeoi, Herod, iii. 93; Strab. xi. p. 524; Plin. vi. 25. s. 28; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6), and were, in all probability, one of the many branches of the great Indo-Ger- m.anic family of nations. Their own tradition (if, indeed, faithfully reported) was that they came out of Scythia — for they were wont to say that Parthian meant exile in the Scythian tongue. (Justin, xli. 1.) Herodotus, too. classes them with the people of Chorasmia and Sogdiana (iii. 39, vii. 66); and Strabo admits that their maimers resembled those of the Scythians (xi. p. 515). On the other hand, modern research has demonstrated their direct connection with the Iranian tribes; their name is found in the Zend to be Pardu, in the Sanscrit Parada. (Benfey, Review of Wilsons Ariana, Berl. Jahrb. 1842, No. 107.) According to Strabo, who quotes Posidonms as his authority, the Parthians were goveraed by a double council, composed of the nobles or relatives of the king (according as the reading fvyevwv or (rvy- yevSiv be adopted), and of the Magians (xi. p. 515). As a nation, they were famous for their skill in the management of the horse and for their use of the bow (Dion Cass, xl.' 15, 22; Dionys. 1045; Plut. Crass, c. 24), and for the peculiar art which they practised in shooting with the bow from horseback when retreating. This peculiarity is repeatedly noticed by the Roman poets. (Virg. Georg. iii. 31 ; Horat. Carm. i. 19. 11, ii. 13. 17; Ovid, Art. Am. i. 209.) In their treatment of their kings and nobles they were considered to carry their adula- tion even beyond the usual Oriental excess. (Virg. Georg. iv. 21 1 ; Martial, ^^^r. x. 72, 1—5.) [V.] PARTHPNI, [Partiik.ni.] PARTHUM (ndpdov or nap0oj, Appian, Pun. viii. 39), a town in the jurisdiction of Carthage, in the neighbourhood of Zania. [T. H. D. j PARTHUS, in Illyricum. [Partheni.] PARUS. [Paros.] PARU'TAE (UapodTai, Ptol. vi. 17. § 3), a tribe placed by Ptolemy on the outskirts of the Paro- pamisus in Ariana. It is probable that these people derive their name from the Sanscrit Parvata, mean ing mountain tribes. [V."l PARYADRES (riapuaSprjs, TlapvaQpis, or Uapv- dpSrjs), a range of lofty and rugged mountains in tha north of Pontus, which is connected with Mount Taurus and Mount Caucasus (Strab. xi. p. 497, xii. p. 548; Plin. v. 27, vi. 9, 11). It commences at the western extremity of the Monies Moschici, proceeds in a south-western direction round Pontus, and there forms the frontier between Armenia and Cappadocia. A more southern branch of the same mountain is the Scoedises. Ptolemy (v. 13. §§ 5,9) describes this mountain as containing the sources of the Euphrates and Araxes, and accordingly includes within its range Mount Abus, from which others make those rivers flow. The Paryadres contains the sources of only small rivers, of which the largest is the Absarus. The mountain was in ancient times thickly covered with wood, and the population upon and about it consisted of robbers (Strab. xii. p. 548). Many parts of the mountain are extremely rugged, and almost inaccessible, whence Mithridates of Pon- tus built many of his treasure-houses there, and