Page:Political History of Parthia.pdf/242

196 This trip of Tiridates affords us glimpses of Zoroastrianism which unite with other scraps of evidence to show that in the second half of the first century after Christ a wave of oriental reaction was taking place. On the coins of the contemporary Parthian king Vologases I the altar appears for the first time in the history of Arsacid numismatics, and the figure of a man making an offering before a similar object is frequent. Under this same ruler all of the scattered remains of the manuscript or oral traditions of the Avesta were ordered collected. For the first time Pahlavi appears on the coins in addition to the traditional Greek, which has by now become hopelessly corrupt.

The period of peace which followed the temporary settlement of the Armenian question is responsible for a dearth of information on Parthia. There is even considerable doubt as to the length of the reign of Vologases I; it probably extended to 79/80. Military preparations on a large scale were made by Rome in the years 66 and 67: a new legion, the I Italica, was created; and one of the crack legions, the XIV Gemina (Martia Victrix), was started on the journey to the eastern front. At the time of his