A Political History of Parthia/Chapter 9

by Neilson Carel Debevoise

 

CHAPTER IX

PARTHIA IN COMMERCE AND LITERATURE

IN THE period covered by the past four chapters important changes were taking place in the world of commerce, changes which were eventually to influence profoundly the course of Parthian history. With increasing wealth and luxury in Syria and Rome came a demand for the products of the Far East. One or more of the great silk routes from China passed through Parthia, and others crossed territory which Parthian arms controlled.^[1] The revenue from taxes swelled Parthian treasuries until Tacitus compared them with those of Rome.^[2] Incentive for the development of new routes to avoid Parthia probably arose not from a desire to avoid payment of these duties but from the breakdown of Parthian control along the route. Customs exacted by an organized government, though high, amount to less than the numerous tributes required by petty chieftains every few miles when strong centralized rule is gone. The water route to India with its harbor dues and pirates must have been the lesser of two evils.^[3]

At a later date we have records of customhouses established on the Tigris-Euphrates frontier where taxes were collected by Roman publicans.^[4] Widespread occupation during the Parthian period, including extensive reoccupation of abandoned sites, proves that Parthian rule brought prosperity to Mesopotamia. The huge Nahrwan canal (east of the Tigris) with many of its branches may be of Parthian construction.

During the reign of Vologases I (a.d. 51/52–79/80) a new city, Vologasia or Vologesocerta, was founded in the vicinity of Babylon.^[5] The king's intention may have been to establish a new commercial center to displace the older Seleucia, where party strife frequently disturbed the flow of trade and where opposition to the royal will often arose.^[6] Vologesocerta is frequently mentioned in inscriptions from Palmyra as the destination of the Palmyrene caravans. With the diversion of trade to this new center, the increasing importance of the more purely Parthian Ctesiphon across the river, and the destruction wrought by successive Roman invasions, the decline of the old royal city of Seleucia grew progressively more rapid in the second century after Christ.

The most important of the early trade routes was the great road which led to the Land of the Two Rivers across the Iranian plateau from the borders of China. Chinese traders met the westerners^[7] at a place called the "Stone Tower," tentatively identified as Tashkurgan on the upper Yarkand River.^[8] When the road reached Bactria, the presence of the Kushans forced a wide detour southward through Arachosia and Aria. From Rhages (Rayy) the road led west­ ward to Ecbatana (Hamadan).^[9] From Ecbatana, however, goods continued to pass to Syria via the Fertile Crescent or across the desert via Dura-Europus or Palmyra. For Mesopotamian trade they might take a more southern route to the distributing center of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, where bales received overland from China and India mingled with those which came up the Persian Gulf and the Tigris River.

At the same time that shifts in the routes of commerce were taking place, interest at Rome in the Orient became both intense and widespread, an interest clearly reflected in the poets. Many historical references have already been pointed out, for some of these writers were in position to secure first-hand information, and most of them were contemporary with the events they mention. But more important than the actual information which they furnish is the fact that the poets mirror the passing thought and interests of contemporary Rome. In their writings, then, we should expect to find evidence of the rise of Roman interest in the East, and, since many of the poems are datable by internal evidence, we should be able to trace its development quite closely.

Sulla's contact with Parthia was of an ephemeral character; he had no realization of the future of those "barbarians" or even of their strength in his own day.^[10] A most peaceful people, the "Persians" (Parthians), says Cicero before his governorship of Cilicia.^[11] Crassus had already begun to talk of Bactria, India, and the Outer Sea^[12] before he set out on his conquests in the East; but he had little information with regard to the enemy. Faith in the invincible Roman legion was unshaken; the effect of mounted archers and heavy-armored cavalry against foot troops remained to be demonstrated by the Parthians. Doubtless many excuses were found for the disaster at Carrhae, but in any case it did not suffice to awaken the public immediately to the presence of a new power on the eastern horizon. Few apparently realized the truth.

Cicero, governor of Cilicia, at the edge of the threatened territory, was aware to some extent of the danger from beyond the Euphrates. With Parthian cavalry at the very door of Syria, his frantic appeal for additional troops aroused no great concern at Rome. The raids passed, and no action was taken; but the seriousness with which Pompey, after Pharsalia, considered leading Parthia against the Roman world, proved that military men at least were somewhat cognizant of the situation. The elaborate preparations made by Caesar, including sixteen legions and six thousand cavalry, show clearly that he realized the magnitude of the task which lay before him. Still, it is very doubtful whether, to the man in the streets at Rome, Parthia was much more than a name. The awakening was sudden and rude.

In 40 b.c. Parthian forces under the joint command of the Parthian prince Pacorus and the Roman Labienus struck directly into the heart of the Roman East. The provinces of Asia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, and Syria were all taken by the Parthians; even as far south as Petra, Parthia's word was law. For two years this vast area, so vital to Roman commerce and pleasure, was under military occupation by the Parthians. Possession of the Carian and perhaps the Ionian coast by foreigners struck close to home, for in the coastal towns of those districts Roman officials were accustomed to land when they passed to their eastern commands. There were many in Rome itself who were native to that part of the world or who had been there on business. The victories of Ventidius had no sooner pushed the invaders beyond the Eu­ phrates than another Roman army, under Antony, barely escaped annihilation at Parthian hands. The effect was electrical. Catchwords and phrases concerning the East became common property and were on every tongue. Occasional references are to be found as early as Lucretius^[13] and the first poems of Vergil.^[14] After the Parthian invasion of Syria a flood of such material begins. The Eclogues of Vergil^[15] and later his Georgics^[16] and his Aeneid^[17] abound in references to Parthia, Media, Bactria, and distant India. The Parthian bow, the feigned retreat, the parting shot from behind, the Armenian tiger, the Hyrcanian dog, Assyrian dye and spice, Indian or Assyrian ivory, the inhospitable Caucasus, the tepid Tigris, the broad Euphrates, the beautiful Ganges, the Indian Hydaspes, the wool of the Seres—all these and many more become stock phrases which persist in literature long after the events which caused them to spring into being have become ancient history. Epics and plays were written with Parthian settings.^[18] Horace was greatly interested in the East,^[19] especially in the proposed expedition of Tiberius and the recovery of the standards.^[20] Hints of an expedition to the East at the direction of Augustus are plentiful in Propertius.^[21] Ovid, besides carrying on the literary tradition set up at an earlier date,^[22] was greatly interested in the expedition of Gaius to Armenia.^[23] Frequent references to Hyrcanian dogs in the work of Grattius on those animals show that they do not belong to the realm of legend but were in actual use.^[24] Seneca^[25] and Lucan^[26] still employ the standard phrases; in the case of Silius Italicus^[27] there seems to be little beyond the mere repetition of stock phrases. Statius, on the other hand, was a close friend of Abascantius, secretary to Domitian, and his writings abound in references which show an intimate knowledge of eastern affairs.^[28] Martial also has numerous historical references to the East,^[29] and in the poems of Juvenal there is clear evidence of a shift in attitude toward the oriental provincial after the accession of Hadrian.^[30] "By's mark your horse you'll own, by's tiara a Parthian's known," said some writer of Anacreontics about this time.^[31]

In the centuries which followed, the references to the East became more and more stereotyped. Tertullian,^[32] Philostratus the son of Nervianus,^[33] M. Minucius Felix(?),^[34] Oppian,^[35] all of whom probably lived within the Parthian period, carry on the tradition. Still later writers continue in the same strain^[36] or occasionally quote from works now lost.^[37] Even such Christian writers as Jerome still remember the Parthians.^[38]

When Rome found herself confronted with new and more vigorous opponents, the Sasanidae, the Parthians were sometimes, though by no means always, confused with them. Examples of both confusion and correct identification may be found in Claudian, where again the Araxes, the Hyrcanian tiger, the Medes, the Indians, and other traditional terms appear.^[39] Even as late as Boethius^[40] and the Anthologia Latina^[41] the tradition was still alive; indeed, through the medium of classical literature it was carried over into English classics.^[42]

 

1. M. P. Charlesworth, Trade-Routes and Commerce of the Roman Empire (2d ed.; Cambridge, 1926), pp. 98 ff. There are several errors in that chapter; e.g., Seleucia was directly opposite Ctesiphon, not "a few miles distant" (as stated on his p. 101). Again, Charlesworth, loc. cit., says: "Seleucia on the Tigris … usually was able to hold itself independent(!) of Parthia."
2. Tac. Ann. ii. 60.5.
3. Cf. W. H. Schoff, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (New York, 1912), p. 5; on the date of the Periplus, see p. 69, n. 41. J. W. Thompson, An Economic and Social History of the Middle Ages (New York, 1928), pp. 23 f., feels that the northern routes also were developed to circumvent Parthia.
4. Fronto Princ. hist. 16; Philostratus Vita Apoll. i. 20; E. S. Bouchier, Syria as a Roman Province (Oxford, 1916), p. 170.
5. The date of this foundation or refoundation was probably between 55 and 65, since it is mentioned in Pliny Hist. nat. vi. 122. The tenth book of Pliny's work was published in 77. On the city see also Amm. Marcel. xxiii. 6. 23 and the Peutinger Table.
6. McDowell, Coins from Seleucia, pp. 229 and 236.
7. The Seres of Pliny Hist. nat. vi. 54 ff., Amm. Marcel. xxiii. 6. 14, and classical literature in general are not the Chinese but these intermediaries. B. Laufer, Sino-Iranica (Chicago: Field Museum, 1919), p. 538, emphatically denies a connection between the Greek sēr (pl., sēres), the Mongolian širgek, and the Manchu sirge, originally proposed by J. Klaproth, "Conjecture sur l'origine du nom de la soie chez les anciens," JA, II (1823), 243–45, and J. P. Abel-Rémusat, ibid., 245–47, and accepted by many including Schoff, Periplus, p. 266. But cf. now PW, art. "Seres."
8. Charlesworth, Trade-Routes and Com. of Rom. Emp., 103.
9. Isid. Char. Mans. Parth. passim. Cf. Pliny Hist. nat. vi. 46 ff. An interesting novel on the silk trade of this period is S. Merwin's Silk (New York, 1923).
10. This is clearly brought out by J. Dobiáš, "Les premiers rapports des Romains avec les Parthes et l'occupation de la Syrie," Archiv or. (1931), 215–56.
11. Cicero De domo sua 60.
12. Plut. Crassus 16. 2.
13. De rerum natura iii. 750. In the references which follow, mentions of specific historical events have generally been omitted; they will be found in their proper places in the narrative. The lists are not to be considered as complete.
14. Ciris 299, 308, 440, 512; Culex 62 and 67.
15. Ecl. i. 62; iv. 25; x. 59.
16. Georg. i. 509; ii. 121–23, 126, 134–39, 171 f., 440, 465; iii. 26 ff.; iv. 210 f., 290, 313 f., 425 f., 560 f.
17. Aeneid iv. 367; vi. 794; viii. 685–88, 705 ff., 726, 728; ix. 31 f.; xii. 67 and 857 f.
18. Horace (Sat. ii. 1. 15) declares he cannot write an epic (as others were apparently doing) depicting the Parthians falling from their horses. Persius (Sat. v. 1–4), roughly a hundred years later, perhaps modeling his phrase on the passage in Horace, speaks of the poets' theme of a wounded Parthian.
19. Horace Ep. i. 12; vii. 9; xiii. 8; Od. i. 2. 21 f. and 51; 11. 2; 12. 53 ff.; 19. 10–12; 21. 15; 22. 6–8; 26. 5; 29. 1–5; 31. 6; 35. 9 and 40; 38. 1; ii. 2. 17; 7. 8; 9. 17  ff.; 11. 16; 13. 17 f.; 16. 6; iii. 1. 44; 2. 3; 3. 44; 5. 4; 8. 19; 24. 1 f.; 29. 27 f.; iv. 5. 25; 14. 42; 15. 23; Carmen saec. 53 ff.; Epist. i. 1. 45; 6. 6 and 39; 7. 36; ii. 1. 112 and 256.
20. See pp. 139 f., nn. 50 and 55.
21. See p. 139, n. 50.
22. Amores i. 2. 47; ii. 5. 40; 14. 35; 16. 39; Heroides xv. 76; Metamorph. i. 61 f. and 777 f.; ii. 248 f.; iv. 21, 44–46, 212, 605 f.; v. 47 ff. and 60; vi. 636; viii. 121; xi. 166 f.; xv. 86 and 413; Remedia amoris 155 ff. and 224; De medicamine faciei 10 and 21; Ars amat. i. 199, 201 f., 223 ff.; ii. 175; iii. 195 f., 248, 786; Tristia v. 3. 23 f.; Epistulae ex Ponto i. 5. 79 f.; ii. 4. 27; iv. 8. 61; Fasti i. 76, 341, 385 f.; iii. 465, 719 f., 729; iv. 569.
23. See p. 150, n. 30.
24. Grattius 155–62, 196, 314 f., 508.
25. De const. sap. xiii. 3; De brev. vit. iv. 5; De cons. ad Polyb. xv. 4; De cons. ad Helviam x. 3; Hercules furens 909 ff. and 1323 f.; Troades 11; Medea 373 f., 483 f., 723 ff., 865; Hippolytus 67, 70, 344 f., 389, 753, 816; Oedipus 114, 117–19, 427 f., 458; Thyestes 370 ff., 462, 601–6, 630 f., 707, 732; Herc. Oet. 40 f., 157–61, 241 f., 336, 414, 515, 628, 630, 659 f., 667; Phoenissae 428; Octavia 627 f.; Epist. iv. 7; xii. 8; xvii. 11; xxxiii. 2; xxxvi. 7; lviii. 12; lxxi. 37; civ. 15.
26. De bell. civ. i. 10 ff., 230, 328; ii. 49 f., 296, 496, 552 f., 594, 633, 637–39; iii. 236, 245, 256 ff., 266 ff.; iv. 64 and 680 f.; v. 54 f.; vi. 49–51; vii. 188, 281, 427 ff., 442 f., 514–17, 539–43; ix. 219 ff. and 266 f.; x. 46–52, 120, 139, 142, 252, 292.
27. iii. 612 f.; v. 281; vi. 4; vii. 646 f.; viii. 408 and 467; xi. 41 f. and 402; xii. 460; xiii. 473 f.; xiv. 658 and 663–65; xv. 23, 79–81, 570; xvii. 595 f. and 647.
28. Silvae i. 2. 122 f.; 3. 105; 4. 77–81 and 103 f.; ii. 2. 121 f.; 4. 34 f.; 6. 18 f. and 86 f.; 7. 93 ff.; iii. 2. 91; 3. 33 f., 92 ff., 212; 4. 62 f.; iv. 1. 40–43; 38 and 49; 3. 137 and 153 ff.; 4. 30 f.; 5. 30–32; v. 1. 60 f.; 2. 140 f.; 3. 185–90; Thebaid i. 686 and 717–20; ii. 91; iv. 387 ff. and 678; v. 203 f; vi. 59, 209, 597 f.; vii. 69, 181, 524 f., 566, 687; viii. 237 ff., 286 ff., 572; ix. 15 f.; x. 288 f.; xii. 170 and 788.
29. De spect. i and xviii; Epig. ii. 43. 9; 53. 9 f.; v. 58. 4; vi. 85; vii. 30; viii. 26; 28. 17 f.; 77. 3; ix. 35. 3; 75. 2 f.; x. 72. 5 ff.; 76. 2 f.; xii. 8; xiv. 150.
30. See p. 240. Other references by Juvenal to the East are Sat. ii. 163 ff.; vi. 337, 466, 548 ff.; viii. 167–70; xv. 163.
31. Anacreontia (ed. J. M. Edmonds in "Loeb Classical Library") 27.
32. Apologeticus xxxvii. 4.
33. Imagines i. 28 f.; ii. 5, 28, 31.
34. Octavius vii. 4; xviii. 3; xxv. 12.
35. Cynegetica i. 171 f., 196 f., 276–79, 302, 371; ii. 98 f., 100, 135 ff.; iii. 21 ff., 259, 501; iv. 112 ff., 164 f., 354 f. Halieutica ii. 483 and 679; iv. 204.
36. Achilles Tatius iii. 7. 5; Callistratus 4.
37. Ausonius xii (Technopaegnion). 10. 24; Epistulae xxiii. 6 (from a lost work of Suetonius); xxv. 1; xxvii. 53; liii.
38. Jerome Epist. xiv. 3; lxxvii. 10; cvii. 10; cxxv. 3; cxxvii. 3.
39. Claudian Paneg. dictus Probino et Olybrio 78–81, 160–63, 170, 179 f.; In Rufinum i. 227, 293, 310–12, 374–76; ii. 242–44; De bello Gildonico 31–33; In Eutropium i. 321, 342–45, 354, 414–16; ii. 102, 475 f., 569–71; Fescennina de nuptiis Honorii Augusti i. 1 f.; Epithalamium 168, 210–12, 217, 222–25; Paneg. tertio cons. Hon. 4, 19 f., 27 f., 35 f., 70–72, 201–4, 210 f.; Paneg. quarto cons. Hon. 43 f., 145 f., 214–16, 257 f., 306–8, 387 f., 530 f., 542, 585 f., 601, 607–10, 653, 656; Paneg. dictus Manlio Theodoro 236; De consulatu Stilichonis i. 52 ff., 155–57, 266; iii. 62–64; Paneg. sexto cons. Hon. 18, 69 f., 85 f, 414–16, 562 f.; (IX) De hystrice 21 f.; (XXV) Epithalamium dictum Palladio et Celerinae 61, 74, 88 f.; (XXX) Laus Serenae 52; (XXXI) Epist. ad Serenam 7, 14–16; De raptu Proserpinae i. 17 f.; ii. 82, 94, 200; iii. 105, 263–65, 320, 325. The tradition that the victories of Trajan made Mesopotamia a Roman province appears in Claudian Paneg. quarto cons. Hon. 315–17 and is frequently alluded to elsewhere.
40. Philosophiae consolatio ii. 2. 34–38; iii. 5. 5 and 10. 9; iv. 3. 15; v. 1. 1–3.
41. Octavianus in Poetae Latini minores, IV, ed. A. Baehrens (Lipsiae, 1882), p. 249, lines 104 f., and p. 256, Verba amatoris ad pictorem 3 f.
42. Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, Scene I; Act IV, Scene 12, line 70; Cymbeline, Act I, Scene 6, line 20; Milton, Paradise Regained iii. 280 ff.