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
- ↑ 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."
- ↑ Tac. Ann. ii. 60.5.
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