rthians
was to degenerate. Although the final blow was struck in an unexpected
quarter, and perhaps surprised the victors as much as the vanquished,
still it is apparent that for a considerable space before the revolt of
Artaxerxes the Parthian Empire had shown signs of failing strength, and
had tended rapidly towards decay and ruin. The constant quarrels among
the Arsacidae and the incipient disintegration of the Empire have been
noticed. It may be added here that a growing barbarism, a decline in art
and letters, is observable in the Parthian remains, such as have usually
been found to accompany the decrepitude of a nation. The coinage has
from first to last a somewhat rude character, which indicates that it
is native, and not the production of Greek artists. But on the earlier
coins the type, though not indicative of high art, is respectable, and
the legends are, with few exceptions, perfectly correct and classical.
Barbarism first creeps in about the reign of Gotarzes, A.D. 42-51. It
increases as time goes on, until, from about A.D. 133, the Greek legend
upon the coins becomes indistinct and finally unintelligible, the
letters being strewn about the surface of the coin, like dead soldiers
over a field of battle. It is, clear that the later directors of
the mint were completely ignorant of Greek, and merely attempted to
reproduce on the coin some semblance of a language which neither they
nor their countrymen understood. Such a condition of a coinage is almost
without parallel, and indicates a want of truth and honesty in the
conduct of affairs which implies deep-seated corruption. The Parthians
must have lost the knowledge of Greek about A.D. 130, yet
still a pretence of using the language was kept up. On the
tetra-drachms--comparatively rare coins--no important mistake was
committed; but on the more usual drachm, from the time of Gotarzes, the
most absurd errors were introduced, and thenceforth perpetuated. The
old inscription was, in a certain sense, imitated, but every word of it
ceased to be legible: the old figures disappeared in an indistinct
haze, and--if we except the head and name of the king (written now in a
Semitic character)--the whole emblazonment of the coin became unmeaning.
A degeneracy less marked, but still sufficiently clear to the numismatic
critic, is observable in the heads of the kings, which, in the earlier
times, if a little coarse, are striking and characteristic; while in the
later they si