Parthenon is the temple which the Greeks dedi- cated at Athens to IVIinerva (q. v.). It is one of the most celebrated of the Greek temples, and is usually regarded as one of the most perfect specimens of Greek
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architecture. Many of the sculptures have beeu re- moved from the Tarthenou in modern times, and the ditt'erent capitals of Europe highly prize the secured relics from this historic place. See Athens.
Parthenos (Gr. a virgiii), a surname of Athenp. (JMiiierva) at Athens, where the Parthenon was dedi- cated to her.
Parthia. See Parthian.
^r'thian (riftp^oc)- Parthians are spoken of in Acts ii, 9 as being with their neighbors, the Medes and Elamites, present at Jerusalem on the day of Pente- cost. The persons referred to were Jews who had set- tled in Parthia (JlapQ'ia in Ptolemy, Uap^vaia in Strabo and Arrian), and the passage shows how widely spread were members of the Hebrew family in the first century of our ffira. See Diaspora. The term orig- inally referred to a small mountainous district lying to the north-east of Media. Afterwards it came to be ap- plied to the great Parthian kingdom into which tliis province expanded. To the liistory of the Parthians there seems to be but one allusion in the Old Testa- ment, that in Daniel (Dan. xi, 44; comp. Tacit. ]list. V, 8) to the campaigns of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Parthia Proper was the region stretching along the southern tiank of the mountains wliich separate the great Persian desert from the desert of Kharesm. It lay south of Hyrcania, east of Media, and north of Sa- gartia. The country was pleasant, and fairly fertile, watered by a number of small streams Howing from the mountains, and absorbed after a longer or a shorter course by the sands. It is now known as the A tak or "skirt," and is still a valuable part of Persia, though supporting only a scanty population. In ancient times it seems to have been densely peopled ; and the ruins of many large and apparently handsome cities attest its former prosperity (see Eraser, Khorassan, p. 245).
The ancient Parthians are called a "Scythic" race (Strabo, xi, 9, § 2; Justin, xli, 1-4; Arrian, Fr. 1), and probably belonged to the great Turanian family. Vari- ous stories are told of their origin. Moses of Chorene calls them the descendants of Abraham by Keturah (^Ilist. A rmen. ii, Go) ; while John of Malala relates that they were Scythians whom the Egyptian king Sesos- tris brought with him on his return from Scythia, and settled in a region of Persia {flist. Univ. p. 26; comp. Arrian, I. c). Really nothing is known of them till about the time of Darius Hystaspis, when thej' are found in tlie district which so long retained their name, and appear as faithful subjects of the Persian monarchs. We may fairly presume that they were added to the empire by Cyrus, about B.C. 550; for that monarch seems to have been the conqueror of all the north-east- ern provinces. Herodotus speaks of them as being con- tained in the IGth satrapy of Darius, where they were joined with the Chorasmians, the Sogdians, and the Aryans, or people of Herat (Herod, iii, 93). He also states that they served in the army which Xerxes led into Greece, under the same leader as the Chorasmians (vii, GG). They carried bows and arrows and short
Partliian Horsemen. (From the Triumphal Arch of Scp- liniius Severus, Konie.)
spears, but were not at that time held in much repute as soldiers. In the final struggle between the Greeks and Persians they remained faithful to the latter, serving at Arbela (Arrian, Exi). A lex. iii, 8), but offering only a weak resistance to Alexander when, on his way to Bac- tria, he entered their country {ib. 25). In the division of Alexander's dominions they fell to the share of Eu- menes, and Parthia for some time was counted among the territories of the Seleucidaj. About B.C. 25G, how- ever, they ventured upon a revolt, and under Arsaces (whom Strabo calls " a king of the Dahae," but who was more probably a native leader) they succeeded in es- tablishing their independence. This was the begin- ning of the great Parthian empire, which may be re- garded as rising out of the ruins of the Persian, and as taking its place during the centuries when the Koman power was at its height. During the Syro-Macedonian ]ieriod the Parthian and Jewish history kept apart in separate spheres, but under the Romans the Parthians defended the party of Antigonus against Hyrcanus, and even took an(l plundered Jerusalem (Josephus, Ant. xiv, 13,3; ira/-,i, 13).
Parthia, in the mind of the writer of the Acts, would designate this empire, which extended from India to the Tigris, and from the Chorasmian desert to the shores of the Southern Ocean. Hence the prominent position of the name Partliians in the list of those present at Pentecost, Parthia was a power almost rivalling Rome — the only existing power which had tried its strength against Rome and not been worsted in the encounter. By the defeat and destruction of Crassus near Carrhae (the scriptural Harran) the Parthians acquired that character for military prowess which attaches to them in the best writers of the Roman classical period (see Horace, Od. ii, 13 ; Sat. ii, 1, 15 ; Virgil, Georr/. iii, 31 ; Ovid, Ars Am. i, 209, etc.). Their armies were com- posed of clouds of horsemen, who were all riders of ex- traordinary expertness; their chief weapon was the bow. They shot their arrows with wonderful precision while their horses were in full career, and were pro- verbially remarkable for the injury they inflicted with these weapons on an enemy who attempted to follow them in their flight. The government of Parthia was monarchical; but as there was no settled and recog- nised line of succession, rival aspirants were constantly presenting themselves, which weakened the country with internal broils, especially as the Romans saw it to be their interest to foster dissensions and encourage ri- valries. From the time of Crassus to that of Trajan they were an enemy whom Rome especially dreaded, and whose ravages she was content to repel without revenging. The warlike successor of Nerva had the boldness to attack them ; and his expedition, which was well conceived and vigorously conducted, deprived them of a considerable portion of their territories. In the next reign, that of Hadrian, the Parthians recovered these losses; but their military strength was now upon the decline, and in A.D. 22G the last of the Arsacidaa was forced to j-ield his kingdom to the revolted Per- sians, who, under Artaxerxes, son of Sassan, succeeded in re-establishing their empire. The Parthian domin- ion thus lasted for nearly live centuries, commencing in the third century before, and terminating in the third century after, our a'ra.