Loving the Parthians
An email today reminded me of one of those wonderful "labour-of-love" websites that often don't get the attention they deserve: Parthia.com.
It is a collection of varied resources about the ancient civilisation, with a particular focus on coins. And if you think that sounds rather dull, well check out this collection of images of horses from Parthian coins. I was reminded anew of just how fine the workmanship on ancient coins can be.
There's also the inevitable collection of recipes - mainly arriving via the Romans. Pliny reckoned their bread would keep for centuries, if you consider that a recommendation.
The only Parthian (real) site I've visited is Dura Europos, on what is now the Syria-Iraq border; then it was the Rome/Parthian border. It is a magical, haunting place, set on a great bluff over the Euphrates. (The atmosphere is only magnified when you know that the actual archaeology of the final battle here was preserved in the bones of the defenders").
posted by Natalie Bennett at 9/20/2005 03:13:00 am
1 Comments:
It is unfortunate that the Parthians, predecessors of Persian society, don't get much broad attention except as the eastern nemesis of the Romans. Little current historiography is written about them beyond their expansion in the Middle East, little of how it operated socially and culturally.
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