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2 results

  • Vagises’ Virtuous Hand: An Unforeseen Note on Plutarch, Life of Crassus 18, 3

  • Gilles Courtieu
  • Journal:
    Iranian Studies / Volume 51 / Issue 4 / July 2018
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    01 January 2022, pp. 633-642
    Print publication:
    July 2018

  • When Crassus met the Parthian ambassador Vagises on the eve of his disastrous expedition ending at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, Vagises mocked his boldness and showed the palm of his hand, on which, according to him, no hair would ever grow unless the Roman were to reach Mesopotamia, the heart of Parthian empire. This bizarre gesture and statement, usually assumed to be frivolous, can only be understood in the context of Zoroastrian sexual and cathartic ethics, which of course no Roman or Greek could understand. The source of this information therefore could not have been Plutarch, but rather someone conversant with Persian culture, from either Parthian or Armenian stock.

  • 2 - THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF IRAN UNDER THE ARSACIDS

  • from PART 1 - POLITICAL HISTORY
    • By A. D. H. Bivar, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
  • Edited by E. Yarshater
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Iran
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 April 1983, pp 21-99

  • Summary

    The first fixed point in Parthian history is provided by the startingpoint of the Arsacid era, the vernal equinox of 247 BC. The significance for the Parthians of this moment in time has been variously explained: by Gardner it was seen as the date of a Parthian revolt against Seleucid suzerainty; by Tarn, as the coronation year of Tiridates I, the second Parthian king. The incursion of Antiochus III had interrupted the Arsacid control of that part of the province of Parthia which lies south of the Alburz Range around Damghan and Shahrud. This chapter discusses the the consolidation of the Parthian kingdom. The reign of Mithradates I came to an end in 138/7 BC, the first precisely established regnal date of Parthian history and the campaign of Carrhae. The chapter also discusses the "Roman peace" and its consequences.