ABSTRACT
The observation made by Antonio Invernizzi pointedly sums up the problems we face when trying to understand the history and culture of the Parthian empire. Despite the fact that this empire existed for almost 500 years, from the mid-third century BC to AD 224, our knowledge about its history and its peoples is far from complete. To a large extent this is because of a lack of historical texts from Parthia itself, which would allow us to reconstruct a historical narra-
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because of present-day political circumstances – excavations have been carried out to a limited degree only. Above all, we are to an extreme degree dependent on external – and overwhelmingly hostile – sources to provide us with an outline of Parthian political events. Further difficulties arise from the fact that some of the places mentioned in the Greek and Roman sources have not yet been identified with certainty. Available ancient reports often mention the royal cities and other important sites of the empire only in passing and do not provide extensive descriptions of the places themselves, or of the events with which they were connected. The best primary source we possess for the Parthian empire is coins, which allow us, often in the absence of any other data, to establish a chronology for the kings of Parthia, and to deduce some information about them through the images and legends used on their individual coins. Their findspots as far away as India and Russia furthermore provide some indication of the extent of the economic exchange between Parthia and its neighbouring countries.
