were created by him (cf. Justin xli. 2). The Scythian nomads became the ruling race; they were invested with large landed property, and formed the council of the king, who appointed the successor. They were archers fighting on horseback, and in their cavalry consisted the strength of the Parthian army; the infantry were mostly slaves, bought and trained for military service, like the janissaries and mamelukes. But these Scythians soon amalgamated with the Parthian peasants. They adopted the Iranian religion of Zoroaster (in the royal town Asaak an eternal fire was maintained), and “their language was a mixture of Scythian and Median” (i.e., Iranian). Therefore their language and writing are called by the later Persians “Pehlevi,” i.e. Parthian (Pehlevi is the modern form of Parthawa) and the magnates themselves Pehlevans, i.e. “Parthians,” a term transferred by Firdousi to the heroes of the old Iranian legend. But the Arsacid kingdom never was a truly national state; with the Scythian and Parthian elements were united some elements of Greek civilization. The successors of Arsaces I. even founded some Greek towns, and when they had conquered Babylonia and Mesopotamia they all adopted the epithet “Philhellen.”
To Arsaces I. probably belong the earliest Parthian coins; the oldest simply bear the name Arsaces; others, evidently struck after the coronation in Asaak, have the royal title (βασιλέως Ἀρσάκου). The reverse shows the seated archer, or occasionally an elephant; the head of the king is beardless and wears a helmet and a diadem; only from the third or fourth king they begin to wear a beard after the Iranian fashion. In honour of the founder of the dynasty all his successors, when they came to the throne, adopted his name and officially (e.g. on the coins) are almost always called Arsaces, whereas the historians generally use their individual names.
Of the successors of Arsaces I. we know very little. His son, Arsaces II., was attacked by Antiochus III., the Great, in 209, who conquered the Parthian and Hyrcanian towns but at last granted a peace. The next king, whom Justin calls Priapatius, ruled 15 years (about 190–175); his successor, Phraates I., subjected the mountainous tribe of the Mardi (in the Elburz). He died early, and was succeeded not by one of his sons but by his brother, Mithradates I., who became the founder of the Parthian empire. Mithradates I. (c. 170–138) had to fight hard with the Greeks of Bactria, especially with Eucratides (q.v.); at last he was able to conquer a great part of eastern Iran. Soon after the death of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes (163) he conquered Media, where he refounded the town of Rhagae (Rai near Teheran) under the name of Arsacia; and about 141 he invaded Babylonia. He and his son Phraates II. defeated the attempts of Demetrius II. (139) and Antiochus VII. (129) to regain the eastern provinces, and extended the Arsacid dominion to the Euphrates.
For the later history of the Parthian empire reference should be made to Persia: Ancient History, and biographical articles on the kings. The following is a list of the kings, as far as it is possible to establish their succession.
The names of pretenders not generally acknowledged are put in brackets.
| Arsaces I. (perhaps Tiridates I.) | 248–c. 211 |
| Arsaces II. | c. 211–190 |
| Priapatius | c. 190–175 |
| Phraates I. | c. 175–170 |
| Mithradates I. | c. 170–138 |
| Phraates II. | c. 138–127 |
| Artabanus I. | c. 127–124 |
| Mithradates II. the Great | c. 124-88[1] |
| Sanatruces I. | 76–70 |
| Phraates III. | 70–57 |
| Orodes I. | 57–37 |
| (Mithradates III. | 57–54) |
| Phraates IV. | 37–2 |
| (Tiridates II. | 32–31 and 26) |
| Phraates V. (Phraataces) | 2 B.C.–A.D. 5 |
| Orodes II | A.D. 5–7 |
| Vonones I. | 8–11 |
| Artabanus II. | c. 10–40 |
| (Tiridates III. | 36) |
| (Cinnamus | 38) |
| (Vardanes I. | 40–45) |
| Gotarzes | 40–51 |
| Vonones II. | 51 |
| Vologaeses I. | 51–77 |
| (Vardanes II. | 55) |
| Vologaeses II. | 77–79; 111–147 |
| Pacorus | 78–c. 105 |
| (Artabanus III. | 80–81) |
| Osroes | 106–129 |
|
(Mithradates IV. and his son | |
| Mithradates V. | c. 129–147 |
| Vologaeses III. | 147–191 |
| Vologaeses IV. | 191–209 |
| (Vologaeses V. | 209–c. 222) |
| Artabanus IV. | 209–229 |
Authorities.—Persian tradition knows very little about the Arsacids, who by it arc called Ashkanians (from Ashak, the modern form of Arsaces.) Of modern works on the history of the Parthians (besides the numismatic literature) the most important are: G. Rawlinson, The Sixth Oriental Monarchy (1873), and A. von Gutschmid, Geschichte Irans und seine Nachbarländer von Alexander d. Gr. bis zum Vntergang der Arsaciden (1888).
The principal works on the Arsacid coinage are (after the earlier publications of Longpérier, Prokesch-Ostan, &c.): Percy Gardner, The Parthian Coinage (London, 1877), and especially W. Wroth, Catalogue of the Coins of Parthia in the British Museum (London, 1903), who carefully revised the statements of his predecessors. Cf. also Petrowicz, Arsacidenmünzen (Vienna, 1904), and Allotte de la Fuye, “Classement des monnaies arsacides,” in Revue numismatique, 4 série, vol. viii., 1904. (Ed. M.)
PARTICK (formerly Perdyc or Perthick), a municipal and police
burgh of the parish of Govan, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Pop.
(1891), 36,538; (1901), 54,298. It lies on the north bank of the
Clyde, and is continuous with Glasgow, from which it is separated
by the Kelvin, and of which it is a large and wealthy residential
suburb. Shipbuilding yards are situated in the burgh, which
has also industries of paper-staining, flour-milling, hydraulic machine
making, weighing-machine making, brass-founding and
galvanizing. The tradition is that the flour-mills and granaries—the
Bunhouse Mills—as they are called locally, were given by
the Regent Moray to the bakers of Glasgow for their public
spirit in supplying his army with bread at the battle of Langside
in 1568. Victoria Park contains a grove of fossil trees which
were discovered in a quarry. The town forms the greater part
of the Partick division of Lanarkshire, which returns one member
to Parliament. Though it remained a village till the middle of
the 19th century, it is an ancient place. Morken, the Pictish
king who persecuted St Kentigern, is believed to have dwelt here
and, in 1136, David I. gave the lands of Partick to the see of
Glasgow. The bishop's palace stood by the side of the Kelvin,
and was occupied—or a mansion erected for him on its site—by
George Hutcheson (1580–1639), founder of the Hutcheson
Hospital in the city.
PARTISAN, or Partizan. (1) A thoroughgoing “party” man or adherent, usually in a deprecatory sense of one who puts his party before principles; (2) an irregular combatant or guerrilla soldier; (3) a weapon with a long shaft and a broad bladed head, of a type intermediate between the spear and the halberd (q.v.). In senses (1) and (2) the word is derived through the Fr. from Ital. partigiano, from parteggiare, to share, take part in, Lat. pars, part. The name for the weapon has also been attributed to the same origin, as being that used by “partisans,” but there is no historical evidence for this. The form which the word now takes in French, pertuisane, has given rise to a connexion with pertuis, hole; Lat. pertusus, pertundere, to strike through. But the most probable derivation is from the Teutonic parta, barta, axe, which forms the last part of “halberd.”
PARTITION, in law, the division between several persons of land or goods belonging to them as co-proprietors. It was a maxim of Roman law, followed in modern systems, that in communione vel societate nemo potest invitus detineri. Partition was either voluntary or was obtained by the actio communi dividendo. In English law the term partition applies only to the division of lands, tenements and hereditaments, or of chattels real between coparceners, joint tenants or tenants in common. It is to be noticed that not all hereditaments are capable of partition. There can be no partition of homage, fealty, or common of turbary, or of an inheritance of dignity, such as a peerage. Partition is either voluntary or compulsory. Voluntary partition is effected by mutual conveyances, and can only be made where all parties are sui juris. Since the Real Property Act 1845, § 3, it must be made by deed, except in the case of copyholds. Compulsory partition is effected by private act of parliament, by judicial process, or through the inclosure commissioners. At common law none but coparceners were entitled to partition against the will of the rest of the proprietors, but the Acts of 31 Henry VIII. c. 1 and 32 Henry VIII. c. 32 gave a compulsory process to joint tenants and tenants in common of
- ↑ The names of the following kings are not known; that one of them was called Artabanus II. is quite conjectural.
