Sacae and the Pahlavas were independent of the Parthian empire, though they had been vassals of that power.[1] In spite of the warlike reputation which the Parthians attained in the west by virtue of their successes against the Romans, they were a people quick to realize and profit by the advantages of peace. Wanton destruction was not one of their characteristics; they had rather a canny instinct for a pact advantageous to both parties. The ability of Mithradates, combined with his victories on the battlefield, would result in agreements for mutual benefit. Treaties would be drawn up which according to the usual Parthian custom bound the signatories within their loose feudal system and guaranteed commercial rights. Indian officialdom probably contained both Parthians and Sacae, but little evidence can be obtained from their names, for one of the first acts of a newly elevated officer would be the adoption of a garb and name suitable to his new station.
For the organization of the Indo-Scythian kingdoms and their relations with the feudatories of southeastern Iran we must depend almost entirely upon numismatic evidence of unknown provenience. Though Rapson's arrangement[2] may fit all the facts
- ↑ Note that the Seleucids and the Sasanids both utilized elephants when their possessions extended far enough east to enable them to secure the beasts. There is no record of the Parthians using them in war.
- ↑ CHI, I, chap, xxiii. For a different interpretation see Herzfeld, "Sakastan," AMI, IV (1932), 91–98, and a briefer account in the Cambridge Shorter History of India (ed. H. H. Dodwell; Cambridge, 1934),
