parently facing further territorial losses, for a report that the kings of Bactria sent envoys to Hadrian to seek friendship[1] seems evidence that Bactria was then among the independent districts. In the west the excavations at Dura-Europus furnish us with a glimpse of that part of the Parthian empire. A contract of 111/22 drawn up in Phaliga mentions a Manesus, strategus of Mesopotamia and of Parapotamia and commander of the Arabs, who was also a collector of imposts.[2]
Parthamaspates, rejected by the Parthians soon after the departure of the Roman troops, was given Osroene by Hadrian.[3] About 123 Hadrian went per-
- ↑ Spart. Hadrian 21. 14.
- ↑ Manesus bore also the title βατησα, evidently a Parthian title, probably coming from the Pahlavi pātikhshāi and eventually from Old Persian; see H. S. Nyberg, Hilfsbuch des Pehlevi (Uppsala, 1928–31), II, 179 f. M. I. Rostovtzeff and C. B. Welles have dealt with this contract in three papers: "Un contrat de prêt de l'an 121 ap. J.-C. trouvé à Doura," CR, 1930, pp. 158–81; "A Parchment Contract of Loan from Dura-Europus on the Euphrates," Yale Classical Studies, II (1931), 3–78; "Parchment No. X. A Contract of Loan of 121 a.d.," in Rostovtzeff and P. V. C. Bauer, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Second Season, 1928–29 (New Haven, 1931), pp. 201–16.
- ↑ Spart. Hadrian 5. 4, erroneously Parthamasiris; Dio Cass. lxviii. 33. 2; Julius Dürr, Die Reisen des Kaisers Hadrian ("Abh. des archäolo-
the Parthians are now thought most doubtful. ADVENTIVI AUG. PARTHIAE S.C. and EXERCITUS PARTHICUS legends have been reported, but are now either lost or considered possible forgeries. On the first legend see Mattingly and Sydenham, Rom. Imp. Coin., II, 456, parthia, note. On the second see ibid., p. 462, note, and Strack, Untersuch. zur röm. Reichsprägung, II, 148, n. 328, and 233 f., n 22. EXERCITUS SYRIACUS, Mattingly and Sydenham, op. cit., II, 428, No. 690, does not relate to any Parthian war.
