Parthenia

“ In one way or another most of the people down here are kin to each other or else they are friends of our friends, so it is just like one big family. If it wasn’t for this terrible war you would see how happily we live.”
There was a pause for a moment, Dorothea looking out of the window with her face very thoughtful.
“You know, Aunt Parthenia,” she said, after a little, “I saw the soldiers on both sides as I came through.”
“Yes, I know,” Mrs. May replied, “and I thought there was something you didn’t want to talk about.” ”

“ PARTHENIA, or the First Musick ever printed for the Virginals. 21 Compositions by three Famous 16th and 17th century Masters, William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons. Arranged for the Piano and freed from the errors of Dr. Rimbault's edition by accurate comparison with the original text by MARGARET H. GLYN. Folio, 12s. 6d. net.
This edition of "Parthenia" has been entirely re-engraved.
THE APPROACH TO LISZT. A Course of Modern Tonal-Technique for the Piano, in the form of Graded Studies from the Moderately Difficult to the Master Stage. ”

“ Playford, iii. 2a; iv. 749b; Baltzar, i. 133b; Chant, i. 337a; Este (M.) , i. 495b; Mus. Lib., ii. 418a, etc.; Mus.-printing, ii. 435a; Parthenia, ii. 653a; Pastoral Symphony, ii. 671a; Purcell (Henry, the elder) , iii. ”

“ The Parthenon at Athens was not merely a wonderful building, but was an expression of Greek mind and heart. It did not spring up in a day as did Athena from the head of Zeus but found its roots in the prehistoric altars of their goddess. It was not built to please individuals but to honor their gods. It is no wonder, then, that when the Parthenon came into full flower in the “Age of Pericles” it should have reached that state which the judgment of succeeding generations has pronounced perfection.
The Parthenon at Nashville stands alone as a portrayal of the Parthenon of Pericles. ”

“ It has seen the worship of Athena Parthenos give way to the reverence of another Virgin—a holier ideal of Wisdom set up in its own precincts, and worshiped there on the very spot where once the youth of Athens did honor to the pagan goddess. Gods and religions have risen and departed, despots have come and gone; but the Parthenon has stood unchanging, the unrivaled embodiment of architectural beauty to-day, as it was when Ictinus, Mnesicles, Pheidias, and those who were with them created it out of their combined and colossal genius, under the wise ordainment of Pericles. ”

“ The sculptures of the Parthenon occur in four groups: the Ionic or inner frieze, the Doric or outer frieze, the east pediment, and the west pediment.
As the subtlety of the builders of the Parthenon emphasized their intellect, so the sculptures emphasized their religion. The Greeks were not idolaters in the sense that they bowed down to gold and ivory. They loved to chisel in marble the beautiful forms that represented to them their gods who dwelt on Mount Olympus. ”

“ Assuredly the Greeks have never been excelled in the beauty of their architecture or sculptural art.
The influence of religion was dominant in the life and thought that produced such outstanding men in this period of world history as Phidias and Sophocles, Ictinos and Pericles. Every function of the mind, every activity of the hand, was closely associated with some god or goddess, and to this inspirational incentive the world is greatly indebted for the Parthenon. The mythological stories of the Parthenon largely cover the mythology of Greece. ”

“ The Venetians at war with the Turks, besieging Athens, bombarded the city. A shell descended into the Parthenon, and in a moment's time the most magnificent architectural structure of ancient times, the pride of centuries, lay shattered in the ruins we see before us."
"The Parthenon in twenty-four centuries has seen [Pg 114] many religious changes. Built first as a temple of idolatry, it became under the Romans a Roman Catholic Cathedral, under the Greeks again a Greek Christian Church, and then under the Sultan's rule a Mohammedan Mosque." ”

“ It is enough for us to know, however, that they are not in Athens but in London, and that there is no probability they will ever return to Greek soil; and to know, also, that had they not been removed as they were, they might never have been preserved at all. That is the one comfortable state of mind in which to view the vacant pediments of the Parthenon. To work up a Byronic frenzy over what cannot be helped, and may, after all, be for the best, is of no benefit. ”

“ Beyond the Euphrates, even beyond the Tigris, the Roman dominion took in Mesopotamia, Atropatênê, and Babylonia. The Parthian capital of Ktesiphôn and the outlying Greek free city of Seleukeia were included within the boundaries of an Empire which for a moment touched the Caspian and the Persian Gulf. Rome, as the champion of the West, seemed to have triumphed for ever over her Eastern rival, when the Parthian kingdom was thus shorn of the border lands of the two worlds, and when its king was forced to become a Roman vassal for the dominions that were left to him. ”

“ The friendship between Rome and Parthia was a public matter; it bound the Romans to help the nation allied to them—a nation which, though equal to them in strength, was content on account of its respect for Rome to yield her precedence. Parthian princes were allowed to be hostages in foreign lands for the very reason that then it was always possible, if their own monarch displeased them, for the people to obtain a king from abroad, brought up under milder influences. ”

“ They generally discharged their arrows backwards, holding the bow behind the shoulder; a mode of attack more dangerous to a pursuing enemy than to one in order of battle. The Parthians first appeared in history as subject to the great Persian empire. After the death of Alexander the Great, Parthia formed part of the Syrian kingdom, but revolted under Antiochus II., and constituted itself into an independent kingdom under the Arsacidæ, 250 B.C., a race of kings who exercised the most completely despotic authority ever known. ”

“ In the fifth century the Parthenon became a Christian church; when the Turks came they made it a mosque. The edifice remained in good preservation till the seventeenth century. In 1687 the Venetian, Morosini, besieged Athens and a shell from one of his guns ignited the powder which the Turks had stored in the Parthenon. A destructive explosion followed and thus the most magnificent structure of the ages, which twenty-one centuries had spared, was reduced to ruins. What remains of it is still most majestic and when seen by moonlight inspires the greatest reverence. ”

“ Moreover, the Parthians were, probably, better able than their adversaries to endure the hardships and severities of a campaign in the cold season. Parthia is a cold country, and the winters, both of the great plateau of Iran and of all the mountain tracts adjoining it, are severe. The climate of Syria is far milder. Moreover, the troops of Antiochus had, we are informed, been enervated by an excessive indulgence on the part of their leader during the marches and halts of the preceding summer. ”

“ The Parthians found it politic to assimilate their supremacy to that of the Greeks whom they had displaced; and thus to attract to themselves the influence which had so recently been predominant throughout Iran. They, therefore, distinguished themselves by the epithet of "Philhellen," and continued to impress their coins in Greek characters with that affix, even after the Romans had become most potent in the East. By degrees, however, the memory of the Greek dominion faded, and before the middle of the second Christian century orientalism was completely re-established. ”

“ In so far the Parthian empire was the genuine counterpart to the Roman. As in the one the Oriental viceroyship is an exceptional occurrence, so in the other is the Greek city; the general Oriental aristocratic character of the Parthian government is as little injuriously affected by the Greek mercantile towns on the west coast as is the civic organisation of the Roman state by the vassal kingdoms of Cappadocia and Armenia. ”

“ Those authors who wrote in Armenian, Syriac, and Arabic, though all later than the Parthian period, add some information not otherwise available. But the fact that the evidence is to an overwhelming extent given by natives of or sympathizers with countries hostile to Parthia makes it impossible to present the picture wholly from the Parthian viewpoint.
Evidence from the Orient is scanty but of the utmost importance. Besides the late writers mentioned above, most of whom suffered from lack of good sources on which to draw, we have the contemporary cuneiform tablets. ”

“ These people would not be known as Parthians until they moved southward into the Persian province of Parthava, an event which took place sometime before 250 b.c. Achaemenian and early Greek refer­ences to the "Parthians" refer, therefore, to earlier inhabitants of Parthava, not to the Parthians with whom we are dealing. ”

“ Aeschylus [22] reports that among those killed in the fighting in Greece was a cavalry leader called Arsaces, a name which later be­came the throne name of the Parthian kings.
The official tribute list quoted by Herodotus (iii. 89–95) is clearly from his own time, that of Artaxerxes I, not, as he states, from that of Darius. [23] Here again the tendency toward union of the provinces makes us suspect further shrinkage of the frontiers. Parthia was now joined with Chorasmia, Sogdiana, and Aria to form one province, and Hyrcania was united with Media. ”

“ The Ionic frieze of the Parthenon depicted the Panathenaic Procession which occurred every four years in Athens. It was an established part of the Panathenaic Festival and coincident also with the athletic contests held in honor of Athena. On this occasion the Greeks assembled in the downtown streets of Athens; men and women of high and low degree with their slaves, various kinds of animals, chariots with their horsemen, men at arms, wild horses led by Barbarians, dignitaries of state, and maidens. ”

“ The position of this huge town on the very borders of the Parthian kingdom, in a province which had till very recently been Parthian, could be no otherwise understood that as a standing menace to Parthia itself, the proclamation of an intention to extend the Armenian dominion southwards, and to absorb at any rate all the rich and fertile country between Gordyene and the sea. Thus threatened by Armenia, it was impossible for Sanatroeces cordially to embrace the side of Mithridates, with which Armenia and its king were so closely allied ”

“ There is a story that the first Parthian leader, Arsaces, was a Bactrian who became discontented with the rule of the satrap Diodotus of Bactria, invaded Parthia, and successfully fomented a revolt. [38] Still a third and more detailed version is to be found in Arrian, [39] according to which either Arsaces or Tiridates was insulted by the Seleucid satrap. The brothers thereupon took five men into their confidence, killed the offender, and persuaded the people to revolt. Without additional evidence it is impossible to determine the correct account. ”

“ The prestige of the Parthian name was gone. Roman soldiers could be trusted to meet them without alarm, and to contend with them without undue excitement or flurry. The weakness, as well as the strength, of their military system had come to be known; and expedients had been devised by which its strong points were met and counterbalanced. At the head of sixteen legions, Antony might well think that he could invade Parthia successfully, and not only avoid the fate of Crassus, but gather laurels which might serve him in good stead in his contest with his great political rival. ”

“ Careful distinction is made by some contemporary writers between Greek and Parthian cities within the Parthian empire. This may well imply a difference in administration as well as population, for documents from Dura and Susa show that the governments of these places preserved the pattern of the Hellenistic city-state. Such places rarely held Parthian garrisons. Ctesiphon, for example, is said to have been built to house Parthian troops, which evidently could not be installed in Seleucia across the river. ”

“ Musa took the final step to secure for her son Phraataces the throne of Parthia; Phraates, now an old man, was poisoned. [16] Artavasdes, established by Roman aid on the Armenian throne, was looked upon with disfavor by many of his subjects and certainly by the Parthians. A coalition of these two groups drove him from the throne about 1 b.c., and Tigranes and his sister-wife again secured control. [17] If Rome was to maintain her sphere of influence in Armenia and her prestige in the Near East, immediate action was imperative. ”

“ 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 ”

“ At the same time he withdrew his troops from Armenia; which the Romans, however, did not occupy, and which continued, as it would seem, to be governed by Tiridates. The motive of the Parthian king in acting as he did is obvious. A revolt against his authority had broken out in Parthia, headed by his son, Vardanes; and, until this internal trouble should be suppressed, he could not engage with advantage in a foreign war. [PLATE III. Fig. 1.] The reasons which actuated the Roman generals are far more obscure. ”