Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

126 HISTORY OF PERSIA.
bour, and, by recognising his independence, shewed
he had found his match, if not his superior, in the
Parthian king. From this time to the close of the
reign of Artabanus, we find nothing certain in Parthian
history, nor is it worth while to attempt
the unravel-
ling of a skein so entangled.
With the reign of Milhradates I (B.C. 174), Parthia takes
a leap in advance, and acquires dimensions fully justi-
fying Professor Rawlinson in the name he has given to
it, of " The Sixth Oriental Monarchy." No doubt the
conditions of the time favoured the views of Mithra-
dates, the Seleucidae having then lost much of their
original power, while their sceptre was in the hands of
a boy, Eupator, with two rival claimants for the regency,
Lysias and Philip. Mithradates, therefore, attacked
Media, and after a vigorous resistance on the part of
its inhabitants, secured for himself the great province
of Media Magna. He next added to his dominions
Hyrcania on the north, and Elymais or Susiana on the
south ; and, by the submission of the Persians and
Babylonians, extended his monarchy from the Hindu-
Rush to the Euphrates. How far Eastward he went
is doubtful ; but it has been thought that he did not
stay
his hand till he had annexed to his domains
the Panja"b and head waters of the Indus.
On this point, however, so far as it is worth,
numismatic evidence seems conclusive, as no Parthian
coins have been found in this region; while, on
the other hand,
it is certain that Graeco-Bactrian
monarchs held Kabul and Western India, till at
least B.C. 126. We may fairly believe that his sway
extended over all the countries west of the Suleiman-