Crossword clues for parthian
parthian
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Parthian \Par"thi*an\, a. Of or pertaining to ancient Parthia, in Asia. -- n. A native of Parthia.
Parthian arrow, an arrow discharged at an enemy when retreating from him, as was the custom of the ancient Parthians; hence, a parting shot.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1520s, native or inhabitant of Parthia (ancient kingdom northeast of Persia in western Asia), from Old Persian Parthava- "Parthian," dialectal variant of the stem Parsa-, source of Persia.\n
\nAs an adjective, 1580s. Phrase Parthian shot is in reference to their horsemen, who were expert at racing forward, turning, and shooting arrows backward at the moment of retreat. The exact phrase is attested by 1832; the image itself was in use long before (for example Parthian fight, 1630s).\n\nOr, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight
["Cymbeline," Act I, Scene VII]
Wikipedia
Parthian may be:
A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
- Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
- Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
- Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by Parthian horsemen
Parthian may also refer to:
- Parthian Books, a Welsh publishing house
- Indo-Parthian Kingdoms
- Parthian-class submarine
- Seven Parthian clans
Usage examples of "parthian".
Artaxerxes had served with great reputation in the armies of Artaban, the last king of the Parthians, and it appears that he was driven into exile and rebellion by royal ingratitude, the customary reward for superior merit.
To these are added the Dacians, Hyrcanians, Derbicians, Carmanians, Parthians, with all Persis and Susiana, and the numerous nations upon the Caspian sea.
No one, they said, could beat an army of Parthian cataphracti and Parthian horse archers on flat ground.
Moors and Parthians, who taught him to dart the javelin and to shoot with the bow, found a disciple who delighted in his application, and soon equalled the most skilful of his instructors in the steadiness of the eye and the dexterity of the hand.
Whenever Tacitus indulges himself in those beautiful episodes, in which he relates some domestic transaction of the Germans or of the Parthians, his principal object is to relieve the attention of the reader from a uniform scene of vice and misery.
Better coached, the Parthians, Saka, and Persians did not move from their seats around the table.
With the Parthian general came officersmen of the Saka and of the Yueh-chih.
All the country they had been traversing is full of tombs and remains of tombs, prehistoric, Bactrian, old Persian, Parthian, Sassanian, or Mohammedan, scattered everywhere in groups or solitary.
Early in the third century of the Christian era, Ardeshir overthrew the Parthian dominion in Persia and established the Sassanian dynasty.
Parthian and Babylonian leather, cottons, silks, both raw and manufactured, ebony, ivory, and eunuchs.
The emperor came back to Antioch to take up his winter quarters, postponing till spring the invasion of the Parthian Empire itself, but already determined to accept no overture for peace.
For an entire winter Londinium became, by my choice, what Antioch had been by necessity at the time of the Parthian war, the virtual center of the world.
Then he gave us his Parthian shot: Et apud Apollinemistum Pollionis Pollinctorem diutissime polleat.
Parthia was a small nation to the northeast of the Caspian Sea, near Bactria, and was important only because it had produced the seven great Pahlavi families, and the Arsacid Parthian kings.
Octavian and Quintus Pedius were the new consuls, and wrote frantically to Cassius, urging him to abandon any campaigns against Egypt or the Parthians.